Golf Club Management Challenges towards Sustainability: Opportunities and Innovations during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective

Ricardo Macías, José Bonal (), Jairo León-Quismondo, Iyán Iván-Baragaño, Javier del Arco, Pablo Burillo and Álvaro Fernández-Luna
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Ricardo Macías: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
José Bonal: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Jairo León-Quismondo: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Iyán Iván-Baragaño: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Javier del Arco: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Pablo Burillo: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Álvaro Fernández-Luna: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-15

Abstract: Golf is among the top five sports practiced in Spain because sport tourism is one of their main lines of income. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all golf clubs had to shut down and thus enter a situation of economic uncertainty. The main objective of this study was to assess the sport management challenges that general managers of golf clubs have had to face before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they dealt with these issues. In this qualitative case study, management challenges and strategies were explored by subjecting five golf club managers with at least 5 years of experience to semi-structured interviews. Managers described that they went from a pre-pandemic situation of economic growth to having to deal with different challenges such as a lack of tourism, increased costs, and a need to install new safety and maintenance protocols. All participants highlighted the importance of constant communication with and transparency among stakeholders (clubs, government bodies, federations) during and after the lockdown period. Management during the pandemic expedited the digitization of golf clubs, and this was considered one of the main upsides of this period. Exploring the strategies used could help managers of this and other sports facilities to design sustainable management protocols to deal with possible future health or economic crises.

Keywords: COVID-19; golf management; communication management; golf tourism; sustainable management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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