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© 2013 Photos by Dave Moser Accelerate Back To her roots Melanie Maslow returned to the family business and is now climbing a different ladder of success W By Rob Carey hen Richard Maslow sold his metal and plastics fabrication firm in the late 1980s, he went about fulfilling a longtime dream of building his own golf course. By 1993, Rees Jones had forged a scenic layout on more than 400 acres of rolling terrain that Maslow purchased, a combination of old farmland and dense forest just outside Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Once the clubhouse opened the following year, Huntsville Golf Club was among the most desirable private facilities in northeastern Pennsylvania. By early 2011, however, the club was fading, much to the chagrin of not just Richard but also his daughter Melanie. “The mentality of the club’s longtime management team was stuck in the past,” she recounts. “They felt that members should simply be happy to be here. But it got to the point where too many people didn’t really enjoy being here—we weren’t treating them like guests.” There was little reinvestment in the facility, as offerings were reduced little by little, and member suggestions were acknowledged but never acted upon. Membership dwindled, and the ones who didn’t Thanks to a change in operating philosophy, Melanie Maslow is standing tall at Huntsville Golf Club. leave “were resigned to the fact that this is the way it is here,” Melanie says. Member dissatisfaction was tempered mostly by the fact that the club had never once levied an assessment. “If there was a shortfall at year’s end, my dad would cover it,” Melanie notes. With the club at a critical juncture, Melanie stepped in to assume the role of club president from her father. But this required a major adjustment on her part; she’s also co-owner of a 15-employee
marketing and advertising agency, and a mother of four. Maslow turned over most of her agency’s operations to her “very understanding” partner, then threw herself headlong into the club environment. Given that her agency worked with clients from nearly a dozen different industries, Maslow brought to Huntsville a deep and cutting-edge perspective on determining customer desires and then delivering satisfying experiences. She used that knowledge to quickly begin asking questions and making moves. “First, I just walked around to observe what employees in each area do,” she says. “Then I’d ask, ‘Why do we do that, and why do it that way’ If something was being done because it worked for us but it wasn’t adding value to the member experience, we changed it.” Maslow also asked employees what they liked and disliked about their jobs, and what they felt they could do differently to be more effective. “That was really invigorating for them—and for me,” she says. To strengthen bonds with members, Maslow made herself visible, striking up conversations so they would feel comfortable enough to make suggestions to her. And once Maslow heard a few, she made things happen. For instance, what was for years a muddy path between the cart return area and the grillroom was quickly transformed into a small stone walkway. “I noticed it the first day I got here, and members told me they’d been griping about that forever,” she notes. Enlisting the help of a member who owns a quarry and another who’s a landscape artist, she got the path installed in days, at low cost. “It was a small thing, but it made the members so happy,” Maslow adds. “They were starved for something positive.” Next, the ladies’ locker room— parts of which were used as storage for pro shop inventory that staffers did not want to haul to the basement— was cleared out and spruced up. “The women were overjoyed,” she notes. Maslow learned from other informal conversations that some older members were having difficulty making the climb to several elevated tees from the cart path. To remedy this, the club laid down a few gravel path extensions. The maintenance crew then cleared away underbrush in typical trouble spots and installed better signage, all to improve the playing experience while maintaining the integrity of the course. The halfway house was cleaned and painted, and “cheesy and faded” old menus were replaced. Maslow also began to allow food-and-beverage minimums to be used there. “The old way of thinking here was that members would use the restaurant less if we did that,” she says. “But if that were true, then the problem was that our restaurant wasn’t good enough.” continued on page 22 Communication Culture When Melanie Maslow assumed the role of president at Huntsville Golf Club nearly two years ago, she had no intention of actively managing the club for very long. Maslow, co-owner of a successful marketing and advertising agency, figured she’d turn around the operations at the club her father founded, then transfer authority to a general manager. (An interim general manager has been in place for several months, with the primary task of hiring someone to fill the position permanently.) Those plans remain, but whoever becomes Huntsville’s next general manager will have to follow the blueprint Maslow has developed for communicating with employees and members alike. The overarching goal is to stay ahead of problems that arise in any area, so that they don’t fester long enough to sully the atmosphere—and the bottom line—of the club. Maslow started her revised approach to club operations by establishing a new style for employee meetings. As a board member in prior years, she observed how little the staff spoke during these sessions. “The managers would ask them, ‘What do you have’ and that produced almost nothing,” she recalls. “Really, who knows how you’re supposed to answer that” Now, Maslow asks questions designed to draw observations from employees about how they went about their duties and why, and also how members interacted with them that week. “This gets people to understand why other departments do things the way they do—and that we can change how things are done if that’s best for the members,” she notes. “Just knowing more about what goes on around the club makes people better at their job and more satisfied with it.” To connect with members, Maslow shook up the status quo by handing out her business cards, urging members to call or e-mail her directly whenever they have an idea or a concern. Shortly thereafter, she created a member survey addressing different aspects of their club experience—the first survey the club had done in 15 years, as it turns out. Based on those results, Maslow implemented an annual orientation session to familiarize members with all of the club’s offerings for men, women, teens and small children. “We found that it removes a lot of intimidation for new members, especially women,” notes Maslow, who promised a free dinner to any member who didn’t learn something they didn’t know about the club as a means of generating interest in the orientation. Meanwhile, management began extensive use of email and built a Facebook page to inform and entertain members as well as the general public. It’s all part of a collective effort to strengthen the relationship with members and potential members that stems from Maslow’s experience in marketing and advertising. “Communication with the customer is just about the most important thing,” says Maslow, “because a business has to give people what they want—not just what you want to give them.” —R.C.
Page 2 and 3: TO AUGUSTA Bill Stevens buys the Te
Page 4 and 5: Greensmaster ® TriFlex TM & TriFle
Page 6 and 7: Viewpoint From the CEO T he unsung
Page 9 and 10: CONTENTS March ‘13 20 24 FEATURES
Page 11 and 12: THE STAKES ARE TOO BIG TO SETTLE FO
Page 13 and 14: First NEWS, VIEWS, [ TRENDS & ANALY
Page 15 and 16: Industry Pulse December 2012 Monthl
Page 17 and 18: Industry Pulse December 2012 Averag
Page 19 and 20: Long On the Range The Hype: Trojan
Page 21: parcel, the Lemons had something di
Page 25 and 26: THIS CAR HAS IT ALL BATTERIES WITH
Page 27 and 28: hese days, you can’t grow revenue
Page 29 and 30: Runs in: Mar, Jul, Oct Consider a g
Page 31 and 32: Hills Golf Course in Fullerton, Cal
Page 33 and 34: © 2013 Illustrations by David Cutl
Page 35 and 36: “You just NEVER KNEW when you wer
Page 37 and 38: “Bentgrass has RUN a lot of good
Page 39 and 40: diately. When Elwinger approached h
Page 41 and 42: “I don’t think there will be mu
Page 43 and 44: ommunity A positive Outlook can hel
Page 45 and 46: Keeping Guests Happy s the battle t
Page 47 and 48: Playin’ In the Sand he shortest d
Page 49 and 50: southern California by many, Spinel
Page 51 and 52: Creating a New Labor Model Jeff Spa
Page 53 and 54: MEMBERS IN MOTION Purchasing Networ
Page 55 and 56: C L A S S I F I E D S (Pinehurst ar
Page 57 and 58: d Index Interact with the companies
Page 60: [ Who Says Three’s a Crowd ] Ther

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