Golf and country club reaps rewards of lockdown investment

The Nottinghamshire Golf & Country Club says it has emerged from lockdown stronger than ever following a major investment in its facilities.

A new driveway, turf, car parks, a fully refitted bar and function room, a new 13th tee and a lake on the third hole of the Signature course were all added during the lockdown period.

The club has since reported a surge in membership, with 100 new members signing up.

For many golf clubs, lockdown was a financially scary time. With an unknown period of time ahead of them, devoid of any members being able to play, many were faced with an impossible decision; release staff to furlough to ease the burden of cost and run on a skeleton crew? Or stay fully staffed and take another route?

The Nottinghamshire’s managing director, Amanda Fletcher, said: “For us, it was an easy choice; not only did we want to keep all of our Green Team on site, but we felt we had a golden opportunity to make some enhancements to the course while it was empty.”

“The trick was daily communication with our wonderful members,’ Fletcher added.

“We were sending newsletters, creating detailed video with high production values, updating social media and letting them know that we were continuing to invest every penny of their membership back into the club while they were away. So many members were kind enough to renew during this period, despite not being able to play and I genuinely think that it was the fact they could see just how much the club was improving, allied to the work we were doing in our boutique hotel, The Residence, sheltering frontline key workers.”

The lack of players and a full house of experienced green staff allowed The Nottinghamshire’s two courses to achieve what many social media followers were calling a ‘brochure quality’ look.

‘It pained me to see the courses empty,’ said Fletcher. “But it did allow us to achieve a level of utter perfection on greens and tees that’s just physically impossible during the normal bustle of a busy club. It just meant that when we were able to open the doors on the 13th May, members were blown away by the way both courses looked and played. It was very gratifying for the whole team – and judging by member’s comments, just what they all hoped to see.”

Alan Hardy, owner of the club, said: “It is pleasing to see that all the investment made during lockdown has paid off and we are already seeing an influx of new members, and long-standing members are thrilled with the changes. Our vision of offering the most exclusive golf club in the Midlands has been executed during a pandemic which is quite an achievement.”