1. The Business of Sustainability
European Golf Business Conference
Cannes
23 November 2012
Philip Russell
Assistant to the Director – Golf Course Management
The R&A

2. Agenda
1. “Sustainability” – preconceptions vs. new ideas
2. Sustainable development in the real world?
3. Business value and applications
4. Growing our knowledge and gaining new insights
5. How to get started; an introduction to CourseTracker
6. Summary
The R&A Golf Course Committee

3. “Sustainability”
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8. “The 4 parameters of sustainability”
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10. “Sustainability” in the real world?
• We are here to discuss the ‘business’ of golf
• What can ‘sustainability’ actually offer?
• What value can sustainability bring?
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11. “Sustainable business”?
The right people, making the right decisions, with the right
resources, at the right time
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12. Information is key
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13. Planning
If we don’t know where
we’re going, how will
we know when we get
there?
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14. And times are hard at present!
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15. How can we acquire better information in order to
improve decision making?
We need to:
• Record
• Review
• Analyse
• Evaluate
what we’re doing and how we’re doing it
The R&A Golf Course Committee

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17. What can The R&A offer?
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18. What is it?
A free, online, digital business management tool for golf courses
The R&A Golf Course Committee

19. Who is it for?
The ‘decision makers’ at golf facilities:
• Owners
• Board/Committee Members
• General Managers
• Club Managers/Secretaries
• Course Managers/Head Greenkeepers/Superintendents
• Club Professionals
The R&A Golf Course Committee

20. Why?
Thoroughly researched
To raise awareness of the business benefits of sustainable management
To enhance capacity to initiate and drive change
The R&A Golf Course Committee

21. What does it do?
Business focused tool
Users record high-level management information
Production of instantaneous management reports to assist with the
decision making process
i.e. What are we earning? What are we spending? Why and where?
How can we improve?
Anonymous comparisons with other similar golf courses in the same
country
i.e. How are we performing in relation to our peers/competitors?
The R&A Golf Course Committee

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32. Key features?
Free
Anonymous
Secure
Quick
Intuitive
Useful reporting
Useful comparisons
Mobile optimised
Launching in January 2013
The R&A Golf Course Committee

33. Summary?
• Sustainability is far more than just an environmental agenda
• Strategic business concepts and methods
• Forward planning and future-proofing
• Effective integration is reliant on high level information
management
• CourseTracker is a free and intuitive new tool to help support the
decision making process. Available January 2013
The R&A Golf Course Committee

34. Thank you
The R&A Golf Course Committee