We caught up with Club Manager John Dale to discuss his work at Wrotham Heath.
John Dale has overseen a period of growth at Wrotham Heath Golf Club in his five years as Club Manager, but he is keen to keep pushing for more.
His tenure at the Kent venue got off to an inauspicious start as his first day coincided with the initial Covid lockdown. Since then, he has been a critical part of major projects to enhance the club’s operations, from rehousing the greenkeeping staff in a purpose-built facility to strengthening financial management and budgeting.
He also played a leading role in developing a new strategic plan for the club along with the board in 2023, emphasising a commitment to sustainability, health and safety, and staff development to ensure long-term success.
Having strong working relationships with his staff, including among the greenkeeping team led by Bryn Preece, has certainly helped John along the way and he recognises the huge value in having everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.
“I’ve known the Head Greenkeeper for years and I was aware of the good work he’d done at Wrotham,” John explained. “His efforts on the course had helped grow the membership from 350 to our current limit of 500 and my priority was to help maintain that growth and enhance the club’s reputation.
“Being from the local area was an advantage as I knew some existing members. I saw Wrotham as a hidden gem in Kent, and I was excited to work with everyone here to push the club forward and achieve its potential.”
John’s top three tips
- Invest in yourself by taking the opportunity to engage with education initiatives. The whole industry changes so quickly and you need to keep up to speed if you’re going to excel in this job.
- Get the board on your side. This doesn’t mean just telling them what they want to hear all the time, but it does mean engaging with them in the spirit of collaboration and mutual understanding. Ultimately, you all want the same thing – a successful golf club – and that goal is more achievable when you work together.
- Look after your staff and encourage them to be active participant in shaping the direction of the golf club. Staff who are engaged will ask questions and offer suggestions, and that’s a very healthy and productive working environment to have.
The strategic plan is an integral part of that ambition, with John placing a high value on attracting, retaining and nurturing staff so they can excel in their roles.
“From a staffing point of view, that falls heavily on me and my deputy heads,” he said. “We’re always looking at their experience and trying to ensure we have longevity and consistency. For example we have a Deputy in place who will hopefully be the future Course Manager.
“On the bar and catering side we’ve got a good Manager in place now where before it was left to the board and the committees to run.”
One aspect of the strategic plan where the club has enjoyed huge success has been in building the women’s section, and John is quick to credit his Membership Director for her work in that area.
“As much as I’d love to take all the credit, our Membership Director was very passionate about this and has really helped to drive it forwards,” he said. “She was deeply invested in growing women’s participation, and the ladies’ section committee was crucial.
“We studied what other clubs had done successfully and adapted those strategies to our criteria. As a Club Manager, you can’t drive these initiatives alone – you need the sections to be actively involved and committed to the same goal.”
Sustainability is high on the agenda at Wrotham and John knows there is still work to be done on that front, but he has the benefit of having the full backing of his board and members.
“Sustainability is probably our biggest challenge moving forward,” he revealed. “Getting the committee involved and building knowledge in this area key.
“Golf-related engagement is straightforward because members are passionate about competitions. But areas like sustainability require a bit more work to bring people on board.
“However, with organisations like England Golf repeatedly highlighting how important these issues are, everyone is aware of it as an area where we need to make sure we’re not left lagging behind.
“With my board, I can’t praise them enough – they’re very forward-thinking. I’m sure there’s lots of managers out there with a board that maybe aren’t quite the same, and that will be a huge challenge for them.”
A significant next step for the club is the development of a swing studio to further enhance the facilities and offering to members, with John hopeful that will be completed this year.
It is a project that highlights the need for clubs to remain agile, even when a plan has been set in place.
“The swing studio wasn’t in our five-year plan, but it’s something that’s taken more of a priority particularly as we’re now full,” added John.
“Sometimes you need to be able to diverge from a plan because of the particular circumstances and this is definitely something we’re looking to get done this year.”
