Anders Mankert has been a golf professional for many years and prior to his current role was a very successful club professional at Cosby Golf Club in Leicester. His professionalism was such that he reinvested heavily in both the studio at the golf range and also the professional shop, which was kitted out with all the latest shop fittings and teaching technology. To say that some of the committee at his previous golf club were not quite so thrilled with the success he was making of his role would be an understatement. They tried to get him to pay substantial fees in order to continue as their club professional – in other words they penalised him for being successful. Unfortunately, such small-mindedness is rife in some private member owned golf clubs across the country.
However, as luck would have it, the local racecourse had decided to reignite interest in their closed nine-hole golf course. They invited new bidders to make offers for the opportunity. Detailed negotiations took place and it became quite clear that Anders and the owners of the racecourse were going to make an excellent team together. A deal was struck and Anders, together with his wife, father and a few other invaluable friends, transformed the course and added a landscaped golf range, coffee shop and reception area, opening the centre in 2018. Later still, an 18-hole adventure golf course was opened.
BEFORE: The closed nine-hole golf course
Today the golf centre is a thriving example of how to run a golf business with Toptracer in all of the 16 bays, tables and seating at each bay with excellent lighting and good quality mats and balls. Customers can use the Toptracer Range Community App to link their personal profiles to access their entire history of shot data and club performance and it shows how they rank against other players on leaderboards. As a result, the range is busy almost all of the time. The range slopes gently uphill and was sculpted by Ingrid Eichler at Contour Golf. She managed the importation of some soil from nearby construction projects and this helped to offset some of the costs in establishing the business; the resultant outfield is well drained and attractive to hit balls onto.
AFTER: The course after regeneration
The ball prices are competitive with a Quick Break Bucket of 25 balls costing £4.95, the Good Time Bucket (50 balls) costing £8.95, Practice Bucket (75 balls) £10.95 and the Party Bucket (100 balls) priced at £12.95 – something for everyone. There is also a loyalty range card which has four top-up rates assigned to it which offers various extra percentages of balls to the customer, depending on how much is loaded onto the card – for example £100 top up results in an additional 40% of extra balls.
At the far end of the range building is Ander’s personal fiefdom – his teaching studio. From the studio he fits golfers for custom-made clubs with Ping and Titleist being his favourite brands, and also gives lessons to players from across the UK and even Europe: Anders is a highly successful teacher and is much in demand. He is very progressive in the way that he markets his teaching and has enjoyed great success using influencers who take a YouTube clip of his teaching philosophy and promote his services to high effect across their platform of keen golfers.
Anders has received several awards over the years, most recently the British Empire Medal, a huge honour for anyone and very few golf professionals have ever been so rewarded for their efforts. He also received a Lifetime Service Award in 2018 at the England Golf Awards, where he was also a finalist for Coach of the Year. Anders is also very proud to be a PGA Master Professional – another testament to the high quality of service available at the centre.
The Gallops Golf Course has a par 35, nine-hole layout which measures just under 3000 yards and provides a decent test winding through trees and gently undulating parkland. It is no championship course, but very pleasant and an ideal place to start and finish your golfing career. It is kept in great condition and is open throughout the year. The course was one of the first to open after lockdown during the pandemic five years ago and Anders and his team were fully prepared and made the best of marketing their user-friendly golf complex once people were allowed back to play golf. Green fees are competitively priced at £12.50 for 9 holes and £20 for 18 holes.
Inside the reception building, where green fees are paid and lessons booked, there is a relaxed and informal cafe where you can purchase a range of delicious snacks, cold drinks, beers and a full array of coffees. Although there is no formal golf shop, there’s the opportunity to buy a wide selection of gloves and Titleist balls.
The final addition to the centre was an 18-hole adventure putting course with a cosmic theme, featuring a flying saucer, various rockets, alien creatures, water features and an indoor hole, dimly lit with planets suspended above for the full outer-worldly experience. The course was designed and built by Craig Everett from Rocky Ventures and opened just over a year ago. It is proving to be the perfect addition to the centre, providing access to golf for all of the family, whatever the age group. The centre provides the perfect mix for any golfer of any age or ability. This is precisely the type of golf centre that ensures the game has a rich future.
Being able to run the whole business himself, without the interference of ridiculous busy-bodies, and with envious agenda, is a dream for Anders and his wife. Everything is logical, fair and designed to give a good deal to all customers and generate a reasonable return for his investment.
He spoke to Golf Features:
“It really is a dream come true to be able to operate my own centre. I love going to work and dealing with all of the issues in relation to running a busy golf centre. Luckily, I’m still very busy with teaching and the centre is growing in popularity with every year.
“The relationship we have with the racecourse is outstanding. When we were bidding for the license to operate the centre, I offered a personal guarantee secured against our home to the racecourse. I did this in order to persuade them of my commitment to making the project work completely. On the eve of signing the agreement, the chief executive of the racecourse told me that my personal guarantee would not be necessary as he could tell that we were going to put body and soul into the project and he did not need us to have the additional stress of having our home at risk. This demonstrates the quality of the relationship that we both enjoy, and the way that we have structured the financial gearing for the centre means that the racecourse benefits the better our business does. It really is a perfect definition of a win-win scenario.
“I’m also very touched that we have managed to get so many awards based around our customer care and teaching. It is a great source of pride to be recognised widely for doing a good job”.
Leicester Golf Centre is a superb facility that generates thousands of new golfers each year. As Anders promotes on his website, the centre is perfect at “Putting the Fun Back into Golf!”
For more details visit the website: leicestergolfcentre.co.uk.