360 Golf, the golf club management, construction and consultancy firm, has successfully turned Iford Golf Centre – which it manages – into profit for the first time in its history.
The Surrey-based golf specialists dramatically improved the fortunes of the Dorset golf centre by implementing a series of strategic and operational improvements. Said 360 Golf’s Peter Townson, “We’ve added well over £100,000 to the bottom line at Iford in the last 12 months. That’s an excellent performance in anybody’s language, especially given the highly competitive local market conditions.
“We’re delighted with results at Iford. The turnaround in fortunes represents a huge achievement, as this is the first time that Iford GC has been in profit. By focussing on the golf centre’s core strengths and putting in place cohesive management, sales and marketing initiatives, we delivered a dramatic improvement to the bottom line.”
At the earliest opportunity, 360 Golf made major improvements to the business, which included making the two-tier range the largest automated driving range in Europe through the introduction of the automatic loading Easytee system.
A new company, Kirkenal Ltd, was created to trade from the centre in January 2004 and 360 Golf set about making significant operational changes.
“We recruited and appointed a new management team at the complex with the brief to ensure it operated efficiently and profitably,” said Peter. “From the outset, the team at 360 Golf believed Iford Golf Centre had tremendous potential, but it was clearly under-performing financially. These results prove the Centre can play a major role in the growth and development of golf in the Hampshire and Dorset region.”
360 Golf have now secured a rolling contract to manage Iford Golf Centre, with the target to continue to deliver increased bottom line results.
Iford Golf Centre was developed for opening in 2001 by Open Golf Centres and went into receivership in late 2002. Receivers Menzies Corporate Restructuring were appointed in October 2002 and controlled it until October 2003, when they appointed 360 Golf (then called Barrelfield Golf) to manage the Centre.
The Centre, which is located on the boundary between Bournemouth and Christchurch, includes an 18-hole course, 60-bay floodlit driving range, 9-hole short course and huge practice putting green.
Paul Williams, a partner at Menzies Corporate Restructuring, said, “This is an excellent performance. 360 Golf have turned failure into success and there is now a solid platform from which Iford Golf Centre can grow.”
Iford Golf Centre www.ifordgolfcentre.co.uk
360 Golf www.360golf.co.uk
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