Return to Golf - Week 1

Golf is back! But we already know that.

A close family friend, avid runner and playing partner / opponent many times on the golf course, David Gilroy, has unknowingly given me this idea of writing a return to golf & work diary as a reflection type exercise, so one day I can go back and remember some of the details that happened following golf's return.

Each week I will aim to write a short piece on the past 7 days with some memorable high & a few lowlights as the Team and I try and appease 568 (at the moment) golf members.... yeah I know, wish me luck!

Monday - 11th May

8:30am MS Teams meeting after digesting Boris Johnson's speech and some guidance documents from the PGA the night before. Fortunately we had a proposed re-opening plan drafted, which we had already communicated with our membership. We spent most of the call confirming protocols and who is doing what prior to Tuesday - the first day back at the Club.

Following the call was a brief email to the members, confirming we would re-open on Wednesday with more details to follow.

The rest of my day was spent testing the all important tee sheet and making sure the configuration allowed for 9 holes only, a 2 tee start and had a tee time every 10 minutes for 10 hours a day - simple right? We agreed on the morning call the tee sheet would go LIVE at 9am on Tuesday morning for the first tee time booking on Wednesday morning.

2:30pm A surprise phone call from SkySports....

4pm Last call of the day, another Teams meeting to confirm the arrangements for the week ahead and ticking off our lists from the morning call. We were all feeling pretty confident and happy at the thought of returning to work again.

7pm We announce to the membership our confirmed re-opening plan.

8pm After some dinner, I test the online tee sheet (again) to make sure I haven't missed anything and it works. A member managed to book a tee time in the 10 second window it was open during my testing, so that gave me the confidence I needed.

Close my laptop about 9pm.

Tuesday - the worst day of the week, month, year, no doubt.

8am Arrive at the Club in good spirits and delighted to see the golf course in a stunning condition. We start to prepare the entrance areas for member arrival tomorrow with a coffee.

8:30am My colleagues arrive and we have a brief catch up again and talk about the plan for today - cleaning outside areas, checking the buggies after weeks of inactivity, signage preparation, a short course walk and just observe the tee time bookings from time to time.

8:59am I am in front of my computer ready to watch the tee sheet fill up.

9:00:30am The phones start ringing... (30 seconds might be an exaggeration actually).

9:01am My colleague, working from home, rings me to say the online tee times are not working... panic starts to set in and the phones continue to ring. I anticipated some calls, so I had a member of my Team available to answer some calls.

9:05am It becomes clear the online tee sheet is not working - WHATSOEVER. I check my mobile phone, a least a dozen missed calls, emails, texts, Whatsapp messages galore. Right.... stop and think for a moment here.

9:15am I checked and checked and checked again every single setting to make sure I hadn't made a glaring error - although I kept telling myself and General Manager (stood right next to me (at a 2m distance)) it was tested and working 12 hours ago. I emailed our tee sheet provider for urgent assistance. The phones had not stopped ringing since 9am (only 15 mins at this point) and my colleague was inundated with calls, I decided the only possible solution was to join him and pick up the phone/s.

I am no Prince Harry, but I had two phones on the go at times - members and the software provider support team.

12:30pm The calls start to drop off, at least 10 seconds between putting the phone down and picking it up now...

"Good afternoon Windlesham Golf Club, Jack speaking, how can I help?"

"Hi Jack, you do know the online booking system isn't working."

For those who know me, I can have a pretty wicked (at times) sarcastic sense of humour, I somehow managed to contain it, although I cannot be certain.

2pm The calls had almost stopped, I sincerely apologised to my colleague who I told only just to pop in for a few hours and sent him home. In the end, we booked 471 golfers, made 283 bookings across Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in about 5 hours - I am never working in a call centre, that is for sure.

5pm Finished the signage and entrance areas. I missed the course walk, but told it was in fantastic condition - one less thing for the moaners. Head home.

I mean.... how could it just not work!

Wednesday

4:30am Woke up , shower, attempt to style my hair (see below), skip breakfast and get to club just before 6am. Finish off some last minute signage changes and clear some emails before golfers arrive for the first tee time.

7am Golf is underway. Most of yesterday is forgotten, but not all of it!

Then this happens.... "Jack, we are going live...."

7:25am My 5 minutes of fame... only slightly tarnished by a completely failed Tommy Shelby attempt hair style (has since been sorted). I miss the barbers. SkySports News asked if it was ok to capture the first players heading out on the Monday afternoon call - "No problem at all". A fantastic opportunity and one I simply couldn't turn down, 14 weeks without a hair cut or not!

12pm Everything going as planned, members have returned from their 9 holes, withdrawal symptoms cured.

5pm The last tee time of the day. In the end we hosted 230 members for 9 holes, I think everyone of them was delighted to be back again, albeit only for a quick 9.

8pm As part of our re-opening plan, we thought it would be very useful to email a Return to Golf Daily Update comprising of general comments from the day's play, some key numbers (no. of golfers played, tee times unused and forward bookings for the next 3 days to name a few) and a 3 day forecast. We agreed the format of the email, the contents and sent it. (It's been a massive success!) Dinner was tastier than ever - Lamb Tagine.

"What a day... Golf is back!" was the headline of my first post on LinkedIn after what turned out to be an incredible return back to golf for Windlesham Golf Management LTD.

Thursday

6:30am Arrive at the club for another day's play. Thankfully the online bookings are slowly starting to work again, and members can start to book with much greater ease.

12pm With a day and a 1/2 of play under our belt we were happy with how things were operating, members enjoying golf again, social distancing in place and safety assured. We started to think about the future, possibly returning to 18 holes and adjusting the tee time window based on early tee time patterns we had spotted - demand was greater in the afternoon than mornings. Let's see what happens.

7:30pm Return to Golf Daily Update - Day 2 sent. 211 golfers today, was generally a lot calmer than the mad dash of the previous day. I had just about got back to everyone who congratulated me on my SkySports interview and once I got home that evening, tackled my next challenge - restyling my hair!

Friday

Day off!

Few emails to folder away in the morning, but today was my return to golf.

2pm It had been on my to-do-list for months now - I joined the GCMA as a member. I am excited to be part of a like-minded group of leaders in the golf industry. I plan to use this membership to help further develop my career - an investment in me.

3pm After enquiring in September last year, today I joined Worplesdon Golf Club as a member - what a treat. I teed off shortly after paying my dues and birdied the 1st hole - 2 iron, PW, 6 footer dead straight and in - the most expensive birdie I've ever made!

8pm Return to Golf Daily Update - Day 3 sent. 242 golfers today - almost fully booked. Quiz night on Zoom with my oldest mates washed down with a few mandatory beers - lovely.

An expensive day!

Saturday

10am Caught up with missed emails and calls from the previous day. Although the tee sheet was booked up again, almost to capacity, the social distancing measures are now well understood by the membership and it felt quieter around the clubhouse. The 10 mins between tee times have helped greatly in the pace of play, most are completing 9 holes in around 1 hour 30 mins.

3pm On track to record 246 golfers today, our busiest day yet, not at all surprising given the lovely weather and the first weekend day since the easing of the lockdown measures.

We are likely to host at least another 600 rounds by close of play Tuesday, in total nearly 1,500 booked since we opened bookings on Tuesday. To put that into some sort of perspective, in February this year we hosted 1,078 rounds the entire month.

Sunday

"Working from home"

---------------------------------------------------------

Back to David who I mentioned at the start... Check out David's first article of a series here - Running a business in a crisis. I didn't want to tempt anyone's attention away from this piece without reading it all first!

I missed my aim this week of a short piece, I will be more concise in future articles.

Until next week, JB