Sponsors Spotlight
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Golf Shop Stock Orders
With the Golf Shop Stock Order feature, you have powerful tools to properly organize and track stock orders and efficiently pre-book inventory. Here are some feature highlights:
- Easily enter orders on the web or mobile app
- Access and track existing orders using the Pipeline View or Calendar View
- Generate useful reports to assist with your merchandise buying plans https://vimeo.com/755330732/bb39cde475
https://www.askpaul.ie/personal-budget-planner/
Zoom Meeting
Our ZOOM Session next week is all about Energy and how to make savings along the way. We will have Green Club on as well as SEAI so don't miss it.
The ZOOM Session is Michael Walsh is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: IGCMA Energy Saving Zoom Meeting
Time: Nov 24, 2022 11:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86858545214
Meeting ID: 868 5854 5214
Should any member have an discussion points ahead of next Thursday please email them to michael.igcma@gmail.com
Coming Soon
Education Partners
Each of our education partners have something to offer you as a manager, which will assist you in motivating and helping your staff, helping your committee in their decision making and generally keeping you on top of things. Over the course of the next few months, we will be asking them to present to you on a variety of topics. These will include Trends in Beverages, with Estrella Galicia Planning a Course project with DAR Construction, Mortgage and pension advice with Darren Nolan & PAX Financial Services, Running a Golf Tournament with Golf Genius, who have come on board lately, Health & Safety with Obbi Golf and Technology in Clubs with Jonas Club Software.
OBBI Golf
Ballybunion Golf Club Streamline Safety & Compliance with Innovative Software Obbi Golf.
Here is a pdf version of the below content - https://online.flippingbook.com/view/1050762977/
Major players across the golf industry, including Ballybunion Golf Club, are endorsing a Safety and Compliance platform which helps ensure the safety, compliance and training standards at golf clubs are up to date literally at the click of a button.
Golf clubs, golf course management organisations, insurance companies, health & safety and legal experts have all sung the praises of Obbi Golf, an award-winning solution which is simple to install and operate and saves golf clubs time and money and ensure compliance in an ever more-strict regulatory world.
We spoke to Matthew Trousdale, Head of Course Data, Training and Health & Safety at Ballybunion Golf Club, Co. Kerry, to hear more about their experience implementing new software platform Obbi Golf into their team and world-renowned golf course.
Ballybunion Golf Club Embrace Obbi Golf Software
1. Tell us about your job and club.
Along with general greenkeeping duties, I am Head of Course Data, Training and H&S at Ballybunion Golf Club. I am responsible for collecting and tracking everything from green speeds and surface firmness to soil temperatures and clipping yields. I also oversee training and Health & Safety with our Greenkeeping team.
Ballybunion is one of the most sought-after golfing experiences in the world. Members and guests who play Ballybunion expect exceptional conditions. Our team are always focused on how to consistently exceed the expectations of members and guests.
2. What was your working life like, pre Obbi Golf. How did you do your training and H&S previously…e.g., risk assessments and policy updates?
My working life, pre Obbi Golf, involved a range of jobs. These included Course set up, cutting greens/surrounds, raking bunkers, and repairing pitch marks.
Prior to Obbi our H&S was a cumbersome process because it was paper based. This resulted in a slower onboarding of new team members as well as inefficient record keeping in terms of H&S. Obbi has helped us overcome these challenges.
3. What made you take control of your H&S + Compliance in a pro-active way?
Obbi made the whole transition a very smooth process. The training documents provided by Obbi were very beneficial, including an easy to navigate website. Our team enjoyed logging in and working through the training/Health & Safety manuals, which has helped our team become more cohesive and efficient.
4. What departments use Obbi Golf?
Over the Summer, we have concentrated on fully training our greenkeeping team. This has proved to be very successful, and we now intend on moving on to our other departments, in the winter months and to be ready for the start of next season!
5. What were your initial thoughts when you heard Obbi Golf was being implemented?
As a team we are always looking for ways to improve. Our concern was that the software and processes within Obbi would not be user friendly. However, our concerns were unfounded. The Obbi Golf system is incredibly user friendly and the support from the Obbi team has been fantastic.
6. What immediate benefits do you recognise?
It was clear to see the benefits right from the beginning. Our Greenkeeping team had 24/7 access to all aspects of H&S. Individual log in details has meant they can get all information, on the go. We found there was healthy competition amongst the team, to read and complete training documents. The introduction of QR codes (to report problems/faults with equipment) has made life easier for our management and mechanics team. They are now alerted immediately to any issues. This means better planning, such as ordering new parts and keeping a track of any troublesome faults.
7. How easy was it to navigate and integrate into your working life?
This proved to be much easier than anticipated. Our Summer months, especially, are extremely busy. We started off the process by doing 1 to 1 training with all team members. With the help of Obbi Golf, we could show the team how to log in to their account and then how to navigate around the site and access training documents. This then allowed us to see where everyone was in their online training journey!
8. What is a stand-out feature for your team on Obbi Golf?
The QR codes have huge benefits. They are easy to operate, can be scanned anywhere on the course and provide immediate updates to the mechanics. This means team members can report any issues straight away. The team are now more aware of checking equipment before and after use and looking out for any problems.
9. How would you describe Obbi Golf?
Accessible 24/7.
Streamlined Health & Safety in one place.
Induction to new team members is easier.
Increased flow of communication between myself, the greenkeeping team, management team and our equipment manager.
An extension to the Ballybunion GC team.
10. Would you recommend Obbi Golf to another club and why?
Yes, we would definitely recommend Obbi Golf to other clubs. Obbi has streamlined our Health and Safety & Training policies. We are working together to reach the highest possible standards in Health and Safety and Training.
Obbi Golf CEO, Gareth Macklin, said,
“We’re operators ourselves and were trying to find a platform to integrate lots of the things that are out there. Obbi Golf covers everything around people – from on-boarding of staff, HR, training and communication. It handles processes from quality checks, machine checks, weekly fire checks and audits. Plus, from a safety perspective, it covers risk assessments, accident reporting, insurance documentation. We identified that there are lots of individual solutions out there – from Excel, pen and paper and individual apps – but we wanted to make things far easier and bring it all together.
We’ve won multiple different awards for innovative product of the year, Irish tech product of the year and we’ve recently been named one of the top fifty most innovative companies in the UK and Ireland, specifically for this golf product.”
To find out how Obbi Golf could help your Club, visit www.obbi.golf
Education 2022/2023
Please see below our Education Schedule from now until April 2023. There may be changes along the way but we'll keep you posted on these as they happen.
The CMAE European Conference from the eyes of Pat Barrett - GM Lucan Golf Club
How did you hear about this event? Having been on the Education pathway with CMAE over the past number of years I was always aware of European conference. This year I decided to attend mainly to support our outgoing CMAE president James Burns from an Irish managers perspective. This offered the final push to attend a conference and it was great to have a large Irish Managers representation at the Conference.
How did you travel to the event and how many days were you there for?I have to thank fellow Manager Jim Quinn on this one. Jim and I decided to travel together and he took on the responsibility of booking everything. Essentially, we stayed at the conference hotel in Tenerife and flew out on the Saturday from Dublin and Flew back on the Tuesday evening. Conference took place on the Sunday through to Monday, so 3 nights, but we did have a few hours on Tuesday to enjoy Tenerife.
Why did you travel to the event? As I said I always wanted to attend a Conference and as James was stepping down as CMAE President and there was a few Irish Managers going I decided that the time was right. I really enjoyed the experience and the networking, and I will for sure attend again.
Who was your favourite presenter?There were a number of great Speakers at the event and a lot of topics were covered. Topics covered ranged from Golf in Ukraine to breaking down barriers. However, for me its hard to look past Jeffrey Kreafle as a speaker. Not just the content of his address but how he delivers a session which was very inspiring and holds some educational values
Hot Topics
Interview Tecniques.- With Thanks to Jeffrey Kreffle of The Congressional Golf & Country Club Wasington DC
I have been involved in a number of interviews for GM’s at clubs this year, as some of you are aware. I have constanly been amazed at how little preperation candidates have done prior to their interview, with the result that they have sold themselves well short of their capabilities and have not been offered the position for which they have applied.
It was listening to Jeffrey Kreffle at CMAE’s conference in Tenerife recently laying out the do’s and don’t of interview’s that gave me a great insight into how to be better at interviews. I am delighted to share these with you in a year that has seen quite a number of managers change jobs.
Prepare well. That goes without saying, or it should at least. These are questions you are most likely to be asked.
1. The first question usually asked is “Tell me about yourself”. This is a great opportunity to state your case.
2. Always use “We” not “I” in talking about you and your club. It shows that you have a “Team “Culture as opposed to a “Me” culture. Very important when working with a Committee.
Try not to use any of the negative words above but always the positive ones.
3. This question really gives you a great opportunity to copper fasten your sales pitch. If you can’t sell your self, then how will you sell the club?
5. This gives you the best summary of how to prepare for interview. As Roy Keane said, “Fail to Prepare, prepare to Fail!”
If you see me across the table from you at an interview session, you’ll know I’ll be asking some or all of the above. Be prepared. Be successful.
Michael F Walsh CCM
Executive Officer
IGCMA
My thanks to Jeffrey Kreffle , GM At The Congressional, for plagiarising his slides
Golf Management Podcast
On this weeks episode I am joined by Gareth Macklin. Gareth is the Founder and Managing Director of Obbi Golf. Obbi golf is an integrated software platform that gives peace of mind to Golf Club Managers around their Compliance, Safety & Training in less than 5 seconds. Obbi is evolving at pace with the aim of becoming the number 1 Golf Compliance platform globally.
In this conversation Gareth outlines some of the potential pitfalls of getting safety compliance wrong. Is merely legal compliance enough? Or should we be aiming for best practice? When it comes to the health and safety of our staff I think it's hard to argue against striving for best practice. Not only is this the right thing to do for our staff but it has the potential to save clubs money and managers time.
Golf Events
Our Annual Hampers competition took place once again in our favourite venue, Royal Dublin GC, on Monday Nov 14th . A good attendance could have been better except for a few very late cry offs. We lost 4 from the timesheet between Sunday evening and Monday morning. It was a smashing day though and as pictures tell a thousand words,here are a few. (With Thanks to Gay Nolan and James Burns).
Best wishes