One of the premier resorts in the south of England – the four-star Old Thorns Manor Hotel, Golf & Country Estate, in Hampshire – has engaged the services of 59club, Europe’s leading customer service benchmarking and training provider, to ensure it continues to deliver the high-quality service for which it has become renowned.
The legendary Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus helped tee off the 6,471-yard, Old Thorns championship course back in 1982. Towering mature pine trees and several water hazards shape the stunning par-72 course, which is set within 400 acres of rolling South Downs, directly adjacent to the National Park.
Old Thorns’ golf operations manager Henry Alliss explained: “It is becoming abundantly clear in the modern competitive market that it is vital for an organisation such as ours to have independent, verifiable feedback on the quality of service we provide our members and clients.
“And 59club is undoubtedly the market leader when it comes to measuring and comparing standards of service at golf clubs and resorts across Europe. Working with the 59club team will allow us to not only pinpoint areas of strength and weakness within our own business but also see how it stacks up against our competitors.”
Simon Wordsworth, chief executive at 59club and a fellow of the PGA, added: “Old Thorns Manor Hotel, Golf & Country Estate has, in the last decade, transformed itself from a golf club to a full-blown resort in spectacular style. It is, without doubt, one of the finest venues of its kind south of London and we are delighted to be able to partner with it to help maintain its high-quality service levels.”
Old Thorns is in good company, as it joins up to 150 forward-thinking golf clubs and resorts across Europe and the Middle East, and partners such as England Golf and World of Leading Golf, who are already taking advantage of the services provided by 59club.
By way of a series of 59club mystery shopper recorded enquiry calls, live visits and regular member surveys these clubs are armed with a wealth of information about the actual service afforded to their members and visitors. It ultimately provides the ammunition required to make decisions to improve their offering.
59club provides an unbiased report of the experience afforded to a visitor when calling to book a round and also measures the ‘on-day’ experience when playing golf. And it measures the experience when a prospective member calls to enquire for membership and the subsequent visit that takes place to sell the club and membership.
It also measures the experience a society or corporate golf day organiser receives when calling and visiting with an interest in hosting an event at the club. Member surveys are also introduced to provide managers with a valuable insight into how their members perceive the club.
59club’s services don’t stop there: once strengths and weaknesses are ascertained, the experienced team – each of whom comes with an enviable CV within the golf and leisure industry – has the know-how and resources to provide bespoke training services to turn failing clubs around and to take those top-performing clubs to the next level, as they strive to provide the very best customer service.
Wordsworth continued: “We look forward to working with the team at Old Thorns to utilise the variety of 59club management tools at their disposal to take their service levels to an all-time high.”
59club is committed to the on-going development of club managers and PGA professionals. Constantly innovating, 59club last month unveiled golftell – the golf-specific online review site. Club managers can activate their free golftell listing by visiting http://www.golftell.net/golf-club-free-listing.
Old Thorns Manor Hotel, Golf & Country Estate www.oldthorns.com
59club www.59club.com