Here’s why Idrefjällens Golfklubb is every guest player’s paradise

Last year, Idrefjällens Golfklubb excelled, ranking among Sweden's top clubs in guest satisfaction out of 144, leading with a mantra of providing guests with an experience just as good as that for its members. But how have they succeeded in creating such great satisfaction among guests without compromising on the club's members?

In the western part of Sweden lies a golf club that may stand out a bit from the rest. Idrefjällens Golfklubb has been serving thousands of golfers with great experiences for the past 30 years, and with the club's location in the heart of the country, golfers from all over Sweden have a great opportunity to stop by the small club in the northwestern part of the Dalarna region.

Idrefjällens Golfklubb was formed and registered with the Swedish Golf Federation in 1990. In the following years, the course was constructed, before the opening tee shot was struck on July 22, 1992.

Located in between the mountains of Idre, the course at Idrefjällens Golfklubb brings both vast expanses and fresh mountain air to the game. Source: Idrefjällens Golfklubb.

In 2007, Idrefjällens Golfklubb was named Golf Club of the Year by the Golf Journalists Association in Sweden. Source: Idrefjällens Golfklubb.

Idrefjällens beautiful and varied golf course is designed by Swedish course architect Bengt Lorichs. Source: Idrefjällens Golfklubb.

Usually, members play a huge role for golf clubs in Sweden. Players 1st data indicates that members account for more than half of all rounds of golf played in the country, with guests only booking a quarter of all rounds. But this pattern is not the case for Idrefjällens Golfklubb, where guests grab the most rounds by far. For this reason, Wickberg also refers to the club as a guest players club.

That's not to say that the club doesn't focus on its members. It’s quite the opposite, actually. At Idrefjällens Golfklubb, the satisfaction of the members is also sky-high. In fact, last year, they were also among the most satisfied members in the whole of Sweden. Impressive, isn't it?

Figure 1: The ranking of Idrefjällens Golfklubb's guest and member satisfaction score in 2023. Source: Players 1st

According to Wickberg, several different factors have contributed to Idrefjällens Golfklubb being able to see itself at the top when it comes to guest satisfaction over the past year.

First and foremost, she experiences that in recent years, a special bond has formed between guests and staff. Idrefjällens Golfklubb has a lot of guests and groups coming back year after year.

The Golf Club Manager very recently talked to the clubs’ head pro, and he highlighted the welcoming atmosphere at the club even though there are mostly guests on the course.

You'll notice this when you observe how guests feel about the welcome they receive at the club. Last year, Idrefjällens Golfklubb ranked fourth out of 144 clubs and achieved the highest response rate on the Players 1st Guest Survey in Sweden.

Figure 2: The ranking of Idrefjällens Golfklubb benchmarked against other Players 1st clubs in Sweden. Touchpoint: As a green fee player, you feel welcome when you arrive at the facility. Source: Players 1st

 

Idrefjällens Golfklubb 2.0 – as flexible as ever

The golf club is located right next to the Idre Fjäll Ski Resort, and in 2019, the resort took over the operation of the golf club, making it part of the entire Idre Fjäll Organization. This has supplied the golf club with an economic injection, allowing them to improve and optimize conditions for their golfers.

The collaboration with the ski resort has also brought along other benefits. The golf club now receives assistance with staffing during the busy periods over Spring and Summer when the ski resort employees don't have much else to do anyway. These employees already work with guests and tourists, which makes them very service-minded by nature.

When looking into the Players 1st dashboard, the club also stands out as a top performer in Sweden when it comes to how guests experience contact with the club's staff.

Figure 3: The ranking of Idrefjällens Golfklubb benchmarked against other Players 1st clubs in Sweden. Touchpoint: Meeting the on course staff was a great experience. Source: Players 1st

Besides staff floating around between the ski resort and the golf course, Anna Wickberg also underlines the power of utilizing the Players 1st Dashboard frequently to stay up-to-date. It allows the management to react promptly to feedback from golfers, especially when it comes to the course, which is their main focus area.

The opportunity to make changes quickly is also reflected when looking at the development of the course over the past year, where Idrefjällens Golfklubb consistently managed to increase satisfaction throughout the season and also scored above the national benchmark.

Figure 4: The development of the satisfaction score for the course at Idrefjällens Golfklubb from June to September, 2023. Source: Players 1st

 

The success from a helicopter view

While being a relatively small club, Idrefjällens Golfklubb has had great success in tackling tasks collectively. According to Wickberg, the ability to communicate the right things internally is a top priority. Also, the club strives to solve problems and challenges jointly, and they are always trying to make the most of each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Besides great teamwork, Wickberg underlines that the use of feedback has significantly eased her job as a Golf Club Manager. For her, it is essential to have supporting arguments based on data when proposing potential improvements to the golf course and presenting the ideas to the Board or other decision-makers at the club. With the results from the Players 1st Survey, they get black-and-white documentation about golfers’ likes and dislikes.