Revolutionising the golf experience
Why Get Golfing partnered with Lister Wilder
We had expected to find Ross Jones seated comfortably behind his desk for our interview. He is after all a Director with Get Golfing and currently has 13 courses under his control.
The reality was, however, a bit different. Ross was at the controls of a digger helping to sort out a drainage problem at a course in Hertfordshire. It said much, not just about his individual approach to helping out when needed but about Get Golfing’s whole community focused ethos.
While you will certainly find happy golfers on a visit to any of their courses, you might also find the clubhouse in use for a dementia cafe, or to serve up nourishing lunches for underprivileged children. You might also see children with special educational needs or disabilities enjoying fun golfing sessions. Set up as a charity in 2018, Get Golfing aims to revolutionise the whole golf experience with a more ‘carefree’ experience.
The charity was the brainchild of its late CEO Ed Richardson who coined the phrase: “The golf course is for golfers but the clubhouse is for everyone.”
Ed tempted Ross to become his Director of Golf Courses by taking him first to the Redlibbets course in the Kent countryside, where the ‘revolution’ was already well advanced. Then he took him to Pyrford Lakes at Woking in Surrey which was at the beginning of its journey and, despite a highly capable greenkeeping team, in much need of investment.
“If I had gone to Pyrford Lakes first then I probably wouldn’t have taken the job,” says Ross, who was at the time Course Manager at Camberley Heath in Surrey. “But that was the whole point because Ed needed me to appreciate the distance a course could go with new investment.
“When I go back to Pyrford Lakes now it’s a place of which the whole team can be proud. We have done a complete bunker redevelopment, the clubhouse has been refurbished and they have had a whole load of new machinery. It’s totally transformed and it’s very easy to forget where we started. We have achieved a lot in a short space of time.”
It’s the same story at the other courses that make up the ever expanding Get Golfing network, which now stretches well beyond its original area around the M25 and goes as far as Tadcaster in Yorkshire, Eastbourne in Sussex and Basingstoke in Hampshire.
The Get Golfing journey is one that Lister Wilder is proud to have become a part of, as the official supplier of Baroness fairway and rough mowers, Kubota utility vehicles and Ventrac compact tractors.
Says Ross: “I have known Stuart Venn-Dunn (Lister Wilder’s Key Account Manager) for 15 years – he supplied a rough mower when I got my first Course Manager’s job. I also like Baroness as a brand and love its approach to stripping machines back to basics, doing away with unnecessary electronics and building a machine around the greenkeeper that simply delivers fantastic performance.
“We inherited a lot of old machinery and the second-hand market is a minefield so I asked Stuart to come up with a package for our first phase. I was more than happy with Lister Wilder’s approach and most of all with the aftercare, which is where they really flourish. Many dealerships will sell you a machine and then lose interest when the deal is done. Stuart is constantly there to help, keen to know how we are getting on and to provide any training that’s needed. It’s the start of a great relationship.”
He adds: “We are all over England now and in each case Stuart has given us local suppliers and contacts. He went to each site to drop off machines and ensure that all was well and that parts suppliers are in place. “It’s that sort of approach that gives us confidence as we move into further phases of our agreement.”
