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The Road Back: Executing a “Panic-Free” Plan to Keep River Hills CC on Course

By Joe Barks | January 8, 2021

In this episode of C+RB’s video series, Rolf Eckert, General Manager of the Lake Wylie, S.C. club, describes how he and his team “powered through” 2020 to bring about significant and successful change—including breaking a la carte dining records, opening six new pickleball courts that have been “full every day,” starting a popular new “Smoke on the Water” festival, and tripling the goal for bringing in new members, even while instituting an initiation fee for the first time in seven years. “The secret is not to panic,” says Eckert, who notes that his previous experience included carrying out management duties on a cruise ship during a typhoon.

“The Road Back” video series from Club + Resort Business provides fresh insights into how club and resort properties are meeting the challenges posed by the pandemic and finding new and innovative ways to boost business levels and start their return to full operation.

Getting on “The Road Back” after the disruptions that 2020 brought was tough enough for any club and even the most experienced managers. But few clubs took on as much as River Hills Country Club in Lake Wylie, S.C., which had put a first-time General Manager, Rolf Eckert, in place just as the pandemic hit.

In this episode, Eckert describes how he and the talented new team he brought to the club during the year “powered through” in 2020 to bring about significant and successful change at River Hills—including breaking a la carte dining records, opening six new pickleball courts that have been “full every day,” starting a popular new “Smoke on the Water” festival, and tripling the goal for bringing in new members, even while instituting an initiation fee for the first time in seven years.

“The secret is not to panic,” says Eckert, who notes that his previous experience included carrying out management duties on a cruise ship during a typhoon. “And what we’ve shown the membership and community this year, under pandemic conditions, has created a real buzz and a taste of the bigger and better things to come.”

(Viewing time: 13 minutes)

 

Previous episodes of “The Road Back” can be viewed at https://clubandresortbusiness.com/category/the-road-back/

Upcoming episodes will feature how a club has introduced an innovative new short course in its golf operation, how another club launched a successful new restaurant during 2020, and more.

About The Author

Joe Barks
Joe Barks

Joe Barks is the Editor of Club & Resort Business magazine, working out of Wayne, Pa. (suburban Philadelphia). He has been covering the club and resort industry since the launch of C&RB in April 2005 and during that time has written cover-story profiles of over 150 club and resort properties, as well as many additional articles about specific aspects of club management and profiles of leading club managers. Barks has been a writer and editor for specialized business publications for over 40 years, covering a wide variety of industries and professional disciplines over the course of his career. He is a four-time winner of Jesse H. Neal Awards from the American Business Press, known as the “Pulitzer Prizes” for industry trade publications. He has also been a freelance contributor to many leading national consumer and business publications, and served as Marketing Manager for the Hay Group, a leading worldwide management consulting firm. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

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