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Stoke Park Celebrates Success at Golf Service Industry ‘Oscars'

By: Golf Shake | Wed 25 Feb 2015


Just 24 hours after Eddie Redmayne claimed an Academy Award in a star-studded ceremony in Hollywood, Stoke Park's director of golf Stuart Collier was able to celebrate a similar success in the golf service industry's own ‘Oscars' … in Birmingham.

For the luxury five-AA Red Star country club, spa and hotel in Stoke Poges was awarded the title of ‘Ultimate Members Club' at the fifth annual 59Club Service Excellence Awards, held at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club.

Stoke Poges

The event, compered by BBC sports presenter Dan Walker, is designed to reward the top golf venues across all business elements - sales, service, operations, retail and management. And 59Club's industry benchmark, the Gold and Silver Flag Awards recognise the finest membership clubs and commercial venues.

In total 14 awards were given out, celebrating the achievements of the very best individuals, teams and venues within the golf industry, while another 17 golf venues saw their commitment to continued quality recognised with the award of a prestigious ‘flag' - with Stoke Park among just four clubs to achieve the required standard to receive a gold flag.

"It's the fourth year for Stoke Park - it started in year one with an award for the best breakfast in golf I think," laughed Collier.

"We've done a lot of training and our staff have embraced the process completely. We've had a gold flag for the last two years and narrowly missed out on the big one. And we thought ‘we know we can do better'. In every element of the testing there are little marks that get lost and we've just tried to improve year on year and have made it to the top of the tree this year. Our perseverance has been rewarded.

"I'm delighted for the whole team as it's a complete team effort. The way the testing is carried out - and over the period of time - every member of the team is engaged in that process. So you know you have all contributed in some way to deliver those results."

He added: "I've referred the 59Club system to a lot of people because, being a step out of the operation on a day-to-day basis, it gives you a real chance to understand what your customer is experiencing. We're blessed with great physical elements at Stoke Park - we have an amazing golf course and a beautiful clubhouse - we know we've got the ‘wow!' factor and expectation comes with that.

"But those things are not as welcome as the personal touches, such as the welcome from the starter, the pro asking how your day is going to pan out and making sure you're comfortable in the surroundings and you know where you're going … all those little touches are the things that make a difference for a golfer and make you want to come back.

"With 59Club you've got something measureable and you can look at it year on year, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and go back to the drawing board with training if necessary. We've done that every year and, ultimately, after four years, the reward is there. Now we've got to stay there!"

Simon Wordsworth, chief executive at 59Club and a fellow of the PGA, said: "Once again we had a tremendous evening which allowed us to not only recognise the efforts of people within our industry, but also to network and meet them on a social level. As always there is a lot of congratulating going on but it's clear that those present were impressed and, often, inspired, by the success of their peers.

"Our congratulations go out to Stuart and the team at Stoke Park. It's a great honour for 59Club to be able to host this event which is now a fixture in the industry calendar and very popular with those working in golf."

59Club is fast becoming the industry standard for measuring and comparing customer-service levels and analysing all key revenue streams for golf venues, and is committed to the on-going development of club managers and PGA professionals.

The unique benchmarking and training service has already benefited hundreds of PGA members and golf course operators. The services include a series of mystery shopper recorded-enquiry calls and live visits, followed up with regular analysis and training to ensure venues can identify trends and compare, improve, or maintain, service standards.

For more information please visit www.59club.com

 


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