A few days ago, it became official that the Slieve Russell Hotel, Golf & Country Club has earned the title of PGA National Ireland.
Slieve Russell Hotel, Golf & Country Club has become the association’s 8th branded resort as ‘PGA National Ireland’. These are the 7 other golf clubs with PGA National title:
- The Belfry,
- The Oaks (Czech Republic),
- Zavidovo PGA National Russia,
- Argentario Golf Resort & Spa (Italy),
- Kempinski & Antalya Golf Resort (Turkey),
- The Gleneagles,
- Aphrodite Hills (Cyprus).
Those golf clubs and resorts who wanted to be branded as a PGA National golf club/resort believed in these three major promises:
- The PGA National title signifies a course of the highest standards, capable hosting international standard golf tournaments whilst being accessible to the general golfing public.
- World-class teaching facilities are available at each PGA National through an associated PGA National Golf Academy.
- Geographic exclusivity.
The Slieve Russell Hotel, Golf & Country Club has already staged numerous major Irish PGA tournaments:
- its annual PGA pro-am, which was first held in 1997, has featured a collective prize fund of €1.2million since it started – the highest paid PGA pro-am tournament in Ireland.
- In addition, the club has played host to two European Tour events when the North West of Ireland Open was held in 2001 and 2002.
Slieve Russell Hotel, Golf & Country Club is also the home club of up-and-coming Irish golfing stars Lisa and Leona Maguire, both of whom turned professional in 2018 after stellar amateur careers.
They also have got an outstanding golf academy (e.g. state-of-the-art video analysis and training programs) where resident head PGA professional Gordon Smyth and his team who are happy to help golfers of all abilities achieve their goals.
All these tell me that Slieve Russell Hotel Golf & Country Club was able to achieve international standards without having a PGA National brand title.
The golf course was designed by the highly-regarded Irish golf architect Patrick Merrigan. It is a par-72, 7053 yards (=6449 meters) long parkland type golf course.
Slieve Russell Hotel Golf & Country Club is located just 90 minutes from Dublin and two hours from Belfast.
If I were Slieve Russell Hotel, Golf & Country Club…
- I would focus much more on how to provide genuine hospitality experience.
- Turn the guests into ‘discoverers’ in the eye of their friends & family. This way, you will be able to achieve that your guests will promote you and share their experience in social media or during offline discussions.
- Try to recognize the changes in customers needs and expectations: today vs 5 years ago.
- Study what guests will need and expect from you in 3-5 years.
- Forecast the buying habits of Slieve Russell Hotel, Golf & Country Club: styles, habits, expectations, etc.
The most important task should be of every golf club and golf resort is to remain RELEVANT to its guests and members.
This is it is so important to understand our guests and members unique needs and to exceed their expectations.
What I have not found during my research on Slieve Russell Hotel Golf & Country Club is their investment in sustainability.
I hope I will be able to read soon about their eco-friendly practices that support sustainability.
Here are some great examples from other places:
- Nordic Hotel Forum, Tallinn, Estonia owns six bee hives with over 60.000 bees on its roof.
- Local produce: Atrium Mainz employs a cook who is a partner of Green Chefs. Green Chefs dedicate themselves to the respectful use of food, the avoidance of waste, regional purchasing, short transport routes and the use of domestic products.
- Carlton City Hotel Singapore, Singapore features many green walls to give a sense of nature within the building.
- Leopold Hotel Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium uses Led and energy-saving lamps; the outside lighting only comes on at dusk. The hotel only uses ecological cleaning products and the back-office uses printing paper with an eco-label.
- Caravelle Saigon also exchanged all plastic straws with metal and bamboo ones.