I have just discovered that The Grove – May 2 – will be one of the venues of the 2023 Rose Ladies Series, in addition to West Lancashire Golf Club, Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club, Wentworth (East), and Bearwood Lakes Golf Club.
The Grove previously held a World Golf Championship event, won by Tiger Woods in 2006, and the British Masters in 2016.
It will be a good way to properly celebrate The Grove‘s 20th anniversary.
The Grove’s excellence is recognized with several significant industry awards and rankings, including
- No.1 resort in England for the first time in Golf World’s recently-revealed Top 100 Golf Resorts in the UK & Ireland, rising to 12th overall.
- Golf World also ranked The Grove No.1 in the UK & Ireland for service.
- The Grove collected the Ultimate Golf Resort accolade at last week’s 59club Awards, as well as the Golf Manager of the Year (Brad Gould, The Grove’s Director of Golf), Golf Operations Team of the Year, and Leading Individual Golf Sales Performance (Alice Kozlowski, Golf Sales Manager) prizes.
Brad Gould (Director of Golf, The Grove) said
“Last year The Grove became a signatory of The R&A Women in Golf Charter, and – with seven female team members currently – we are striving to lead the way in employing and developing women in our golf team.”
The Grove – extension & renovation
The Grove has been further improved by the extension and renovation of The Stables Bar and Terrace, along with the remodeling of the locker rooms and halfway house.
The rest of the resort has undergone an extensive 3-year refurbishment culminating this April with the completion of the 25 luxury rooms and suites in the 18th-century Mansion house and the relaunch of Sequoia Spa.
My comments & tips
In 2023, building trust through social proof (the above-mentioned awards – among others), influencer marketing, social customer service, and multi-channel purchase options will be even more crucial.
Havas Group’s Meaningful Brands 2021 study found
- brand trust is at an all-time low in many parts of the world (e.g. Western Europe: 43%; Eastern Europe: 37%; North America: 39%);
- consumers are seeking more personal and collective benefits (e.g. quality products, life easier, peace of mind, transparent, ethical, etc.).
Hence I would seek more such customer feedback and recommendations such as the Golfers’ Choice 2022 on Leadingcourses.com.
We should not only take care of the number of reviews but also that they are as new as possible.
The good news is – Hojar study – 67% of customers consider leaving a review for a positive experience, while only 40% think about leaving one for a negative experience. This is why worth personalizing the customer experience for your golf club guests and members.
Don’t be afraid of complaints & negative reviews!
Don’t be afraid of complaints and negative reviews! Think about them as opportunities to demonstrate how much you care (and +how good you are!) about your golf club guests.
By solving customers’ problems and treating them truly personally you can be sure that the person will share his/her positive experience with the whole world.
5 steps in managing a negative experience:
- Apologize!
- Acknowledge: this shows you are in sync with your customer.
- Fix the Problem.
- Demonstrate ownership of the problem.
- Act with urgency.
If you need more help then please drop me an email: mikibreitner@gmail.com or call me: +36 30 279 0054.