El Niguel Country Club

OCTOBER 2018 ❘ THE DIVOT ❘ 3 ● PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE BETTER THAN EVER ■ FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE HAS BROUGHT MANY POSITIVE CHANGES TO ENCC Golf Course Renovation Last year, our membership resoundingly ap- proved a bold plan to completely renovate our golf course. The club delivered a thoughtful and well- planned strategy to execute this grand vision by hir- ing best-in-class contractors, engineers and consultants and, during construction, maintained a disciplined management oversight strategy, resulting in a project completed in less than five months. Utilizing this ap- proach added many additional features to the project not originally contemplated, such as the fairway lev- eling on No. 15, a barranca ditch in front of No. 16 green, the removal of the lakeside wall and addition of a bunker on No. 17 green, and bunkering on No. 8, among others. This was all accomplished while meet- ing the projected timeline and budgetary parameters. ◆ ◆ ◆ Member Experience Improvements In an effort to continually improve the Club's Member experience, we contracted with Denehy Club Thinking Partners, an industry-leading man- agement consulting firm serving the private club and boutique resort industries. The goals were to bench- mark El Niguel against other top-tier private clubs, complete a full 360-degree operational review and in- stitute department head performance plans with measurable goals. The result of this effort provided Club management a roadmap on how to improve op- erations and a focus on what is most important over time. During this process, we hired a new Executive Chef, a Clubhouse Manager, and, most recently, a Golf Course Superintendent. All of these talented in- dividuals have brought with them a wealth of opera- tional experience, which has already improved, and will continue to improve, the overall level of service and the membership's enjoyment of the Club. ◆ ◆ ◆ Go Forward Strategy This year, the Board of Directors began to truly focus on the "big picture" and the long-term strategic vision of the Club. As a Board, we have shifted our efforts from re-hashing committee meeting minutes to focusing on elements important to the future of the Club's welfare and to creating an annual business plan aligned with a long-range plan. Thought-pro- voking discussions have included clubhouse up- grades, health and wellness offerings, tee house/ driving range improvements as well as "out of the box" or "big picture" ideas. Our Club is governed by the Carver Model, where our GM is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Club's business. Over the past six months, Kimberly Wood has demonstrated she has the skill set and the support system to effectively do just that. We are grateful to have a completely renovated and functioning golf course and management team fully committed to make El Niguel a genuinely spe- cial place for its Members to enjoy. It has been a heck of a year. See you at the Club! – VIC MEMENAS, President T he past year at El Niguel CC has been truly transformational for this Club that we all hold so dear. With the membership's support, we successfully designed and built a fabulously im- proved golf course, have begun to improve the Member experi- ence by hiring talented and industry-trained department heads, and have empowered our General Manager to make the proper strategic decisions necessary in order to deliver the best golf and social experience possible.

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