Kristie Stark and Co-host Colin Burns Interview Andrew Whitelaw

NYC based Host Kristie Stark and Co-host Colin Burns the General Manager of Winged Foot Golf Club, Interview Andrew Whitelaw the General Manager of Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin, Ireland. We talk about how our golfing realities during COVID really were polar opposites and how using your team as "intraprenuers" can excel your business. 

Sponsored by: www.StarkStandard.com

Transcript

Kristie 0:02

You are listening to the Stark standard podcast where I Kristie Stark interview professionals from all over the world. Today, I have Colin Burns here with me from Winged Foot Golf Club. He is co-hosting and we are interviewing Andrew Whitelaw from Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin, Ireland. Let's just start with an update. Where are you guys these days with rollout and opening?

Andrew 0:25

U m, well, we're, we're slow with the rollout of the vaccine. U m, w e're, we're starting to get the most vulnerable, u m, u m, members of society taken care of now. So we're just hoping they're planning a p ickup a nd pace over the next three or four months. So that should help us open up a bit quicker, but we're still under kind of our maximum, u h, l ockdown here. U m, April 12th, we were allowed to go a little bit f arther than we have been w orking, g oing from five to 20 K from your home. And then April 2 6 is a great day. We're g oing t o have some golf a gain. S o I 'm only in two balls, but as a star, and we're just d elighted t o g et, get o pen again, like I said, we've been closed f or thirty weeks for, since March last year, so i t's a lot of golf b eing missed and a lot of good times o f the clubs that we want to get. We want to get back to normal.

Colin 1:25

You know , that's quite a difference, Andrew, from here where golf experience, perhaps the greatest number of rounds ever played , uh, perhaps in the history of the game here in the U S uh, it was the one place where members could go , uh, members and members of the public as well to public golf courses , um, to get a bit of fresh air, to get some exercise and to , uh, and I think some mental health as well. So for us, it was really quite a , quite a boom. Um, there were some issues with caddies and use of the clubhouse , um, but from a other side of the coin from us, isn't that, I mean, it's , uh , polar opposites, but , uh, I suppose the number one priority was keeping everyone safe. You know, we , we like all the clubs, just getting those protocols. And I listened to you your podcast before, and you're talking about not picking up rakes and pens and all those kinds of it's the same worldwide, you know, and it's , uh , the glide to get rid of that again, to be honest, but , uh, just want to get started. I'm gonna jump right in and ask a question about your social media in today's club environment. You know , um, Christie who is on with us co-hosting today , um, came to Wingfoot , uh , because we needed somebody to manage our social media during the us open. And as you know, it was moved from June to September. Um , we certainly had our share of issues in terms of creating a bubble and , and, and, and COVID testing 2000 people and ensuring that that bubble remained intact. And so we wanted to, to , uh, you know, we needed to, to actively communicate. So hence Christie came along and we had just been like an old Club, like, like , uh , like port morning , we're a little bit slow to come around. Um, but we really recognize that the beauty of that sort of instantaneous communication with , um, with , with our private Instagram accounts, by the way , uh, both, you know, I say accounts because we have, we have a few of them that one for employees, one for members, and then one for the golf shop and, and they're all very actively used. So what's it like in your world? And in terms of the UK specifically Ireland, what's our clubs embracing social media. I know you are, you're active on LinkedIn, but from a club perspective, I suppose , what's it , what's it like

Andrew 3:33

Speak from port monarchs perspective first , um, you know, the whole COVID thing, our, our ambition was just to try and find ways of keeping our members connected with the club while they were away. And social media turned out or various plat communication platforms turned out to be the best way of doing that. And in a traditional clubs such as ours, I mean, all the communication prior to that had 99% of it was email, you know, and it was kind of , well, you know, we don't use those, we don't use WhatsApp groups, we don't use Facebook groups and , um, by nature of COVID , um , we were forced into using those kinds of platforms, you know, and, and we had great uptake on, we created much like yourselves, our private groups are on WhatsApp , um, private Facebook group, and , um , really using, trying to use imagery to , to keep reminding people how great the place was. Um, rather than a lot of words , um, and much like everybody else, having our chefs cook different things and pros do lessons and all that kind of thing. And , um, yeah, and that was fantastic. You know, we even, we got a little bit crazy and we did a live stream on YouTube and that kind of thing once. And so we, it was great. It went down really well, actually it's a year today, almost our captain did an Easter address to the members from his back garden, and it was the, probably the hottest Easter day ever. And he it's our most viewed piece of communication ever , uh , on the YouTube channel. So it's amazing that we did that. And , uh, yeah, so I suppose that's amazing . Yeah , no , it was great. And a lot of fun and, you know , I enjoyed it and to see someone speaking rather than just getting the words on the page was, was had loads of values . So just to break those, those barriers that had been there and communication, and the traditional environment for such a long time was, was exciting, fun. And I think , um, embraced by all the members, you know, which was great,

Colin 5:41

You know, I think, I think you hit on something Andrew, and it has to be fun. And I think once you get past that initial, this is kind of different for traditional club , like Portmarnock or like Winged Foot um, it's it's, I was very surprised. We started , uh , we did a major clubhouse a couple of years ago. We first signed the club has had been touched in , in, in many, many years. And we started doing live these little homemade right from my phone. And I would walk around with either Lily or Iliana or one Carlos and the saws were going and there's saw dust everywhere. And the response was overwhelming and I thought, wow, this is really interesting. Now I always go up a little bit before I do some of these things. And I'm known for doing sort of things that may be unusual , uh , even, even at this point in my career and my, my long tenure, I still like goofy, fun, you know , nothing too edgy, but I , I do like to push it a little bit. So we started doing these home videos and , and next thing you know, we're getting wild responses. And your , let me ask you, I'm, I'm fascinated by the fact that you worked in Dubai's, as I've told you, I've never been there. I was thrilled to hear the story about Winged foot making it all the way to Dubai, but from your perspective, from a management perspective, what was it like being in Dubai? I mean, what were they culturally, you know, just ,

Andrew 7:00

It does it by 1998, either. I'm a PGA pro , um , originally, and , uh , I had been teaching in Germany and I got the opportunity to move to Dubai in 98 to teach the German market. And then ironically, when I arrived there , the German market and decided to go to different destinations. So my , my, my German language wasn't particularly needed, but anyway, it was a great, great move. And, you know, in that time in Dubai, the construction of the city and just really starting to kick off, you know, it wasn't what it , the beginning of what it's become today. And it was such an exciting place to work, you know, and especially working for Dubai golf, who are the owner operators of , uh , Dubai Creek Emirates golf club, and now Jumeirah golf state . So they have the leading courses and to work at one of them and for a company like them who provided progression within the organization and provided opportunity for education and provided opportunity for innovation, particularly allowed you the rope to try things and to go off and try and make things better. It was really exciting. I mean, Dubai is so dynamic. I mean, it's, it's , uh , a restaurant, for example, in the restaurant business, the restaurant concepts change every year. If you're, if you're not moving, you're dying, you know, so it's , uh , you have to be on your toes, so it's a wonderful place. And it's , um, uh, so exciting to work there. I mean, I know , and it's sunny three 65 a year, so that helps as well.

Speaker 3 8:41

I was going to say the weather is probably a 180 from there

Andrew 8:45

Yeah. I mean, in the , in the summer , um , sorry, I'm on the other side, I call it , uh , are we on , um , I'd say it's 50 degrees, what's that a hundred and I don't know what that is and , and the measurement, but , uh, yeah, it's so hot in the summer. And then winter is perfect. You know, it's 20, 25 degrees. It's ideal golfing weather, the community, there, it's a such a diverse community. You know, you've got , um , people from everywhere in the world there , and they're all playing golf and they're all socializing. And it's a wonderful place to be.

Colin 9:18

Let me ask you a question. I need to ask you about this intrapreneur because I love the concept. I'd never heard it before. Um, so tell me how, w w what's that about and how do you sort of, you know, talk to the staff about that?

Andrew 9:32

Yeah , I mean, it's kind of a new word , I suppose. And it's a , you know, a lot, a , a lot of clubs have wonderful documents with our vision mission values, all on a nicely written on an ice pick piece of paper. And innovation is quite often one of those values, you know, but , um, I suppose the question is , um , what are you doing to be an effective ? What platforms and resources are you putting in place for your employees to actually be an imperative, to have a culture of innovation within your teams? Um, uh , you know, innovation, it's not just that a batch that you you're aware because it's one of your , your values. You actually have to live it. And , um, so it's, I suppose the first question is what does , what is an intrepreneur, you know, and it's an employee who's tasked with developing an idea or a project that tries to make things better. Um, so , uh , how do we identify the intrepreneurs is, is, is a real good question. It comes down to culture, you know , uh, having a culture in your organization that says innovation, creativity is the right thing. It's actually the right thing to do. It's what we should be doing , um, all the time. Um , and you see lots of organizations saying they're innovative , but are they really, you know, you'll see on LinkedIn or on Instagram, you'll see our new innovative concept, you know, by their nature, all innovative things are new, but not all new things are innovative. You know? So there is a , there's a clear distinction there. And , uh, you know, we have to understand a little bit why, why innovation doesn't happen in a lot of clubs. And, you know, it comes down to complacency, bureaucracy, you know , lack of reward and recognition for, for innovation within the teams and trust, you know, across, from these massive in innovation. You know, if you have a manager who's not exhibiting enough trust who doesn't show trust to his teams, you know, trust us, credibility, reliability, intimacy, self-awareness, if he's not exhibiting enough trust, you're not going to get members of your team coming forward, putting their hand up saying I've got a good idea, because they won't feel like they're going to be included in idea. Um, so for me, intrepreneurs is giving the platform for all your team to come forward. Whether there is a group it's not necessarily an individual to come forward and, you know, bring these great ideas to the table. Um , you know, sort of things we were going to be doing when we get back from lockdown is having kind of many innovation labs where we'll bring our, our, our feedback from the previous month , let's say our top five negative points from all our places that we gather feedback from bringing teams, whether it be green keepers, chefs, front of house operations, meet and greet and mix them up, give them the problem. Let the matter, come, come back with, come back with some, some great ideas and then allocate a particular group to go away and make that a reality. So, I mean, there's no point in being creative. If you don't implement it , it's just an idea that why so leave them, task them with it and implement it. And then that's the kind of, kind of process we're trying to encourage and foster here at the club. I'll give you one example. If we have time just quickly, we , um, we have, we have a Christmas dinner and obviously with COVID, we can do it. So we said how we got together in a group and we're thinking, how can we, how can we do something? So we delivered, we thought we'll deliver meals to the members' houses. We'll prepare them in the kitchen, how to cook it, we'll deliver it to their house and they can cook their Christmas dinner and have it with their families. But we thought, you know, that's not as fine as just delivery, actually. That's not, that's not that wonderful. So we thought, how are we communicating with them at the moment? And we said, right, well , or we're using zoom a lot at the time. So we, we took zoom and we thought, how can we bring them all together? Obviously we're getting them in a meeting room, but then we allocated them tables by using the breakout rooms function . So all the groups could have their normal tables and breakout rooms. When the speeches, we brought them all back in together, when it was time to eat , we put back in their rooms to eat together and they're smaller groups and they had a great time. We had a load of technical people around tables, but you know, what they socialized and it was brilliant. And I was the team doing that. And that's the kind of, that for me, is kind of the epitome of entrepreneurship, the team, putting that together and bringing that out, you know, so, and that was just one example of that . Long-winded

Kristie 14:17

I'm sure they looked forward to that as a event that they, as a family and being in quarantine and all that, I feel like that would probably be very exciting for them to look forward to. I mean, I'm assuming they do, they dress up?, Do people dress up when they...?

Andrew 14:32

A lot of them put the black tie on for it, to be honest with you , we've put their dress code and they have their portmanteau wine and steak. And a lot of the fun was obviously they had to cook it themselves. So the varying levels of scaling cooking were quite amusing. It was a , yeah, it goes back to how it was , it was big

Colin 14:54

You Know, Andrew , I'm not sure if you saw our Christmas concert, but we , you know, we , we had, we had a Christmas concert. I posted part of it on LinkedIn. And we actually had a quartet here, very accomplished musicians. And we had a , it was only myself Ilianna , um , OGL was there naturally geo had to be behind the bar, shaking some drinks. And we did a, we did a Christmas concert live, and then we rebroadcast it , uh , for the members so that they could put it on their big screens when they had guests over and they play Tchaikovsky and they played all these great Christmas tunes. And it was one of those things that we just, we , as you said, we came together and said, well, what, you know, it's scheduled, they're already, you know, there , these people have, we've paid for the entertainment, what are we going to do? So we did that. And then we had Iliana who is our Christmas tree , um, uh, decor expert. She actually, when the musicians went on break, she described her process for decorating the tree. And she was in this beautiful Christmas plaid skirt and wearing a , a beautiful, you know , red top. And I , I wore tuxedo top and it turned out that was one of those things that, you know, I sort of gulped and said, ah , let's give it a try. It really will receive. So congratulations to , I may steal their idea by

Kristie 16:13

He trusted her and the process that is very hard when you have a staff like that, and people that have high expectations of presentation or the previous year or whatever it was you guys have done. So it is really a trust issue. Um, Andrew, you mentioned that when you were in Dubai, you felt like they were very open to innovative ideas. And , um, can you touch on maybe an experience that sticks out to you while you were there that , uh, you know, planted that seed for you as far as being innovative and bringing your teams together like that?

Andrew 16:46

I mean, we, I suppose give you a couple of examples. One is a slightly bigger one than we had , uh , an availability issue with , with the golf course, just for the volume of play with 36 holes. And , um, you know, just trying to come up with the ways of getting more players on the golf course and , uh, you know, and it's something that was in the market anyway. Um, and rather than trying to change membership models or , or look at our green fee structure or anything like that , um, fortunately enough in an environment where , um, investment into the business was, was available. And so we flood the 18 holes and they extended the playing hours by, you know, another six hours. So , um, that that's more money, money than innovation, but that was a great change. Um, well, it's both , uh , I suppose a more simple one was one of my , my team, you know, we , we were struggling to record of who was playing and , and, you know, communicate with them after the game to invite them back for a second game and just thank them for playing and communicate . So we're struggling at the reservation desk for them to give us their email or after the round, or to fill in a survey. Um , so actually one of our driving range guys, one of our starters came and he said, I had an idea. I said, why don't we just take a picture of them on the first tee? He says, I'll tell them I'll email element . They'll give me their email address. And I'll email them picture from the first tee, the four ball group . And it was fantastic. And we ended up doing this digital picture that you just send straight from the team, but the time they're on the first screen, they've got foam and then we've got their details. And just, you know, that

Kristie 18:32

That was, That's actually what I did. No , that really is something that I stumbled upon at the U S Open. Um, our idea was kind of just to take pictures of the members that were there, able to volunteer split of the moment. I was like, how are we going to post these with their names? The families, you know, there was a lot of people out there. And so that was just spare of the moment what I ended up doing was I would take a picture of them and right after a picture of their ID, we all had to be ID'd up and it had all their information on there. So then I was also able to text it to them because their contact info was on there and then post it with their first and last name to really show the members who was there. I mean, I felt like the members were just so excited to see their own photos of them out of quarantine for just a few hours that

Colin 19:29

Always, you know, one question I had, which, which really caught my eye was employee mental health. Um, you know, this has been a tough time for a lot of people. Um, I know that some of the elders , elderly staff , um, um, you know, sort of reacted perhaps differently than some of the younger staff , um, people with children and dealing with, you know, at home schooling and all that. So what is, what is your approach now? I mean, are you,

Andrew 19:55

Yeah, so the employees were well-documented now there's been a lot of studies done on certainly in the golf industry and from this side of the pond , uh , Syngenta has done one, you know, and it's 60% of people have been affected some way mental health issues from, from the lock then . Um, so we, you know, we, we have a real staff focus , as I've said. And , um, we , we did some, did some investigation and we found a company that can provide this kind of 24 seven, you know, employee mental health service for our members and for our staff. Sorry. And it's , it's an ongoing thing. So that , I mean, it begins with training, some of our staff to be our own, you know, first aiders and mental health , um, online platform, monthly communications for them just awareness. Um , there's a , I'm not going to call it a hotline, but there's people you can call and talk to , um , all the time. So , um, it's more, it's more around the communication and just making, just making people and staff aware that there are places to go and places to talk and articles to read and resources to go to. And , um, and just ensuring that they feel when they're at the club in a work environment and they can use it when they're out of work, obviously , um, uh , as much, or as little as they want , um , for the year. So as a , I'm really excited, that's a great move for us to do so. I think it's a brilliant thing to do for the team. And hopefully it's , uh , hopefully, hopefully we don't have to use it too much. That's , that's, that's the ironic

Colin 21:38

Drew , I want to say. Thank you. Um, you know, I admire you from afar. I haven't had a chance to, just to spend time with you. I'm looking forward to it, hopefully in October , um, put your , like , I follow you actively on LinkedIn. You're innovative, you're creative, you're smart, charming. And I just , uh , you're so many who I really admire in the industry and it was a pleasure being here.

Kristie 21:58

Thank you so much. He speaks very highly of you, Andrew. So I was super excited just to get to meet you. And again, I've never been to Ireland, so it's very interesting to hear , uh, you know, as far as business aspects, how you guys do things different and , um, you know, kind of what your path is. Uh, again, I just think it helps other people that are in management positions kind of open their mind to, to what might be helpful for their staff. If they're one of those individuals that, you know, kind of stays on the straight and narrow and might not be as open to change. So I love having these kinds of talks .

Colin 22:32

Great. And thank you for having me. Yeah . So, Thank you. Thank you very much, Andrew pleasure.

Kristie 22:38

Thank you so much. Of course. You guys , thank you so much. Have a great day. This podcast is sponsored by stark standard business consulting from Portland, Oregon to New York city. We like our business. Like we like our coffee stark strong.