A media day was held at Hayling Golf Club earlier this week to introduce the historic Hampshire venue’s offerings to a broad group of industry professionals.
Collaborating with the team at Legacy Golf Advisors, which has been serving in a consultancy role with the club, invitations went out to individuals across a wide range of sectors within the golf industry in order to spread the message as wide as possible.
Steve Slinger, who was appointed General Manager at the Hayling Island-based club at the beginning of last year, said: “We recognised that Hayling had not been receiving adequate recognition as a premier links golf destination. Our goal is to address this perception and effectively communicate that Hayling offers a high-quality links golf experience.”
Stuart Gillett, from Legacy Golf Advisors, added: “We are very conscious that to spread the message and tell the story now requires a multi-channelled approach. We focused on emerging social media personalities, traditional golf media, and individuals working in golf tourism and club management. The golfing landscape has evolved considerably over recent years, and we felt it was key to embrace this with our guest list.”
Forty golfers played in teams of four over the 6,527-yard championship links, with the winning team comprising Mike Harris, Callum Austin, Chris Lomas and Sam Jones.
The winning team in action during the media day at Hayling
After accepting his share of the team prize following a post-match dinner, Harris, the co-founder of marketing and PR agency The Loop, said: ‘What a great day at Hayling – it really is a wonderful, pure links on the south coast. I first went across the bridge to ‘The Island’ 20 years ago and have been back many times. My last trip was three years ago and the progress since then has been phenomenal. Tom McKenzie’s bold redesign work has fully bedded in and the combination of hard work and meticulous attention to detail from course manager Graeme Roberts and his team, means the links look fantastic and provides a great test of golf.”
He added: “The attention to detail is most noticeable in the way the tees, greens, approaches and bunkers are presented – sharp, but in genuine links style. Add in the wild, natural duneland that provides stunning 360-degree vistas and you have a truly memorable experience. Off the course, the offering has been transformed, with great hospitality and a very welcoming, friendly environment. Full credit goes to Steve Slinger and his team for leading the transformation and for backing the bold vision the club and Legacy Golf Advisors laid down.”
Hayling Golf Club, which boasts one of only a handful of true links course on the south coast, is currently ranked 55th in Top100golfcourses.com‘s list in England
The popularity of this links course continues to grow, with membership full now across all categories. Alongside the operational enhancements and recent property investments, Slinger puts this down to the fact that more people are becoming aware of there being a quality links course relatively close to southwest London. Hayling is just 52 miles from the M25, and just a few minutes from the M27, and therefore becomes a viable option for a great links day out for people travelling from far and near.
“One of the first things we looked at when I started in the role last year was the pricing for our non-member golf and, using Legacy’s knowledge and experience, we devised a much more cohesive strategy around our visitor revenue streams,” said Slinger. “From opening online tee bookings to being more focused on yielding available tee times around our membership, it has had significant impact on the business. It means that we can maintain value for our members, while looking to develop exciting long-term investment opportunities for all to enjoy.”
Among those investments is the implementation of a course masterplan with leading golf course design firm Mackenzie & Ebert, with further improvements to be to made to the practice facilities to ensure the Hayling experience continues to get better and better.