The Game-Changer: Andrew Minty on Modernising Golf and Empowering Women in the Sport

0:01Endeavour through adversity, not being afraid to stand out and to do things differently than your competitors, which is one thing I do here as well. You always try to do things differently to set yourself aside.

0:15Jeannette Linfoot:today's guest is Andrew Minty who is an accomplished leader in the golf world whose career spans over two decades of transforming tradition into innovation now as general manager of Langland Bay Golf Club here in Wales Andrew has led the club's evolution from a conventional local course into an award-winning institution renowned for inclusivity community engagement and forward-thinking leadership. Now Andrew's story really does embody the spirit of growth, resilience and visionary leadership that we celebrate. Awarded PGA Manager of the Year in 2022 and Welsh Golf Club Manager of the Year in 2023, Andrew really does exemplify leadership that balances heritage with progress.

1:06Jeannette Linfoot:His passion for making golf accessible and welcoming to all, regardless of background really does mirror the ethos of Brave Bold Brilliant where resilience vision and people-centered leadership are absolutely paramount now Andrew's story is not just about managing golf it's about leading change inspiring teams and building lasting communities and his experiences offer invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs leaders and innovators navigating transformation in their own field. Welcome to podcast, Andrew Minty. Nice to see you. Nice to meet you. Thank you very much for having me on. Honour to be on here.

1:50Thank you. It's great.

1:51Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah, you are very welcome. So here we are. We're in wonderful Langland at the golf club here, the Esteem Golf Club. And you are Director of Golf. That's right. Now, we were talking about your title earlier before we pressed record. What does the Director of Golf do, Andrew? because I think the title is a little bit understated in terms of what you're responsible for. A bit, yes. So Director of Golf originated from the States. Their sort of business model there was slightly different. And it came over to the UK in about 2009, 2010. And it's basically a general manager, but somebody who has a PGA or golf background.

2:26So the PGA introduced a qualification as a Director of Golf, which encompasses everything that a general manager would generally have. but because of the golf background, the PGA qualification, it's basically a general manager in golf.

2:39Jeannette Linfoot:Right, okay. So when we're talking about this, you're responsible for the entire club, aren't you? End-to-end, all the operations, all of the golf aspects, profit and loss accounts. So really, you're running the entire business. It all lands on my desk, really, yeah. Yeah. How does that feel? Oh, it's a bit of pressure, I have to say. And you've been here since 2010, right? Yes, that's right. So 15 years in the job and before that you were at McCutless. I was, yes. Yes, yeah. So I want to go back even further. How did it all start? How did you get into golf in the beginning? And I guess, did you always know that golf was going to be your thing?

3:20Right, not really, no. So a long story short, I always wanted to go into the police actually. Most of my family were either in or retired from the police. And I wanted to get a summer job or just on my holidays at a golf club. And I started playing and I was relatively good, but nothing certainly wasn't setting the world on fire playing golf. And then was offered this job. And back then, being an assistant pro, there were very few and far between getting that position. So it was a big decision, but I ended up taking that, doing my PGA training. And then it sort of progressed from there. And then I got into golf in a big way and then through to the management side.

3:54And there's loads of different avenues now you can go down in golf. It's not just the playing or the coaching side. and from there the business aspect really took me when we were in Machunis in my last club and I worked my way up there and sort of learned the trade from there then.

4:09Jeannette Linfoot:So where were you born? Where were you growing up as a kid then? In Swansea, yeah, so I've been here all my life so far and all the golf clubs I've been in have been around here. Visited the States a lot of the times and had sort of coaching conferences and different things over there but based all local. Yeah, because your accent isn't very strong. No? No, I don't think so. I was struggling. I was thinking, oh, I wonder if you did go home. Langland twang I'm putting on for this. It's good you're acting all posh, because Langland is a very posh golf course. It's quite an esteemed reputation as a club, isn't it?

4:43Jeannette Linfoot:So you went down, you didn't go into the police, very different career choice, going down the golf route. what was it about golf that just I don't know lit the fire in you I suppose I think whenever time somebody gets into the golf industry they want to play for a living they see it on TV and that's what they generally want to do the coaching aspect was good that always interested me but playing golf was was the main thing so I started passed my playing test first time with the PGA and then entered some of the mini competitions and then just got into coaching and stuff from there then but yeah it really did grip me to the extent that I was just obsessed with it and just playing all the time and doing coaching conferences just wanted to learn more and then sort of the industry went in a way like I say you can go down different avenues and now it's very diverse now but yeah it did capture me back then.

5:33Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah so you weren't seduced by wanting to you know stick with the playing and you know the stardom that comes with that. I enjoyed it but quickly knew that I wasn't going to make a living doing that I could obviously play to a standard like a term pro and the playing test and compete on a very small level but not not enough to uh to go on tour or anything so i went down that avenue instead then yeah yeah so when you're coaching you're obviously helping other people be better golfers what do you what do you love about coaching and what drives you crazy about coaching because you must be work with a whole over the years you must have worked with some incredibly diverse levels of capability very much so yes getting people into golf people who wouldn't necessarily want to do it but they've tried it and then they get hooked and then when you put together coaching plans for them and they ended up following those plans and you end up taking them through the the pathway to being a member that's really rewarding having somebody who wasn't keen on doing it and then just gets obsessed with golf and all the other benefits that come the health benefits and everything we're playing golf and then they end up joining and then that is really satisfying then so that's the part that I loved about coaching.

6:43Jeannette Linfoot:What about the bits that frustrate you? Any areas frustrate you with coaching? Not really, you've got to have some patience to coach with any sport but especially with golf. Probably the most frustrating is when you've got, you're giving someone a lesson and they don't practice in between and you're going over the same things which is fine but there's no progression there. As long as they're enjoying it it's fine but you want to give them that progression so that is a little bit frustrating but that's about it yeah well we were talking early before we pressed record weren't we about my my now husband I can say husband took us 20 years to get married but we got married this year um and and he's very keen to progress and he's you know it's like a full-time job Andrew to be really well really really well give a shout out to Buzzy on the podcast no but but he's taking it very seriously and and you know I was saying to you you know I do a lot of business mentoring people when I work one-to-one with people and I it's it's different but similar in that I get so much satisfaction when I see someone really kind of progressing their career getting a promotion or scaling their business or whatever and when you work with someone and they take on board your advice and guidance that's that's fantastic amazing but you get sometimes or certainly I do very rarely but now and then where someone I just know maybe they're just not fully committed so they're there for they don't take the actions and then that can be people come on you've got so much so much potential yeah come on you can do it for whatever reason there's some blockers there um does that happen with golf um it can do due to various reasons but uh you generally find well i have here at least anyway then and the last club that when you've got somebody who commits to that they'll generally progress maybe some quicker than others some of the sporting background might progress a bit quicker than others but otherwise yeah you you just get, as long as they enjoy it though, you get that general progression.

8:37Chris is fantastic because everything you ask him to do, he does, he puts in the hours, he'll be single figures in no time. He's flying.

8:46Jeannette Linfoot:I hope so. We'll be popping the champagne when he gets there, won't we? But no, he is quite dedicated to the sport and he has the time as well. Because that's it with golf, it's a long game, isn't it? And to be really good, you have to put the hours in, you've got to put the hard work in. It is time consuming with the practice, yes. Yeah. Yeah, very much so. I get asked all the time, whenever I might pop in for a glass of wine or something, there's never a want when I come here where someone doesn't say to me, oh, when are you going to start playing golf, do you know? And I say, I could lie to you and say, yes, I am going to.

9:16Jeannette Linfoot:Or I could be honest and say, not right now, not for me, maybe in the future. And it's time. It's the time commitment, I think. It is. I'm sure, as I said to you, undoubtedly the golf bug will bite you when you start. But then you get competitive and you want to progress and you have to put the time in then. so yeah I get what you mean and we all say I was never picked for netball at school so you know I'm not the sports but you obviously get a huge amount of satisfaction and you've got a very calming kind of aura oh yeah? I think so I think so, patience you have to have patience yes yeah, what's the difference between a winner in golf someone that wins the open or whatever because I mean it's a numbers game right but there's such a tiny, tiny percentage that make it.

10:05Jeannette Linfoot:What makes that real difference, do you think, between someone that's going to be a great golfer, a pro golfer that's in lots of competitions and doing well versus someone that wins? And then I've got a second follow-on question about longevity. So what makes that difference, do you think? With a pro golfer on TV, the time that you put in, as you said, regarding the practice side of things, I mean, to get on tour like that is a financial commitment as well with sponsors because it costs a lot of money to actually go on tour and to maintain that card and then having that sponsorship commitment will take away those worries to actually maintain your tour card and stay on stay on as well so if you have those things as well and obviously it's a talent thing as well but it's how much you put into it you look at the top players they're analysing their stats these days they've got their strength and conditioning coaches they've got their their mental coaches and their actual swing coaches as well so the team behind them is a lot bigger than what it was before.

11:00Jeannette Linfoot:Right. But just analysing all of the stats and then working on the parts of the game that are the poorest and then bringing it up to a level then where you can compete week on week, four rounds at a time. It's a real commitment, but that's, I think, how you would separate it, sure. Yeah, so I suppose it's like anyone, any team, isn't it? You know, you might see the one that's crossing the finish line or winning the tournament, but actually behind that, there's a whole army. Whole team, yeah. You know, everyone plays their part. So that sounds, from what you were saying, Andrew, it sounds like that's changed a bit over the years, maybe from when you first started in golf.

11:36Jeannette Linfoot:Was it much more simpler then? And now it's much more scientific, would you say? Absolutely. You always used to hear that the players on tour that would spend more time in the gym, others would just walk up to the course, hit a couple of practice balls and go out. And that's just what they did. That was their routine and they played well because of it. But you were saying about longevity, as far as staying in the game for longer, you have to look after yourself, look after your body, your nutrition, and that's where the team has grown even greater now. And that's why you've got these guys going on to the senior tour and staying in golf for years on years, so they can compete more regularly.

12:08Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah, yeah. And I guess the commercial aspect behind golf. Huge. I mean, it's a big industry, right? Oh, ridiculous. Yeah, it is great. Where do you think most of the money's made as an industry? On tour or just generally? Just in general, I suppose, as a sport, you know. On tour with the TV rights and the sponsorship for sure. But for the club, for the smaller sort of scale from where we are, you've got a number of revenue streams from the membership side of things. Sponsorship is an element as well. You've got the visitor golfers trying to convert the nomadic golfers to players as well. So there's different avenues depending on what you're looking at.

12:49But the commercial side on the tour on TV, that is just massive, huge potential with that. as can be seen in Royal Port Call this week up at the Ladies Open.

12:59Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah, yeah. So talking about ladies, very nice segue in there. Thank you for that. You obviously get a higher proportion of male golfers and female golfers in general. How's that changed, I think? How is ladies golf changing? We've been lucky here for the last, I think it's 11 years, we've got the largest ladies section of any golf club in Wales. Oh, wow. And we average about 140 odd ladies. So the course lends itself to members just really enjoy themselves here from the social aspect to the way the golf course is. Langland isn't the longest of golf courses, but it's really, really nice, really well maintained.

13:39And we've got a really, really big lady section. Going back about five years ago, Wales Golf in particular, who were instrumental, we're doing all of this, alongside the clubs, they were trying to get more women into golf. and you get a women in golf charter, the RNA, the governing bodies, wanted to just put a huge push onto ladies golf. And then they gave the pros and the golf clubs various initiatives where we could invite ladies in for free coaching, just get them engaged into the sport. And that really took off. And from there, probably the last, I don't really know for definite, sort of quote me, I would imagine the last eight years or so, it's started to get bigger and bigger.

14:14And now it's huge. It's really big. and generally ladies' memberships are growing all over the UK, but we've been lucky that we've actually got a waiting list now for all members and ladies are on that list. Yeah, it's great. It's really good.

14:30Jeannette Linfoot:And I think women's sport in general. Obviously, we had the Lionesses win literally a couple of days ago and that's just obviously great for football, but great for women's sport, whether it's rugby, whether it's golf. So I think it seems like there's a bit of a sea change, I would say. Yeah, it needed to happen. And it's happening in a big way now, which is fantastic. So talking about this and Langland being quite a, it's got a lot of legacy, hasn't it? It's got a history, it's got some beautiful culture around it that you would have inherited when you joined in 2010. And back then, I guess the world was quite different.

15:12Jeannette Linfoot:You know, that maybe maybe there wasn't such an acceptance of, as an example, women playing golf and separate parts, you know, no women in this bit. And, you know, I remember years ago it being like that when my dad played snooker, you know, to me, it'd be like a dance once a week when the ladies were women were invited. But otherwise it was all men. You know, you don't have women in the snooker holes. Oh, God, that's unheard of. So so I think golf possibly was a bit like that many years ago. but that's changed. It has. How's it changed for you here and what are the things that have made the difference, do you think?

15:50I will say that I inherited some really, really good things at the golf club when I took over in 2010.

15:55Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah. Inasmuch as years ago at this golf club, like, oh, there was a men's bar, women weren't allowed, exactly what you just said. It was so archaic. It was ridiculous. But that wasn't like that when I came here, which was good. Okay, great. So golf clubs have developed. I think for Wales and the clubs around here, it was when the Ryder Cup was coming to Wales in 2010 and they're looking at the legacy for that and they were building up to it. A lot of golf clubs were saying well how can we increase our membership, increase our visitors and they were adapting and changing. Like our dress code policy has changed over the last few years to have it a bit more casual to get more people into golf.

16:26So that transition with Langland at least anyway I had inherited that and it's gradually got better over the years but at some golf clubs they've only recently changed those sort of things which is quite hard to believe really um but but yeah here i was lucky that i had that and we just built on it and uh and progressed from there so if you're inspired by andrew's leadership journey

16:49Jeannette Linfoot:his vision resilience and commitment to building inclusive communities make sure to subscribe to brave bolt brilliant you know share this episode with someone who could use encouragement to lead with courage and clarity. Your support, it really does help us amplify stories of transformation and bold leadership across industries. It's tricky isn't it? Because I think whatever field you're in, if you're in business or whatever, I mean I had a bit of this when I was the CEO of the travel division at Saga. And Saga, very traditional brand, you know, I mean it's an older demographic anyway. It's supposed to be over 50s but it's really the average age of a Saga holiday is a customer was 74 average so you can imagine and then the cruise customer was even older so but you had this legacy brand almost like saga had become a bit of a joke you know if you if you qualify for saga car insurance oh my god you know you're knackered and over the hill um but there was a lot of legacy but there's a lot of good in the business as well it was a really strong brand but to actually take a legacy business and a legacy reputation and gently in the right way modernise it and tweak is quite an art I think because you don't want to totally upset what the club had stood for originally or in my case what Saga had stood for but I knew in this example for me if I didn't refresh the brand and the positioning that literally 10 % of the customers were dying every year, I mean literally It was very similar here I know exactly what you mean from my background at my last golf club it was very much a corporate venue so when the members here knew I was coming here it was we're not corporate we're a members club don't change the traditions we want to carry on the way we're going and that was quite a transition to say to them I'm not doing that I want to progress the club I want to grow the different revenue streams I'm going to do it in a way that we're not corporate we're not going to have a corporate style membership but it was keeping the traditions but yet as you say sort of pushing the golf club in the right way and and growing as the trends grew but not in a way where it was going to be changed completely so I I get what you mean with that.

18:58Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah, it's a tricky balance, isn't it? It is. And sometimes people want to be on the journey with you, and sometimes they don't, right? And some of that's around the team. It could be around the team, and some of it's about the clients and the customers. I can imagine that there was sensitivity around that and to navigate it in a right way. Tough to manage to persuade people that that wasn't the way I was going to go because some things had to change from the marketing, the PR, the different initiatives and the strategies we had back then that we had to put into place because they weren't there, but doing it in a way that I didn't do it all at once.

19:32I didn't say to them, look, we're going to open it up to everybody. You know, it was still going to be exclusive, but doing it in a way that sort of chipped away at it.

19:39Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah, yeah. How did you get people on board? You know when you get the naysayers? Because sometimes people are just like, oh, we'll never work. Not here. Yeah. Not made in Langland. I know, yeah. How do you use your influencing skills, Andrew, on that? That was constant communication with the customers and the members. Everything I was doing, I was saying what I was doing, why I was doing it, justifying it, and then showing them the results afterwards. Even the implementation of social media back in the day, in front of my board saying I was going to advertise on Facebook. I thought they nearly had a fit back then.

20:11But then proving how it worked, sort of engaging, educating, entertaining the customers on there, showcasing the golf club, but not in a way that we were desperate for customers, but in a way we were just sort of showing them what we had. And I think proving that over the years then, and gradually they knew that we had to do it. The money was coming in, the membership profile and the club's profile was increasing, but we weren't corporate, we were keeping the traditions of the club. That was quite key, that, but that was important.

20:38Jeannette Linfoot:Yeah, yeah, and social media was so important. It's a bit of a necessary evil to a certain degree, whether you love it or hate it. I switch, sometimes I love it, other times I'm kind of like, oh, it drives me crazy, but I can see the value and I think if you're doing it with intent and a purpose, like you say, you can use the data to sort of say, well, hey, let's try this. Let's see how it goes. And, oh, actually, that worked. And then you gradually get that buy-in, don't you? Yes, that's right. What's the hardest thing for you running the club, would you say? I think trying to please everybody, which is impossible.

21:13but we've got nearly 700 members plus social members on top as well so it's a lot of opinions a lot of you know we I'm here for the members to give them the best experience that I can give them but everybody has an opinion and thinks it should be in a different way so managing that and their expectations at any golf club not just here that is probably the most difficult part where they want things done tomorrow which everybody does but there are budgets and restraints and health and safety things. There's loads of different things that you can't do it all at once, but they want to see that constant progression because they pay to be here, but managing those expectations is tough.

21:52Jeannette Linfoot:And what proportion of your time would you say you spend running, let's call it the business side of things, versus the part that you got to the first reason, the golf? Is there a separation or not? 95 % business, 5 % golf. Is it? Definitely. Definitely. Yeah, that's pretty much been the case since I've been here, to be honest. I don't mind that. I still haven't played in a PGA event for quite a long time, but I still like to play, I like to practice. I go out on the course, you see it, you walk the customer journey, you see exactly what they see, and that's really important to do that. but the business side takes up 95 % this is a really busy club from the inquiries to everything that goes on here it is an exceptionally busy club so to keep on top of that yeah 95 % easily yeah and probably maybe a lot of people wouldn't appreciate that split they maybe think you know don't don't necessarily understand the amount of time and commitment is needed on because ultimately this is a profitable venture this isn't enough isn't enough a profit it's not charity it's not a CIC you know it's a business isn't it yeah people don't see it as that and because you're a members golf club all the profit or surplus goes back into the club yeah but it is a business you have to run it as a business otherwise it wouldn't survive but they see it as a club and they get a different mentality with it but it is a business and a very profitable one if done right yeah yeah yeah so let's talk about some of the changes that you're you're planning on you were talking before about you're going to do some some refurb and some kind of you you know, deciding where to spend your capex, really, your capital expenditure on some of the big projects.

23:29Jeannette Linfoot:And I'm sure there's a whole long list of... There's a huge list. ...investments you want to make, but you have to pick which ones. We have a five-year plan, which we've always had, which is basically a working document which changes all the time, whether the demands of the business, like I said, the health and safety things or whatever. But we're doing a lot of things on the course at the moment, changing the bunkers, which is a huge investment. It hasn't been done since 2001 or 2002, so it's about sort of eight to ten grand per bunker up there. We're looking to do a huge project on that. The Golf Clubhouse itself, again, trying to maintain the traditions, keep the areas of the club that the people want, but at the same time, we have to modernise it with solar panels, give it refurb and various things.

24:10So that's going to be a very interesting project to do over the next couple of years, getting a full refurbishment, hopefully, of the whole building. and then it's just a general capital expenditure things on the course with maintaining it drainage drainage and the greens we've got a course architect on board at the moment doing different things so the plan going forward is really exciting and that's one of the best things about the club which is by off stages so long one of the reasons is because it's they invest so much into the staff and into the the golf course there's never a dull day here there's always something that goes on and the plans and stuff that are going ahead it's um it's exciting

24:42Jeannette Linfoot:stuff here yeah yeah people look at your job wouldn't they and go you live in a dream you say oh i'm a golf pro oh great you must be playing all the time oh yeah yeah it's still not that not that at all i was just dealing with the p and l the balance sheet the cash flow keeping the members sweet you know leading the board yeah staff everything so yeah but you've got to really enjoy it i think to to want to keep doing it but uh yeah it's very diverse it's not there's uh you're not playing golf in the sun all the time and enjoying yourself it's a lot different than that yeah yeah did you were your family into golf then did you grow up as a kid like my dad in particular yes dad got me into golf down the driving range and then had a golf club membership for Christmas and then it just so bought from there then it was great and what did your parents do my dad was in the police oh sorry you said yeah yeah my uncle was in the police so I had loads of people in the police and my mum was housewife she used to work in Marks and Spencer's years ago but housewife and and yeah just grew up in a sporting good environment like that yeah brothers and sisters no no so so you were all that attention on you was that pressure no no it didn't pressure me at all no not at all okay and uh my decision to go into the police they didn't try to steer that in any way and then going to golf obviously looking at the the positives and negatives of what was going to happen the pga training where you go through all the different things uh but no pressure whatsoever no it was um anything i wanted to do it was full support it was great yeah no that's nice isn't it and I guess as an only child you know I mean I'm one of three so I think regardless if you're an only child or you've got a brother or sister or you're one of you know you're always kind of conscious of your family position or whatever you know and I think I think there are pros and cons um of being an only child there's pros and cons of being the third you know the youngest of three daughters and stuff so I guess we're always kind of conscious of that yeah but you've also gone spent a lot of time abroad haven't you internationally you know you've mentioned the States, being in the States.