There are three clear non negotiables in running a really golf club F&B operations. It won’t be news to anyone that it all comes back to people.

So what are the things that great F&B operations are doing to hire great teams? They do three things; and they don’t miss any one of them, because if you do, you'll always be chasing "good enough."

Let me walk you through each.

Here's a hiring rule I believe in: 20% technical skill, 80% emotional intelligence and culture fit.

Some people think that's too extreme. I think it's not extreme enough.

The reason is simple. I can teach someone how to use your EPOS system. I can teach them how to present a dish, how to upsell a bottle of wine, how to clear a table properly. That's all trainable.

What I can't teach is kindness. Optimism. The ability to read a room. The genuine pleasure that comes from making someone's day a little bit better.

Too many clubs hire for experience over attitude. They want someone who's "worked in hospitality before" rather than someone who genuinely loves making people feel welcome. They see a CV with three pubs and a hotel and think that's safer than the enthusiastic candidate with no experience but a natural warmth.

It's not safer. It's just easier to justify to a committee.

I'll take the person with no bar experience who lights up when they see a member walk in over the jaded professional who's just going through the motions. Every single time.

Skills can be trained. Warmth can't.

The question to ask yourself… when you last hired for your F&B team, did you hire for what they already knew, or for who they actually are?

Here's where a lot of clubs go wrong.

They hire lovely people. Genuinely warm, caring staff who want to do a good job. And then they leave them to figure it out on their own.

No standards, and sadly, no consistency.

Good clubs make members feel valued occasionally; when the right person is on shift, when things aren't too busy, when the stars align. Great clubs make members feel valued every single time, regardless of who's working.

That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because you've thought about it. You've systemised it.

Think about the Ritz-Carlton. Every single employee learns their credo. They read it every day. They carry a card with them. That might sound over the top for a golf club, but the principle matters; if you want consistency, you have to build a clear framework.

What does that look like in a golf club context?

It's having a standard for how you greet members when they walk in. It's a system for remembering preferences… who drinks what, who sits where, who's celebrating something this week. It's a clear process for how you recover when things go wrong, because things will go wrong.

Consistency is what turns a nice experience into a trusted one. Members don't just want to feel special; they want to know they'll feel special. That certainty is what builds loyalty.

The question to ask yourself: if your best staff member called in sick tomorrow, would members notice the difference? If the answer is yes, you have a people problem disguised as a systems problem.

This is the one that most clubs completely miss. And it's the one where golf clubs have an advantage that restaurants and hotels would kill for.

Good businesses design their space well; their bar, their restaurant, their reception. Great businesses create a cohesive world. Every touchpoint connects. The marketing, the décor, the service, the language… it all tells the same story. And customers don't just visit that world. They want to belong to it.

Now think about your golf club.

Members wear your logo on their chest. They bring their families to Sunday lunch. They host their retirement parties in your function room. They celebrate winning the club championship with their mates at your bar. They put your club's name in their Instagram bio.

That's not a transaction. That's identity. That's belonging.

This is what I call the third space. Your club isn't just somewhere members play golf. It's somewhere between home and work where they become part of something. A community. A tribe. A world they've bought into emotionally, not just financially.

The question is: does your F&B operation reinforce that world, or does it feel disconnected from it?

Because I've seen clubs where the course is immaculate, the history is rich, the members are proud - and then you walk into the clubhouse and it feels like a motorway service station. Generic. Forgettable. Transactional.

That's a missed opportunity of extraordinary proportions.

Your hospitality should be an extension of everything that makes your club special. The stories on the walls. The way staff talk about the club. The little details that make members feel like insiders, not customers.

When you get this right, something magical happens. Members don't just recommend you to their friends. They recruit for you. They want other people to experience what they experience. They become evangelists for the world you've built.

Great golf club hospitality starts with people who care and scales with systems that let it. Then it transcends both by creating a world that members want to belong to.

People. Systems. World.

Most clubs have one. Some have two. Very few have all three.

Which is why very few clubs are truly great.

Where does your club sit? If you're honest with yourself - not where you'd like it to be, but where it actually is today - which of these three needs the most work?

If you'd like dedicated time to work through your club's F&B challenges, book a Power Hour Strategy Call. One hour, focused on your situation, with benchmarking, guidance, and a clear action plan to take away. £245 + VAT.