RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY REVIEWS
PECANWOOD
LEADS THE WAY
SOME WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE THAT THE front, and there are real efforts being made opportunities and then adopt the required
WINDS OF CHANGE ARE BLOWING THROUGH across the board to bring the game up to actions and ensure that any attendant risk
GOLF. date and relevant, accessible and so on, is mitigated as far as possible.
John Cockayne of Estate Living in
discussion with Francois Schoeman – CEO
of Pecanwood Estate HOA.
albeit that some of the supposed standard
bearers in this march forward make Rip van
Winkle look like an insomniac.
John: This need would apply to all areas
of an estate’s interests, and in all of this,
can I smell a ‘RET’? This would not be
In parallel, there is also the need to revise the same RET portentously announced by
the way that club committees, boards and the country’s leading (at least currently)
golf estate HOAs deal with the process of political party in an increasingly large bowl
changing the way facilities are managed. of alphabet soup, but one where the initials
I asked Francois if it would it be fair to stand for Radical Estate Transformation.
say that the days of genteel, custodial Are there any guns (or carrots!) that need
stewardship are officially over. to be wielded?
donkey being beaten with a carrot?) by Francois: Definitely! There are no longer queues Francois: No weapons please – this will just
The Royal and Ancient’s veiled threat to around the block to play or join most clubs, frighten everyone, so the process must be
remove Muirfield from the roster of Open as most have membership vacancies and inclusive, with everyone understanding the
Championship venues. struggle to fill the competition fields. A new needs and outcomes. The first step must be
attitude and new breed of management is to recognise that there is a need to change
needed to face this new trading environment, and therefore an equal need to modify the
one that can combine the prudent and existing management and thinking patterns.
custodial needs of any business process with If anything, I would want to see the carrot
innovative and entrepreneurial flair and the at the front!
Muirfield’s decision to drag itself into
the 21st century by allowing women to
become members of the club, a mere
270 or so years after it was founded, was
only achieved after a positive outcome to
the voting process was encouraged (could
this be the first recorded case of the
Sadly, this moment in most other sports
would hardly raise enough air to ruffle the
pages of a Sunday newspaper on most golf
clubs’ terraces, and for history buffs there
is the added irony in the fact that the R
and A, which was holding the proverbial
gun to Muirfield’s head, has been guilty of
some heel dragging of its own. As recently
willingness to take the chances necessary
to effect the changes that will secure the
game’s future.
John: We live in a world of instant
gratification and everyone wants quick
wins and immediate results – are these
as the first decade of the new millennium, John: All well and good, but we are risk achievable and what are the potential
the R and A clubhouse had a sign outside averse to some degree, so how much risk downsides?
on which it was stated that the facility was is involved?
out of bounds to dogs and women!
Francois: This is a big question, but also
Francois: No legitimate business environment a perfectly fair one. Yes, there are quick
Nonetheless, it is true that we should only is risk free, so the task for management wins to be had for golf, such as creatively
measure progress by following those in must be to evaluate the needs and packaging up and selling distressed rounds’
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