Playing a different game - Archerfield ?

Derek Tucker visited a golf club which has managed to combine exclusivity, informality and affordability in a refreshing new approach to sporting hospitality

Published: 14/10/2010

Archerfield Links, 18 miles south of Edinburgh on the East Lothian coast, nestles between the village of Gullane and North Berwick

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THESE are challenging times for golf clubs. Gone are the halcyon days of waiting lists, exorbitant membership fees and interest-free loans from prospective members in the guise of joining fees. Most are able now to offer instant membership; many have scrapped the iniquitous joining fees, and club committees are forced to look for ever more innovative ways to attract new business.

Most have gone down the road of chasing the golf outing business, encouraging hordes of visiting golfers with the offer of reduced green fees and all-inclusive catering.

Some, however, have looked more closely at the traditional golf club offering – stuffy, unwelcoming clubhouses, over-restrictive dress codes, petty rules and limited availability of tee times – and decided to do something different.

One such is Archerfield Links, 18 miles south of Edinburgh on the East Lothian coast, nestling between the village of Gullane and North Berwick. It has set its stall out to be the ultimate in friendly, relaxed hospitality based on its philosophy that it is privileged to have you as a member, not the other way round, as is traditionally the case.

It has adopted and adapted the American country club approach, with a huge, luxurious clubhouse, vast locker rooms with staff on hand to serve golfers before and after their game and an informality which puts visitors at ease immediately.

It boasts two David J. Russell-designed courses – the Fidra, named after the island and lighthouse in the Firth of Forth, and the Dirleton, which takes its name from the nearby village and castle. Fidra, although nominally a links course and considered the senior of the two, is actually more of a parkland course for the first 11 holes, with tree-lined fairways and nothing to suggest the proximity of the firth except the slightly sandy texture underfoot.

Dirleton, on the other hand, is a traditional links course in every respect, with severely punishing rough and deep bunkers.

Archerfield describes itself as “an entirely private haven”, and indeed it is, but it has also realised that the £30,000 cost of a debenture has priced it out of the lucrative visiting golfer market. Very few people from the north and north-east will shell out that kind of money for a club they will visit just a handful of times a year, which is why the club has now launched its residential membership package, an innovative way of offering full access to the club’s facilities on an occasional basis at a much more affordable price.

It works like this: Residential members receive six nights’ accommodation in one of the luxurious self-catering lodges dotted around the site, to be taken any time during the year of membership. Each lodge has three bedrooms, sleeping between five and seven people, a magnificent lounge, elegant dining area and a fully-fitted kitchen with twin ovens and integral microwave and coffee machines.

The lodge we stayed in had two double bedrooms, both en suite, and a single bedroom with separate shower room. The fittings throughout were top quality and even the most discerning traveller would feel comfortable.

The accommodation allowance component of the residential membership can be configured in any way, be that six individual nights, three weekends or, indeed, a straight six-night stay if desired. It even allows a member to book six lodges for one night and treat more than 30 friends to a bespoke golf outing.

Also included in the package are 12 individual rounds of golf, with the option of buying extra golf at the fairly reasonable cost of £75 per round.

The total cost of the package is £2,500, which works out at something like £70 per person per night, which seems extraordinarily good value for such quality.

Underpinning all that Archerfield sets out to deliver is the highest level of service to be found anywhere in Scotland. Every single member of staff is committed to making your stay as pleasant as possible, from the helpful men who carry your clubs from your car on arrival and return them to your car at the end of your round to the delightful serving staff in the clubhouse, for whom nothing is too much trouble.

It has long been recognised that Scotland needs to improve its customer service if it is to capitalise fully on its tourism potential. The club motto is “We play a different game” and Archerfield has taken that on board with relish.

The philosophy is that nothing is too much trouble and every member of staff appears fully signed up to that, even to the extent that one of the club chefs will cook and serve guests dinner in the lodges if they prefer the dining-in experience to eating in the clubhouse.

Time will tell if the Archerfield approach to golf club hospitality will show the way forward for others, but, right now, it appears to have created a niche market which has combined exclusivity, informality and affordability.

It is a formidable proposition and one which deserves to succeed.

Archerfield Links, Dirleton, East Lothian. Phone 01620 897050; Fax 08700 515487 or send an e-mail to mail@archerfieldgolfclub.com Visit the website at www.archerfieldgolfclub.com or e-mail Alan Murray direct at Alan@archerfieldgolfclub.com

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