In recent years, Visby Golf Club has dominated the top ranking in member and guest satisfaction in Sweden, reaching a peak in 2023 as they could see themselves as no. 1 in both categories. It turns out that dedication and attention to the golfers has been the secret recipe for them to stay in the lead for consecutive years.
On the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, about 90 kilometers east of the mainland, lies quite a special golf club. Its surroundings are pretty remarkable, and the courses and facilities complement the eye-catching environment. This is Visby Golf Club, a Swedish gem that dates back to 1958 when the club was founded, and the first 9 holes were built.
As a longtime user of Players 1st, the Swedish golf club has spent the last seven years gathering input from its golfers. As a result of first signing up for the Member Survey and later adding the Guest Survey in 2021, they've achieved some impressive results that might inspire just about anyone.
The beautiful club on Gotland can proudly boast of being the home course for 2,000 happy members, who played nearly 42,000 rounds last year. In the same year, Visby Golf Club hosted 18,000 green fee rounds across its two courses.
And there might be a special reason why so many rounds are played at Visby Golf Club. It's certainly no coincidence, and here’s why: It’s not just the members who enjoy swinging their clubs with a view of the Baltic Sea. Nearly everyone who laces up their golf shoes on the courses in Visby finds it a great experience.
Visby Golf Club ended 2023 in the most outstanding way, being the club with the highest satisfaction score among both members and guests in all of Sweden. Yes, you heard that right. Visby Golf Club was number one in both categories. That’s something to tip your hat to, isn’t it?
Success doesn’t happen by chance
You might wonder how this is possible and who is pulling the strings behind such a successful golf course operation.
One of the key figures is Bo Rehnberg, who serves as the Project Manager at Visby Golf Club. His primary role is to analyze various aspects within and around the club to make the best strategic decisions and guide the future direction of Visby Golf Club.
Rehnberg has been with Visby Golf Club since 2017, the same year the club decided it was time to start collecting feedback from its members by using Players 1st, and they haven't looked back since.
When talking about core areas of the club, Rehnberg keeps highlighting how important it is to ensure that their guests and members feel a welcoming atmosphere and generally have a great time when they’re at Visby Golf Club.
Also, the club’s strong foundation has helped make Visby one of the best in Sweden, and the project manager doesn’t hesitate to praise his colleagues and the club’s leaders, all of whom have played a part in Visby’s success today.
Always looking to improve
Even though life on Gotland might sound like a worry-free paradise filled with endless numbers of happy golfers, Visby Golf Club always has room for growth and improvement. They are in no rush to call themselves perfect or complete as a golf club, as they are constantly seeking development, striving to get a little better every single day.
Their seven years of usage of the Member Survey from Players 1st has proven beneficial in their focus on development. Most recently, it led to the club making some structural changes to their restaurant.
A negative trend in the club's food and beverage operation prompted the decision-makers at Visby to take action. This has meant that the club has had to make restructurings among staffing to meet their own high expectations. For Rehnberg, it’s natural to be concerned if any negatives suddenly appear, so they go to great lengths to address and reverse any negative tendencies at Visby Golf Club.
Without the feedback tool, the club claims it would have been way more challenging to gather such a nuanced picture of the trends and opinions among its many golfers.
A mantra of getting better every single day
The new initiatives regarding F&B are based on experiences with changes in this area, and this isn’t the first time Visby Golf Club has benefited from the feedback they receive from their golfers.
Previously, the club had relatively low scores for their halfway house/snack bar, which they naturally wanted to improve. The Players 1st Dashboard highlighted this issue, and since they implemented a strategy to address it, they’ve seen positive developments almost every year.
And it's not just the golfers' taste buds that have been spoiled at Visby Golf Club. They have made the same effort in several areas, particularly in their work to improve the bunkers. By truly listening to the golfers, they have seen significant results, which is clearly reflected in the increased satisfaction over recent years.
Even though the progress isn't sky-high from the get-go, the data and the development graph feature from the feedback solution still reflect a consistently positive development year after year. This means that the small changes made over time eventually pay off and contribute to gradual improvement over time.
And while it might seem like a small thing to some, Rehnberg emphasizes the importance of continuously moving in a positive direction, working in harmony with those who interact with the course daily.
Visby Golf Club has made it a priority to seek input from as many golfers as possible to get a detailed picture of reality and identify the challenges they should address first. This strategy has, according to Rehnberg, undoubtedly been crucial for their impressive development and their top ranking in Sweden for both guest and member satisfaction in recent years.
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