Golf Industry Central Spring 2014 | Page 4

Mike’s Space WELCOME to the 2014 Spring edition of Golf Industry Central. Are country members being discriminated against in the city? This is an interesting discussion that has been happening in a popular online golf forum. Are players now utilising these types of remote/country membership as a way to cheat the system and not pay full subscriptions, or have the memberships been a saviour for many players that otherwise would have left the game for good? Mike Orloff is an Operations and Marketing Specialist for Golf Industry Central and a PGA Member in the USA and Australia. Originally from Southern California, Mike has permanently resided on the Gold Coast for the past 10 years. He has over 20 years of commercial golf experience in various senior management roles and currently provides operational and marketing solutions to the golf industry in the region. Currently, Mike also lectures part-time for the PGA International Golf Institute and runs the industry based website www.golfindustrycentral.com.au. Editor / Sales: Mike Orloff [email protected] +61 415 682 259 Contributors: David Newbery Senior Contributor David Newbery provides an in depth reports on the country membership issue plus gives us a full update of the recent NZ Golf Managers 2014 Conference held in Auckland. In our course Development update section, we have the wrap on Melbourne’s Eastern Golf Club move to a new location plus some more construction occurring at Moore Park in Sydney. We can leave our dependency on growing the game to the governing bodies or we can get involved and personally make a difference. We are utilising modern approaches such as “crowdsourcing” and “crowdfunding” to help overcome some of the problems and move closer to achieving our vision. “A world with toomany golfers. To get involved in Grow The Game Central, anyone can join the on-line forum to discuss what is happening locally and internationally, contribute news or best practices, and support initiatives happening around the world. As always please send me any items that you may think are newsworthy for the industry and we are happy to look at publishing on our website or magazine. A special thanks to our sponsors as well for supporting this publication and our busy websites. Bruce Young updates us on the progress made with the renovation work at RACV Royal Pines. Did they have enough time to get it all done and will the course be championship ready for the big event? I’m also excited to have launched our latest initiative called Grow The Game Central that aims to create a worldwide community of like-minded people banding together to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to play the game of golf or increase their participation. Mike Orloff Operations and Marketing Specialist Bruce Young Golf Journalist/MC www.bruceyoungmedia.com Andrew Howes Business Development Manager Golf Industry Central Publisher Morlo Pty Ltd ACN 123 872 784 ABN 1812 3872 784 PO Box 773, Main Beach, QLD, Australia, 4230 Contents may not be reproduced without written permission. Views expressed in editorial contributions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this publication and it’s management. Golf Industry Central exists to help golf facilities throughout Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia perform better. We offer easy access to golf industry news, job vacancies, recruitment services and operational advice. We also help overseas markets access the local golf industry via our vast network, online magazine and weekly publications. Golf Industry Central operates with a general premise that for the industry to get stronger there is a real need for a cross pollination of ideas and networking from across all the different sectors of the golf industry. We all have a common denominator with our respective businesses - we need more people playing golf and spending money! Currently our readership covers all sectors of the industry General Managers, Superintendents, suppliers, golf pros, front line staff, accounting, architects, and various others from over 80 countries worldwide. Our goal in each issue is to bring you a fresh and unique perspective on our golf industry. Through the sharing and discussion of thought-provoking topics, we will hopefully help your business in some small way. For this magazine to be fully sustainable and to achieve our goal and vision, it truly will need to be a collaborative effort. Please feel free to submit any items or stories you think the gener