Presidents' Council promotes club, U.S. Open preparation

  Preparedness marked one of themes on display at the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 9th Annual Presidents’ Council, held March 19 at Waynesborough Country Club.

  More than 110 GAP Member Club presidents, general managers and club officials attended the seminar, which aims to educate key personnel on topics and issues affecting the golf industry. Featured speakers included Jeffrey Magoon, Club Managers Association of America’s (CMAA) Senior Vice President for Risk Management and ClubSolutions^SM; David Oatis, Director, USGA Northeast Region Green Section; and Merion Golf Club’s Scott Nye (head professional), Christine Pooler (general manager) and Matt Shaffer (director of golf course operations).

  Magoon opened the seminar by addressing disaster preparedness at the club level. CMAA offers tools such as Club Solutions^SM, Club DNA and Agility Recovery that help clubs plan for any incident.

  “The biggest message is what the Club Managers Association of America is doing to actually help the club industry,” Magoon said. “The resources that are available to all of the facilities that are members of CMAA and our allied associations are invaluable.”

  When it comes to maintenance budgets, knowing where to cut is more effective and important than slashing blindly, according to Oatis. Clubs must look at membership expectations, mission statement, goals and a plan to achieve and maintain continuity.

  “In a tough economic time and in a very competitive time for private clubs, it’s very important that you get these messages out to your golfers,” Oatis said. “They need to know who you’re trying to be. The bottom line is when you do have to cut budgets you have to understand that things are going to change on the golf course.”

  Nye, Pooler and Shaffer discussed Merion’s preparation for the 2013 U.S. Open. The club’s hosted two national championships in the last decade: the U.S. Amateur in 2005 and the Walker Cup in 2009.

  “I believe [the U.S. Amateur] was a testing ground to see how the golf course would hold up,” Nye said. “I think the Walker Cup enabled us to do is us one more event to test the players — the best in the world — to see where we were and to see if there were any small modifications we needed to make.”

  From a hospitality standpoint, Merion worked closely with the USGA, Haverford College and the township in setting up facilities throughout its grounds and beyond. The club’s ticket capacity is 25,000. Corporate hospitality packages sold out in November 2012.

  “On the golf course, you’re going to see grandstands, camera towers and golf,” Pooler said. “Everything else — thanks to the community and all of the neighbors — our corporate hospitality has been spread out. Without the support of Haverford College, this championship would be nearly impossible.”

  To ready the golf course for the U.S. Open, Merion reduced its fairways in size from 26 to 18 acres and created additional rough, to name a few projects.

  “I think our biggest challenge post-Open will be getting the rough down so it’s palatable for our members,” Shaffer said. “When the U.S. Open is over, we’re going to put everything back to the way it was. We’re going to move fairways. We will leave a lot of the back tees where they’re at now.”

  Following the Merion trio’s presentation, Daniel Burton, who serves as a vice president on the USGA’s Executive Committee, provided an update on that organization’s recent initiatives. He also emphasized its excitement for the U.S. Open, set for June 10-16.

  “One of the things we’re deeply committed to is serving golfers at all ends of the spectrum,” Burton, former GAP President, said. “We’re committed in our new strategic plan to making golf more welcoming, more inclusive, faster play and more affordable.”

Presentations

• Jeffrey Magoon presentation
      CMAA Preparedness Template
  
• David Oatis presentation
  
• Merion Golf Club presentation
  

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