Special inside features from GMNET | Vol. 4, No. 2: Spring-Summer 2012
Summer Drinks: Summer comes with its standard beverage list: mint juleps, gin and tonics, lemonade. But there’s something new this summer and keeping up with trends can mean happier golfers, guests, and fiscal bottom lines. If the spring across Canada is any indication, you're going to want as may icy sippers as possible on your hydration radar. More...
Wondering what’s new for food and beverage this summer? A New Fruit--Pluerry: This hybrid fruit, a combination of a plum and cherry, was developed for plum lovers who don’t like juice dribbling down their chin; it could be in supermarkets soon. More...
HR and Metrics: Simply stating that HR is an important organizational function often doesn’t cut much ice with people in charge of budgets, especially when those people lack HR knowledge and training. So, it’s smart to be able to articulate benefits in ways that reveal why an organization is better off with a planned process than without one. More...
Golf Industry Management News and Views
ONLINE GOLF MANAGEMENT COURSES START Nov. 1, 2012: Learn at your own speed and schedule, and take advantage of the off season with online golf management courses from Selkirk College. While the fall is some time off, it's not too soon to start thinking about the value of the winter lineup of 10 courses in the Golf Club Operations Online Certificate (GCOOL) Program. GCOOL courses enhance career credentials and boost on-the-job performance both for managers and more junior staff members. To date, more than 240 club employees have completed 300+ GCOOL courses in subject areas such as finance, human resources, marketing, leadership, turf grass, food and beverage cost management, golf shop operations, tournament and special event planning, and more. See the complete lin-up. Learn more...
Tee off your career at Durham College: Spend your working days around the sport you love! In addition to being ranked the number one recreational activity in the country, golf also accounts for more than $11 billion in the Canadian economy every single year. To meet the need for employees highly trained in all operational aspects of this exciting and growing industry, Durham College located in Oshawa, Ont., is pleased to introduce a new two-year Golf Facility Operations Management diploma program for September. Learn more...
Great managers have to know a lot, and as the world gets more complicated, there’s a lot more to know. Competent managers have good understandings of finance, marketing, sales, information systems, research and development, etc. But when assembling the hierarchy of what you need to know, I argue that your human resources knowledge should also be very close to the top, because if you’re a manager with only a superficial grasp of the holistic HR process, you have an enormous blind spot that can seriously hamper your career advancement. Learn more...
The TQM Approach:The words "total quality" were coined after World War 11 when General Douglas MacArthur sent Dr. W. Edwards Deming to Japan to help rebuild its economy. After pondering how to best aid the Japanese, Deming introduced a concept called Statistical Quality Control, also known as Total Quality Management (TQM) or Total Quality Leadership. Deming's approach wasn't overly complex. In essence, he offered an alternative way of viewing organizations, organizational cultures, and people. His writings, based on four beliefs and a set of 14 points, form a common sense, but seemingly elusive management philosophy. His beliefs are transferable to even very small businesses and organizations that are concerned with high quality performance and service delivery.
Rough Economy for Golf: According to the National Golf Foundation, 2012 started with 15,753 courses in the U.S -- down 299 from 2005. NGF estimates that 25.7 million Americans were considered golfers last year -- down 4.3 million from 2005. NGF says 463 million rounds were played last year -- that's down from 500 million in 2005 and 518 million in 2000. By some measures, golf's popularity is still high. But where it really counts for the long run -- the number of everyday players, especially new and younger ones -- the picture is bleak. "It's a little perplexing," Kite said recently at the Toshiba Classic, a stop on the professional Champions Tour in Newport Beach. "It's been difficult to build a base." More.
How Courses Get So Green: ...environmentalists have come to see golf courses as green scars on the landscape. They point to phosphorus-based fertilizers, which run off into local lakes and streams during watering and rainstorms, causing algae blooms that suck up oxygen and kill aquatic life. And because turf is mowed to very low heights, grass is stressed and vulnerable to pests, which leads to greater pesticide use. More...
Get ready for an overpopulated world. We’re now at seven billion and counting. Thanks to science and medicine, millions fewer infants die in the first year of life, and people from every country live much longer than at any time in history. This is good news, but it also suggests a socio-economic-environmental juggernaut is gathering speed and it is one that will affect every industry and labor markets across North America. More...
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