The general manager of Saunton Golf Club in Devon, Jon Sutherland, talks about how much it has changed since he was appointed six years ago, the ecology work that has been carried out across the 36-hole links venue and the biodiversity that it offers.
Can you tell us a bit about your career trajectory to manager of Saunton Golf Club?
I took up golf at the age of eight and developed a deep love for the game. I went on to captain multiple teams and then turned professional in 2000 at the age of 19 (playing and coaching). Along the line I worked for a fantastic company, Neptune, outside of golf, which is where my passion for business grew. Pulling all of these things together (golf / leadership / customer service / business) I then worked in a few roles within club management before getting my dream role as the general manager of Saunton Golf Club.
Can you tell us a bit about Saunton Golf Club?
Well, Saunton Golf Club, what can I say? If you speak to anyone in the UK and mention that you work or play at Saunton, everyone has heard of our fantastic club, which speaks volumes.
Saunton is a true 36-hole championship links venue in every sense (in a beautiful setting), with a wonderful, thriving membership, fantastic staff and passionate management board (with a clear strategic plan). We are lucky enough to host regular R&A and England Golf Championships, with some of the most recent being the 2024 R&A Women’s & Men’s Seniors Amateur Championships, the 2022 English Men’s Strokeplay Championships (Brabazon Trophy), the 2019 English Women’s Amateur Championships and the 2019 R&A Boys Amateur Championships. The club were nominated as a finalist by England Golf for ‘Tournament Venue of the Year 2022’.
You took over the club in 2018 – how much has it changed since then?
The introduction of detailed strategic plans and increased data collection / analysis has led to the club making more informed business decisions and improvements. Some of which are improved course conditions thanks to increased investment in maintenance budgets, machinery and other resources; investment in staff; pro shop is now in-house; projects completed and planned – turf nursery and elite tournament practice ground, new and improved greenkeeping buildings, installation of multiple electric car charge points, newly extended car park, ecology works, increased access to water and new and improved irrigation system.
Did you see a membership surge during the pandemic?
Yes, like many clubs, before the pandemic we did not have a waiting list in place, but since November 2020 we have had a very healthy waiting list, which is still currently in place.
The club recently completed ecology and naturalisation work across the courses, what was carried out and why?
The club’s main strategic objective is to ‘present first-class courses in harmony with the local ecology’. Saunton GC is situated on the Braunton Burrows, which is a beautiful piece of land with thriving biodiversity. The land is protected as a SSSI, SAC, AONB and is a UNESCO Biosphere (one of only three in England). Therefore, as a club we are committed to doing our part and requested Bob Taylor and Sophie Olejnik to work with us in producing a detailed five-year ecology plan. With this plan, we managed to source funding from Natural England and the RPA through signing up to a Higher Tier Stewardship Scheme. The funding has covered all of the costs including the surveys and capital works, which has covered the removal of invasive scrub and the creation of sand scrapes and dune slacks across the site. The benefit of this is to improve the biodiversity on the site, for which it is recognised, including wild flora, fauna and wildlife (specifically including rare ground nesting birds and reptiles).
We also have a focus on sustainability, and this includes growing our own turf to use and limiting the amount of turf use. We naturalised our fairway bunkers which means we moved away from ‘pot bunker’ designs in the fairways. This saves us having to revett every winter with turf. We are about to set up a sustainability and biodiversity group, made up of experts and volunteers from our membership in order to put together a plan to improve all aspects of sustainability and biodiversity on the site.
All of this hard work and dedication has seen the club recognised through winning numerous awards, such as the ‘going green award’ presented by Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh at the Sport & Recreation Alliance awards held at Twickenham in March 2023 along with the ‘green apple environment award’.
How does the club market itself?
We recently formed a marketing committee at the club who are working on producing a detailed marketing plan. We tend to focus on digital marketing, utilising social media, emails, online feedback and we have a drive to make sure all of the improvements at the club are being noticed by the various ‘Top 100’ rankings websites. With all of the improvements across the site and in particular to the quality of the presentation and playing surfaces, this has seen the East Course rise into the world’s top 100 rankings.
What does the club do to get more beginners, particularly women and girls, to play golf?
The club have a clear pathway to golf for juniors and are recognised as a leader in this by England Golf due to the template that we have in place, which is to provide an annual fund from the club to cover costs of after school junior coaching and a junior scholarship scheme, which sees 20 juniors offered free coaching packages throughout the year. We are also looking to improve this further, through increased funding and more detailed development planning for each individual junior from beginner to elite level. We also participate in providing golf for girls through initiatives such as Girls Golf Rocks, Get into Golf Rookies and GolfSixes. The golf club are also a signatory on The R&A Women in Golf charter, which means that Saunton Golf Club and its management board are focused on encouraging more women and girls to play the game and to open up more opportunities for women to work in the golf industry. Saunton prides itself on this commitment and has for many decades seen itself as a front runner in this regard.
How would you summarise the state of the industry at the moment and what are your hopes for the future?
The industry seems to be in a healthy place at the moment, with most clubs having a waiting list for membership, good visitor numbers and lots of fantastic initiatives being available to get more women and girls playing golf. My only concerns for the future are will the cost of living have an effect on future memberships for the next few generations and will golf need to adjust and plan for this possible eventuality?
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