As announced earlier in the year, Peter Jones is leaving Muirfield at the end of his contract in June, and the Club will be taking the Golf Shop services in-house.  Having the flexibility of Club staff during the period of the proposed development, will make it easier to service the members, and removes the business risk for an external golf professional.

An informal evening is being planned to celebrate Peter Jones’s 21-year tenure at the club, where Members will be able to have a drink with Peter before he leaves.  The date of 23rd June 2023 has been set, with details to be confirmed in the coming week, and then communicated to the membership.

The New Golf Shop
An exhaustive process has been undertaken to find the new Golf Shop team that will service the members and administer the golf operations at the Club.

Our new team are bringing a range of skills to their roles, with customer service being at the top of their list. 

Simon Vale has been appointed as the Director of Golf and will be in charge at the Golf Shop as the head golf professional.  Simon is a PGA member and has spent time at Pennant Hills, Killara, and Castle Hill Golf Clubs.  Simon is currently working at V18 at Dural, which is an indoor golfing facility.  Simon also has extensive hospitality experience which shines through in his customer service.  Simon enjoys the technical side of teaching and is looking forward to sharing his knowledge with the members.  Simon will be commencing his role in early June, to help finalise the changeover of the shop.

The Assistant Golf Professional is Angela Tunchon.  Angela has been out of golf for a few years running her own personal training business, but has had previous roles at Pennant Hills and as Head Golf Professional at Lynwood Golf Club.  Angela brings a friendly, customer-based style with her and she is looking forward to getting to know all the members.  Angela is also a PGA member and is able to offer a females touch to teaching.

Nicholas Miller will be taking up the role of Golf and Retail Administrator.  Nick is currently a member of Muirfield and has represented our Club in the Men’s Major Pennant Team over the past few years.  A self-confessed “golf nut”, Nick will be sharing his knowledge of the latest golfing equipment and products with the membership. Nick has also been working at V18, along with Simon.

Dean Forrest will be continuing in his current role as a PGA Associate (trainee).  Dean will assist everyone in the Golf Shop, while completing his PGA traineeship under Simon’s supervision.

Grant Swan will also continue in his current role as a Golf Services Attendant.  Grant will be able to provide you with all the usual services of the golf shop, as he has done for several years.

Teaching
The Teaching services will be enhanced with Simon and Angela both able to give lessons.  The Club is investing in a modern teaching system and using Trackman as the base structure.  Trackman is an intuitive system which analyses your swing and gives you the data you need to improve your game.  Trackman will be able to be used in the Tech Centre within the shop, as well as being mobile to take out onto the golf course.  This will offer members a good range of teaching options.

Shop Changeover
Peter Jones will finish on Friday 30th June, with the Club taking over from Saturday 1st July 2023.  We are planning some modifications to the shop, including the addition of a couple of changerooms, so this means that parts of the shop will be closed for a few days while the modifications are made.

Registering for competitions and social play will still be made from the golf shop across that first weekend, but there could be some changes to the positioning of service points during the first week of operation.  Players will be notified as needed.  All structural changes will be completed by Friday 7th July.

 

If you have an outstanding Pro Shop account with Peter Jones, please see him and purchase your golfing needs before he leaves.  There are a range of specials currently on offer in the shop.

Further updates will be provided as we get closer to the end of June.

 

Good Golfing

Cameron Harvey
General Manager