In true ‘awards season’ style, 59Club has released the nominations for two of its specialist categories ahead of the fourth annual Service Excellence Awards to be held at The Belfry on 24 February.
Compered by BBC sports presenter Dan Walker, the event will see 14 awards given out, celebrating the achievements of the very best individuals, teams and venues within the golf industry.
The top golf venues will be awarded across all business elements – sales, service, operations, retail and management – as well as the presentation of Gold and Silver Flag Awards, the 59Club industry benchmark to recognise the finest membership clubs and commercial venues.
Many of the awards will see different categories of golf venues competing for top honours – from pay-and-play courses to international resorts: Close House, Dubai Creek and Stoke Park will be competing with Barnehurst, Dibden, and Garon Park for the title of ‘food and beverage manager of the year’.
Marriott will be looking to retain the title of ‘golf group of the year’, having been nominated again along with four other golf club operators: Altonwood, De Vere, Exclusive Golf and Macdonald.
The 59Club awards’ evening – sponsored by Golfbreaks.com; teeofftimes.co.uk, Swatkins, Methven, Felicitas Media, Fluid Productions, Tacit Golf and Pro Shop Europe magazine – is regarded by many as the ‘Oscars’ of the golf service industry.
Simon Wordsworth, chief executive at 59Club and a fellow of the PGA, explained: “We don’t normally release the nominations for any of the awards’ categories before the big night, however, we wanted to show that our ceremony is unique, recognising all venues, large or small, for the level of service and operational consistency they deliver throughout the year.
“The awards are all objective and based on real data collected throughout the year – so the evening is a unique opportunity to reward those truly outstanding performances within the golf industry.”
The awards’ evening will be the culmination of a full day of seminars focused on the effects of good customer service on profit margins, in a joint initiative with the Club Managers Association of Europe Midlands & North (UK) Region.
Previous award winners include this year’s host club The Belfry, 2010 Ryder Cup venue Celtic Manor Resort, The Vale Resort, Marriott, De Vere, Wentworth, Stoke Park and Goodwood, among many others.
Other awards up for grabs include the ultimate golf experience; golf operations team of the year; sales team of the year; and best retail experience, plus a number of individual accolades. And 59Club will also be awarding the highly valued Gold Flags, for which only five venues in the UK managed the required standard in 2012.
59Club, Europe’s leading golf-specific mystery shopper service and a PGA Official Supplier, 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, who utilise the company’s performance analysis tools to enable managers to compare their standards of customer service and facility offerings to those perceived as their main competitors.
The core service includes 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 improve, or maintain, service standards.
For further details of the 59Club’s prestigious awards dinner, on Monday, February 24, 2014 please contact Simon Wordsworth on simon@59club.com