Our “Top Innovators” recognition will give proper exposure to all of the ways club staffs and departments are now putting great ideas into motion on an everyday basis, through “Best Of” lists that will be updated regularly.
The quest for great new ideas—and impressive demonstrations of how they’re being put into action—have now become as much a part of daily life at club and resort properties as cutting cups on the golf course and determining the soup of the day in the kitchen.
And while we’re once again glad to present—in this, our 13th Annual Ideas Issue—our latest collection of some of the best concepts and innovative practices that we’ve come across over the course of another year covering the industry, we know that we’re still just scratching the surface when it comes to giving proper exposure to all of the ways club staffs and departments are now putting great ideas into motion on an everyday basis. Even with C+RB’s monthly “Idea Exchange” feature that complements this Annual Ideas Issue, there’s still much more that can. and should, be recognized and reported.
That’s why we’re now also launching a new program to identify the Top Innovators in the club and resort industry across the full range of management and operating disciplines. In addition to the additional exposure this program will provide in another issue of C+RB for many other exemplary ideas—and the clubs and people behind them—our Top Innovators recognition will also reside as an ongoing, fluid feature of www.clubandresortbusiness.com, in the form of “Best Of” lists that will be updated regularly.
To be sure, even with these new forms of coverage, it will still be a challenge to keep up with all of the cutting-edge concepts that today’s club management teams are developing and implementing. As you can see from the abundance of ideas highlighted in this issue from clubs like The Country Club of Virginia, Champions Run and Woodfield Country Club, along with the many other properties that have been featured multiple times and year after year in our Ideas issues, a drive for constant innovation is now firmly embedded in the DNA of many clubs.
To sustain the relevance and leading-edge positions that will continue to ensure their long-term success, these clubs know they must take time to always reexamine even their most proven programs and the smoothest-running parts of their operations. Check out how many of the “new ideas” in this issue grew from a club being determined to find a fresh and creative approach to a traditional or mundane part of the business, such as orienting and engaging new members, holding scavenger hunts and building gingerbread houses, clearing ice- and snow-covered roads on the property or collecting and disposing of golf course grass clippings.
No doubt, though, there are many of you who will still scan through the ideas presented in this issue and think, hey, we did something just as—or even more—creative or groundbreaking. When that’s the case, don’t just hold that thought—shoot me an e-mail to let me know what we’ve missed, and go to our website to submit your case for why, and in what areas, your club and your team deserve to be listed as Top Innovators, too.
When making his case to the U.S. Congress for developing atomic energy, President Harry Truman called it “a new force too revolutionary to consider in the framework of old ideas.” While we’re certainly not dealing here with anything nearly on that level of importance, the “revolution” we’re seeing in how clubs are now striving to constantly innovate has made it clear that we also need to create a new framework for how we cover great ideas—and you’re all invited to help us build it.
Joe Barks
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