A look ahead from Golf At Goodwood General Manager, Stuart Gillett

Globally golf memberships have been in recession and so we are delighted that our Credit Membership has grown, allowing us to be in the strong position where Membership closed on the 31^st December 2016 and a waiting list was introduced for those wishing to join the club.  This now allows us to focus on our desire to deliver the very best experience for you, the Members. 

The start of 2016 saw more bad weather and it took some time for the spring to kick in and for the courses to get into the sort of condition we could be proud of. This gives indication of how the Greenkeeping Team are at the mercy of nature especially at the start of the growing season.  Thankfully the second half of the year saw much more favourable weather and both courses have benefitted from this.  Even into January we have excellent conditions for golf on both courses and this has allowed members the opportunity to really enjoy golf all year round.  It has also had a huge impact on the final phase of the bunker renovation project that we have now completed.  The contractors were able to progress through the works at great pace and finished some five weeks early. This allowed us to bring forward the works on the twelfth hole which have just been completed.  We are delighted with how the work has grown in, and the design work carried out by Tom Mackenzie from Mackenzie & Ebert has been simply stunning.  Another project of theirs at Turnberry recently went to number one in Golf Monthly’s Top 100 Courses and confirms our belief that we worked with the very best for this project.  We hope to have the updated course rating in place early in the new year which will see the fourteenth hole become a par five and the course to have a par of 72.  I am sure the new stroke indexes will provide much debate amongst you all and want to assure you that we looked at average scores and also all relevant guidelines in coming up with these. 

I am sure that those of you that have played The Park course in 2016 will agree that, consistently, it has been in excellent condition and it is great to see so many members enjoying this course.  Simon Berry and his team have done a magnificent job over the past five years in improving The Park and I’m sure it will continue to prosper in 2017.

Towards the end of last year we made you aware of the new parameters around guests and the frequency of which they are allowed to visit.  We hope you understand why limiting this to four visits on The Downs course is necessary and would ask you to help us by ensuring those guests you have that are regular visitors consider joining the Membership waiting list.  Our aim is to work hard in 2017 to provide members more opportunity to play by managing the tee sheets more effectively and also building the ways in which we enable you to arrange games with other members if your usual playing partners are not available.  This is something we have had success with in 2016 and that we want to continue to build on. Our intention this year is to reduce the number of rounds played by hotel guests and keep corporate golf usage to a similar level as that in 2016.

Gary Beves has done a fabulous job since joining us as Membership Manager in February of 2016 and one of his tasks this year is to build the benefits associated for Golf At Goodwood Members.  We are keen to develop our relationship with the Pacific Links network and IMG Prestige which gives you, as members, some fabulous deals at some of the world’s leading clubs and resorts, alongside developing a programme of member events and trips to both national and international destinations.  In addition, we are pleased to announce that we will offer two complimentary Richmond Enclosure tickets to the opening race meeting at Goodwood this year on Saturday 6 May. This, alongside the two Festival of Speed tickets, sees golf members really benefit from the other fabulous events that take place at Goodwood.

An area of Golf At Goodwood that goes under the radar is the Academy.  This has seen major improvements and I would highly recommend you visit to see how the team there can help improve your game.  We now stock custom fit products for Callaway, Mizuno and Benross all at competitive prices.  We have the very latest Trackman technology which provides unbelievably accurate data and analysis of your swing that not only helps you improve but receive information on the correct equipment to help you play better golf. There is a putting studio that is equipped with the latest SAM Putt Lab technology providing the very best way to lower your scores.  It analyses your strokes and, similar to Trackman, provides detailed data to enable you to putt like the pros!  Do make an effort to go and see the Academy Team as I am sure you will enjoy what is on offer.

This year’s annual membership fees see a small increase from £260 to £265.  The credit bundles remain the same price, and I can confirm the charges for each segment time are to remain the same.  We have yet to confirm the final segment times for the summer period, but will be encouraging more golf later in the day by making it cheaper to play in the afternoons.  In addition to this, as of January 1^st 2017, we have reduced the buggy credit charge from six credits to five credits. 

We hope that 2017 will again be a hugely successful year for the club.  I sincerely hope that you will see and feel a more member-focused approach from my team and, should you ever have any issues in this regards, do not hesitate to contact me.