Vision 2050: Golf It! as a model of the future
Alyson McKechin, former player on the Ladies European Tour, knows both sides: The game of golf in classic Scottish and international golf clubs as well as the hustle and bustle of a public golf course. The Scot is Head of Golf at the Golf It! academy, a course that the R&A and the city of Glasgow have turned into a testing ground for a new form of golf. A 9-hole course with a driving range and various other forms of golf are on offer here. The aim is to make golf attractive to the general public.
Alyson, you grew up with traditional golf. Now you are responsible for a 9-hole-golf course, which is obviously very attractive for different groups of golfers. What is your feeling? How many holes should the golf course have in the future?
Yeah, I think it’s, it’s been interesting for myself to come from that traditional background and then transition into a venue like golfer. With nine holes obviously the game’s quicker and becomes a little bit easier and then you’re attracting those audiences that don’t have the time for 18 holes. But for me, I think the future looks like 12 holes. 12 holes sit in the middle, and it’s just a little bit longer than obviously nine holes, but a lot less than 18. You really strike that balance with 12 holes, and in terms of different competitions and things like that, you could have on it. And then you can almost split it into two separate courses as well.
At the moment we see cities closing down golf courses because of real estate development. Golf It! is in the city centre. Where will the golf course be situated in the future? Will it be a green lung in the middle of the community or a recreation facility outside?
I think more in the middle of these cities. The role of Golf It! in our vision is to roll this out globally. So, for example, at the moment, the reason for the location of Golf It! in Glasgow is because the area that it’s in is a pretty much-deprived area. Giving people the opportunity to play and making the game more affordable and accessible, is important for us.
But also we’re so blessed with all the travel links that we have around us with being so close to the city centre and as well in terms of accessibility and, and people getting on to play.
As I said, I think that the community that you build up around the course is so vital to its success.
Golf It! has new golfers as well as good golfers as customers. What attracts them most?
We have adventure golf and park golf, which are really short forms of golf, and that’s the sort of entry level into the game. Then, we have the driving range and the golf course with the different tee positions. So we have something for everybody. But I think it’s that relaxed environment that we’ve been able to create as well. We have, for example, a street food company that comes in and provides all the food and beverage. We have a nice bar area, where you can simply come in and you can wear what you want. And we’ve always got music playing.
Besides that, we’ve spent a lot of money ensuring that we can provide almost 365 days of golf course experience. So the drainage that we’ve put in and all the work that the greenkeeping team is basically doing on the golf course makes it possible for us to be open when other courses are closed within the local area. All in all, we have got lots of different reasons for non-golfers and golfers to come and visit.
When you think about traditional golf clubs with 18 holes, a driving Range, a clubhouse and traditional management, are there elements that you think we don’t need at all anymore in the future?
I always say that there is also a place for the very traditional club in the game. If I could pinpoint it to one thing, it would be the rules and the barriers that are put up within certain clubs. I feel like that really stops the progress and welcoming new people through the door. I think we have been so successful with Golf It! because there is no judgment from the customers.
Golf It! attracts especially many women. Female participation is an important topic for the future of golf, as there seems to be a lot of potential in some countries like England. Why is Golf It! so attractive for women?
The Scottish national average is 12% female golfers. We have a 36% participation rate. I think it’s because of some of the programs that we’ve been able to create, for example, with the help of Scottish Golf. But again, it’s also going back to that environment that we’ve been able to offer. The feedback that we’ve had from our women is that they like the friendly, welcoming environment. We are lucky enough to have an area on the driving range where we can close the bank completely down and make it completely private. The women are not feeling under pressure and everything like that. We also have meet-ups on a monthly basis where the women are able to come in and have a bit of a social catch-up with friends, hit some balls, have tea or coffee, and have a bit of fun as well.
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Golf in the UK has become more open for women. Can you imagine that it will be nearly 50 % female golfers in 2050?
I think we can get close to it. We could get up into the 40s, which would be amazing. We already see more women’s golf on the TV. There are also more women’s golf initiatives. For me, it’s about getting the general managers of golf clubs to really buy into the different initiatives that actually are already there in terms of getting more women into the game.
Let’s imagine you can choose your favourite golf club of the future. How would it look, and what kind of course would you expect as an excellent player?
For myself personally I would like a challenging course. But I would also like that friendly and welcoming environment and easygoing club and, you know, where I could bring friends and family. And maybe I could play with them on a Par 3 course besides the challenging course as well.
We have seen that the courses in the past became longer and longer. What is your opinion about golf course length and a possible future for golf?
I think we’re getting too much into the habit of putting the tees back another 50 yards all the time, especially at major championships. But if you look at our traditional links, like some of the courses in Saint Andrews, they’ve been designed really well. Things like wind, strategic bunkers, greens and ondulations get you. So we need to go back to those sorts of more challenging and strategic holes instead of just length.
How do you make a difficult green playable for a beginner and challenging for a good golfer at Golf It!?
We have a Par three position on each hole, and we’ve got it in the shape of a big star. No hole is any longer than 100 yards of those tees, and we have four other different tee positions. So you can also hit into the same green from 200 yards.
The image of golf in Europe is not very positive. You come in touch a lot with new golfers and the Glasgow community. How did you improve the image of golf?
One of the things that we’ve done is we’ve actually created an education program within our schools. We’ve introduced nearly 12,000 kids to golf within our local area, which has been fantastic. The child and parents are now coming along to the hub and experience golf together as a family, which I think has been missed as well over the years. This has helped us make golf look more attractive.
Let’s imagine you are in charge of a traditional golf club, mainly male customers over 60 years. You become the new General Manager with unlimited budget. What will be your first three projects?
I like these questions (big smile on the face). First and foremost, I would be looking at the initiatives to get more things for women. I would be looking at how we could deploy more coaches or volunteers to broaden the audience and get more women into the club.
The second thing I would do is start a local school program. Deploying that person, or people to deliver that, would be important.
The third thing would be looking into better sustainability practices. All in all, I would be trying to come from a participation angle, but then from the sustainability angle as well.
