'We'll compensate you'

The Royal Golf Club opened to members on January 1 and GulfWeekly this week puts general manager Michael Braidwood under the spotlight as the nation's long-awaited Colin Montgomerie-designed courses are put to the test by players and planned facilities are delayed. How do you feel your first month of operations went?

We have got off to a positive start with a lot of positive feed back from both members and media about the quality (and challenge) of the course and the friendliness and service from our staff.

However, it hasn't been all plain sailing as we are encountering delays in the delivery of the clubhouse and floodlighting. This is frustrating for us as we are currently unable to meet the expectations of our membership.

Are all parts of the Club now fully operational?

We are about 70 per cent of the way there. The most important thing is that people are back playing golf, which is what they have all been waiting for. We still need to get into our clubhouse which will be a big relief for our operations and food & beverage teams and the floodlights need to be powered up.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and I am excited about receiving these two final components as they will add to an already very impressive facility.

What has been the response of your members to these delays?

Some expected it, some are disappointed. We, as owners and operators, are the most disappointed as we truly believed we would be fully operational by now when we launched the membership back in October. We had a commitment to deliver to our patient members and have let them down to some extent.

Our team is giving our all to make it right and we are pressing hard to get delivery of the balance of the facilities. In the meantime we are focusing on the things we do have control of to ensure that the golfers' experience is as pleasurable as possible.

Why did you open the Royal Golf Club before it was completely finished?

We launched the membership in conjunction with the announcement of the Riffa Views Invitational Tournament (mid-October) that celebrated the completion of the golf course. This event took place in mid-November and at that time we had positive commitment from all concerned within the development that the clubhouse and flood lights would be completed by January.

It would have been challenging to have had Monty 'Open' the golf course in mid-November with all the fanfare and media coverage only for it to be closed the next day! We took a calculated risk in order to provide the local golf community with a quality golf course to play on. To some extent we have delivered as the golfers are playing (some a lot of golf!) and to some extent it backfired as we have been let down by delays in other components of the golf product.

The main thing is that people are playing golf and I hear more positives than negatives which is a good thing in today's current climate!

How is your team of staff managing to operate the facility without a clubhouse?

I am very proud of my team who are working as effectively as possible with limited facilities. We still have our offices in Budaiya, but it is challenging to manage the facility from a remote office. The F&B team have provided some excellent functions out of our small CafŽ t kitchen and our executive Chef Thierry Danzas has become a dab hand at using the barbecue!

Do you have any plans to compensate your members for the delays?

Yes, we feel it is only fair to recognise that we have not been able to deliver the full package. Having a championship golf course, great new par 3 course, driving range, excellent academy facilities, small restaurant and member events are great and have satisfied most of our members, but there is still a lot more to follow. We, therefore, feel it has been appropriate to offer the first four months of the year at half price, so in effect two months free of charge.

I feel this will go a long way in maintaining the goodwill that we kept during the period we were closed and that we built up during the Riffa Views Invitational Tournament. It also allows the management team to focus on delivering the product as opposed to responding to member complaints.

We understand that the Country Club being built adjacent to the clubhouse is also behind schedule - what is the situation there?

The Country Club was due for completion in March and is making excellent progress. However, I understand this too will be delayed by a couple of months. We are also in contact with our Country Club members who signed up in advance making them aware of the delays and the appropriate refunds.

Visitors will be able to play at the Royal Golf Club from February 1. What facilities will be open to them?

Visitors will be able to play from February 1 and will be able to enjoy the Montgomerie Course, the Wee Monty academy course, the golf academy, driving range, CafŽ t and the temporary restaurant we are creating in our marquee.

We will shortly have the ground floor of our clubhouse which will offer locker rooms, a fantastic golf shop, bag store facility and check-in and events suite. Due to the success of our membership drive we will only be able to offer a limited number of playing opportunities at the weekends for non-members.