Island View Golf Centre earns Chamber Award

Business Vancouver Island

Island View Golf Centre earns Chamber Award

By Staff Writer

Island View Golf Centre has taken the concept of the “driving range” and taken it several notches up. In fact, to call it a driving range is really a misnomer. Island View Golf Centre is a golf practice facility where people can hone all aspects of their game.

The facility is truly unique and in general manager Sean McNulty’s words, “came out of the gate with guns blazing” when it opened in early 2005. It immediately was named the best new range in Canada and second best in North America by Range Times Magazine, a well-known American publication.

More recently, in April of this year, it was named Business of the Year for companies with 1-25 employees by the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce.

“We felt spectacular,” McNulty says about winning the award. “We worked hard to get the organization to this level. The award is a symbol of the hard work we’ve put in in the past three years.”

McNulty credits the team that has been there since the beginning, with the centre’s recognition and success. Scott Keenlyside is the head CPGA professional; Andrew Wintraub is a CPGA professional and Hyo Sang Yoon works with the other team members to ensure that the business runs smoothly.

McNulty says the organization’s success is also due to discipline, consistency and focussing on delivering an excellent product to the customer. “But the big thing is discipline,” he says. “As I tell the employees on a regular basis, it’s not about being great four or five days a week. If you want to be a great company you have to be consistently great. Consistency is a mark of greatness. You look at a guy like Tiger Woods. He’s not a great golfer because he shot one great game of golf. He’s shot thousands of them. That’s what it’s all about – delivering top quality seven days a week.”

Everything about Island View Golf Centre is different, McNulty says. It starts with the driving range which looks like the fairway on a golf course. It has been designed with hills and bumps and many of the features that one would expect on a course. It’s also part of an overall beautiful facility. McNulty notes that many driving ranges enjoy a poor reputation when it comes to maintenance and esthetics. Island View has raised the bar considerably.

“I haven’t seen anything like this facility before,” McNulty says.

The driving range can accommodate 50 players with 25 upper and 25 lower stalls. Island View Golf Centre also features a putting green and a short game practice area where a golfer can except to encounter all the challenges he would face at a golf course from 40 yards in. This is a place to practice shots out of sand traps, chip shots and so on, McNulty says.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of Island View Golf Centre is the golf academy headed by Scott Keenlyside. Keenlyside has been awarded the Canadian CPGA Golf Teacher of the year, the BC CPGA Golf Teacher of the Year and Score Magazine’s Golf Professional of the Year. Keenlyside and Wintraub are both Class A professionals.

“They’re the cream of the crop when it comes to instruction,” McNulty says.

The golf academy offers instructional videos and lessons both at the centre and at neighbouring golf courses. “It’s a big part of our business,” McNulty says. “When we get into the summer they’re teaching lessons all day, every day.”

Everyone from experts to beginners can take lessons with the centre’s pros. They also teach group clinics, which are very popular with beginners and they do individual coaching where people sign up for a coaching session once a week. Coaching sessions usually take place on golf courses. McNulty likens it to having a personal workout trainer.

In McNulty’s words, clients are “ecstatic” with the lessons and coaching and the centre gets extraordinarily positive feedback. “The biggest sign that they’re doing the right thing is that a good portion of their business is repeat customers and referrals,” McNulty says. “They’re consistently great – and that’s the key.”

The clubhouse contains a pro shop that offers golfing gear including good quality used clubs and the center also does club fitting.

Business has been improving every year, McNulty says with 2007 seeing a 20 per cent increase over 2006. Future plans include converting a house on the property to a restaurant and bar. Also on the table is the possibility of creating a mini golf centre on the land. “There’s still some more expanding we’re going to do here so we’re really looking forward to the future,” McNulty says. “It’s going to be a very bright one.”

Island View Golf Centre is at 7081 Central Saanich Road.