Dublin, Ireland (February 5, 2014) – The winners of the inaugural Global Golf Advisors Institute for Best Practice (GGA IBP) Excellence Awards have been announced in anticipation of the awards ceremony which will take place at the CMAA World Conference in San Antonio, Texas on March 9th.

A delegation of thirty four, including representatives from the seven winning clubs, will travel from China to the city of the Alamo to join golf industry dignitaries from North American and Europe in a celebration aimed at recognizing excellence in Chinese club management. Guest speakers will include Club Corp CEO Eric Affeldt and recently retired CEO of the Club Managers Association of America, Mr. Jim Singerling.

The awards are the culmination of twelve months of research and analysis coordinated by Global Golf Advisors with one hundred of the world’s top clubs from China, North America and Europe. The Excellence Award Panel which determined those clubs worthy of acknowledgement includes; Dr Aylwin Tai (CMAA-China Chapter); Mr Henry DeLozier (Global Golf Advisors); Mr Jim James (Augusta National Golf Club); Mr Bill Donald (Loch Lomond Golf Club); Mr Arthur Yeo (Reignwood Group); Mr Richard Sorrell (Vidauban Golf Club); Ms Patricia Downey-Schiestl (Fishers Island Club); Mr Steve Mona (World Golf Foundation); Mr Jim Singerling (Advisor to CMAA); Richard Bruner (Retired, University Club MSU); Ms Linda Carroll (White Bear Yacht Club); Mr George Carroll (Retired, Interlachen Country Club); Mr Joseph Murphy (St Georges Golf & Country Club); Mr Michael Leemhuis (Ocean Reef Club); Mr John McCormack (Castle Golf Club); Mr John Duncan (Retired, Royal Dornoch Golf Club); Mr Kirk Reese (Los Angeles Country Club); Mr Jonathan Smith (Golf Environment Organization); Zhi Gang Wang (Golf Magazine, Chinese Edition); and Mr Rob Hill (Global Golf Advisors).

The clubs accepting awards are;
Foshan Golf Club (Customer and Member Service)

Agile Golf & Country Club (Community Contribution)

Guangzhou Nansha Golf Club (Commitment to Junior Golf)

Nicklaus Club Beijing (Golf Course Maintenance)

Suzhou Jinji Lake International Golf Club (Environmental Sustainability)

Kunming Sunshine Golf Club (Human Resource Management)

CITIC Lake Golf Club (Excellence in Sales and Marketing)

The Global Golf Advisors Institute for Best Practice is a collaboration with CMAA-China Chapter, Golf Magazine China Edition and has the support of The World Golf Foundation, The Club Managers Association of America, The Asian Golf Industry Federation, Golf Environment Organization and the Tourism College of Sun Yat-Sen University. It aims to research, analyse and share best practices amongst participating clubs with a view to improving the performance of clubs in an array of management disciplines.

Rob Hill, a partner with Global Golf Advisors EMEA Office and Director of the Institute explains, “The Institute for Best Practice exists to facilitate a culture of information sharing amongst golf clubs and resorts around the world committed to improving operational performance whilst saving time and money. Sharing best practices is a key part attributing to the success of any golf business. While it’s important to learn from individual experiences, it can be more effective to learn from the experiences, mistakes and successes of others.”