Accessibility first

Change in golf is a hot topic. Social transformations influence the demands of the golf market and of the golf clubs themselves. The approaches to mastering the challenges ahead are as unique as every club itself. Golf Post talks to the people managing golf clubs and shows how they envision the sport in the future. To learn more about the wide variety of golf courses in Europe, read our article series on Golf Post, the digital home for golfers.

Golfcentrum Amsteldijk

Located in Amstelveen on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Golf Amsteldijk is a 30-minute ride from the very center of Amsterdam and it takes 20 minutes from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The club is embedded in a rather idyllic scenery on the border between urban and rural environments.

The fully-fledged 9-hole golf course with a-status was built next to the river Amstel. It was designed by Alan Rijks and opened in 2012. A main characteristic of this course is it’s abundance of water hazards given the course’s location in a typical Dutch polder landscape. Few trees hold back the wind that can be quite strong at times and forms a challenging environment for the long game. “Yes, our 9 hole course very unique and fun to play, but our main business is practice, coaching, and training”, explains Nick Verschoor operational manager at Golf Amsteldijk.

Focus on being a training center

In fact, Golf Amsteldijk puts its focus more on being a golf training center open to everyone than on running a golf course. The vision was an accessible golf center, where golfers can develop in every facet of this sport without going on a professional course straightaway. This was Tineke Loogman’s vision. Loogman herself is missing her left hand. She trained a lot and made up for lack of strength and lack of balance. Soon she played at a high level in the European Disabled Golf Tour and even won it in 2006. She is the owner of the Golfcentrum Amsteldijk, which is quite possibly the largest golf practice facility in Europe.

Golf Amsteldijk offers „9 Golf Worlds“ dedicated to the different disciplines of the sport. “Every aspect of golf can be trained”, says Verschoor. A 300-meter long driving range has many targets at different distances. The world of chipping has over forty tee-off points with nine targets at a distance of 15 to 81 meters. Next to a pitching and a separate putting area of 5000 square meters, there is a special bunker training facility and many other options like 9 hole par 3 course for training purposes next to the a-level 9 hole course mentioned before. Except for the latter, you don’t need a handicap (the Dutch license to play is called “golfvaardigheidsbewijs“) and for the training facilities you don’t need to bring balls: “This is a unique service, but all golf balls you need to train are included”, says Verschoor, “we want to be a very accessible club and organize trial courses to give an affordable opportunity to try if golf is your sport.”

So, Golf Amsteldijk is specialized in golfer acquisition and tying them onto the sport and it holds pre-set 9 hole tournaments that count towards your handicap. “If golfers want to experience an 18 hole tournament, they have to go somewhere else. But if they want to play 9 hole or train their game again, they are always welcome back”, says Verschoor.

However, the attitude towards accessibility or low-threshold access is impressively reflected in the golfing education of children. 70 children take part in each training program that place in summer (March to October) and winter (November to February). “We developed these programs in the past years. Our teaching pros are particularly qualified to work with minors and we connected to many schools in the neighborhood to present our services to them”, explains Verschoor and adds: “To be honest, the project didn’t work that well in the beginning. We started with less than 15 participants. It took a lot of time and effort until the people got familiar with the idea and valued it in the end.”

Today the golf school at Golf Amsteldijk is well-known in the area and contributes its part in rejuvenating the sport. As always it needs some stamina introducing new ideas to society but in the end, it pays off. There’s still a long way to go, Verschoor is convinced, if the Netherlands wants to catch up with Great Britain or the US. “I’ve been to the UK recently. People of all ages play there. The average age in the Netherlands is much higher.”

People are preferring 9 hole golf

But there are some general tendencies in the Netherlands that imply a change in golf. “People are preferring 9 hole golf. They can’t fit a long 18 hole round into their schedule anymore. Be it because of other leisure activities, be it because of work, in the end, people do not want to invest so much time in golf anymore.” This is why an extension on the golf course at Amsteldijk is no option at the moment.

Instead of expanding Amsteldijk intensifies the member-club-relationship. Next to small persuasive deals Amsteldijk offers a golf trip abroad once a year. “2019 some of our golf professionals organized a trip and a tournament in Cadiz in Spain and many members joined in. 2020 we’ll go to Morocco”, says Verschoor.

Verschoor and Amsteldijk don’t work in a trial-and-error method. In order to meet all requirements, they collect and analyze data concerning how many people are using the facilities, when, and where. In addition, Amsteldijk analyses the interdependency of people using the Golfcentrum and visiting the restaurant. “We hope that our data analysis systems will offer more and broader packages in the future”, says Verschoor. Because it is of utmost importance to monitor reliable data on customer trends. Verschoor is aware of the fact that his club is located almost perfectly on the outskirts of the Dutch capital. Many projects may work very well because the catchment area is densely populated and very good connected to public infrastructure, yet still embedded in rather idyllic scenery.

Based on meaningful data the Golfcentrum decided to use the winter for implementing urban offers by making some expensive but important changes to its facility. Golf Amsteldijk now comes with a new restaurant and Top Tracer Range.

The previous restaurant had a good reputation and therefore slightly more non-golfing customers in the past already, but still, Golf Amsteldijk decided to renovate the Brasserie 10. “The restaurant won’t only re-open with new furniture, it is supposed to be an open place for everyone, golfing and non-golfing guests”, says Verschoor. The center of the new restaurant concept is a warm and welcoming atmosphere and a good price-performance ratio.

A recently started highlight is Top Tracer Range. Even though it’s out of season, all 10 bays are fully booked most of the time. “Top Tracer suits us very well. Firstly it is an excellent training device and secondly, it is a lot of fun. I think tracking technology is key to golf in the future and we want to be part of that”, says Verschoor. But, he adds, “Amsteldijk still focuses on golf training. Although Top Tracer attracts young people who have never played golf before, the main function remains sporting progress.” Both improvements of this winter correspond to the club’s philosophy of easy or low-threshold access to our sport.

Golf Amsteldijk celebrates the beginning of the new season with the public every April. “We call it the ‘Kick-off Dagen’ (Kick-off Days). It means free entrance for everyone, free trial lessons, workshops and demos with our pros, club fitting offers and a lot of fun”, says Verschoor. Because of the measures due to Corona, the feast had to be cancelled in 2020. “We’ll celebrate 2021 all the better for that,” says Verschoor. Now, after the lockdown golfing is possible at Amsteldijk since mid-May, the restaurant re-opened on the 1st of June 2020.

Thanks to all these efforts Amsteldijk is a growing and developing club. “Because of our monthly membership options, our numbers are decreasing in winter and increasing in summer. But the all-season comparison over the years shows that we are growing constantly”, Verschoor explains. The club has roughly 1600 members, about 200 of whom have a full membership. Full membership means that you have access to all the facilities and the 9 hole golf course all the time and may use the Top Tracer Range twice a month for free. Golf Amsteldijk offers further membership models in different price categories. “A full membership doesn’t make sense for every golfer, so why shouldn’t we offer other possibilities”, Verschoor asks rhetorically. Golf Amsteldijk is a good example of how to integrate an open and welcoming culture into a successful golf concept.

(Text: Benjamin Reeve)