Surrey club looks to the future

While many golf clubs are trimming down their budgets and cutting back, Surrey’s Windlesham GC is doing the reverse; investing close to two million pounds over the past twelve months.

The junior section of the Club has been one of the key beneficiaries of this. Windlesham has always enjoyed a well-balanced blend of genders and age groups at the Club and enjoys a growing family membership category, but like almost all venues it is keen to see more young girls take up the game – and stay with it.

It has recently launched a Club-funded scholarship programme which offer two year’s free membership and tuition for girls. There are currently three girls with scholarship status, with the aim to taking that number up to eight this year, all funded by the Club and it’s members. The Club is also taking its team of PGA-trained coaching staff into local schools to persuade more girls and boys to take up the game, ensuring that Windlesham plays its part in keeping golf on the sporting radar for youngsters.

The owners and management’s commitment to continued investment in the Club has also seen the opening of a major redevelopment of the already spacious clubhouse. The huge project, which was completed at the start of last summer, saw the whole building extended some 20 feet outwards in the direction of the golf course, providing for a sizeable increase in the internal space. This has allowed the popular restaurant to increase its capacity up to 120 diners, while the main bar and lounge area has been transformed into a light and airy space.

As you’d expect from a forward-thinking enterprise that invests heavily in it’s junior section, the Club is open to all forms of communication, and operates a regularly-updated website, Facebook page and a highly active Twitter feed, while a tablet and mobile App offers a more interactive experience for golfers, including fly-by videos of holes, GPS measuring, digital scoring, tee time bookings, and live weather links.

With a healthy number of new members joining the Club since the clubhouse project was completed, member retention has been equally impressive, providing further evidence that the Club has got it’s product right both on and off the golf course.