Well Supplied

San Diego Country Club found a reliable source not only for new locker room products, but also for customized, logo’d displays, carriers and dispensers that all complement the existing decor.

The oldest country club in San Diego turned to a trusted source for a “signature” upgrade of its locker rooms’ product and amenity mix.

David Morris has earned CCM and CCE certifications as part of a distinguished career in club management that eventually led to his current role as General Manager of the prestigious San Diego Country Club (SDCC), located just south of that Southern California city, in Chula Vista.

As General Manager of San Diego CC, David Morris, CCM, CCE, presides over the city’s oldest private club, founded in 1897.

But long before Morris earned his certifications or came to work in a great private club like SDCC, which has 400 equity memberships and traces its history to 1897, he became well-schooled in one of the basic rules for success in the club business: You should sweat the small stuff, because details not only matter in a service environment, they can make a real difference.

So when a new House Committee Chairman at SDCC mentioned to Morris that one of the changes he was interested in initiating would be an upgrade of the products and amenities provided in the club’s men’s and women’s locker rooms, Morris knew just what was needed—and just where to get it. He wasted little time putting in a call to ‘Fore’ Supply Co., the  Addison, Ill.-based firm that has been distributing a complete line of amenities and locker room products since 1945, to a customer base that now totals over 5,000 country clubs, resorts, hotels, spas and other properties.

Over the course of his 26-year career, which has spanned management roles at three clubs, Morris had developed a long-standing relationship with ‘Fore’ Supply, through which he’d come to know the vendor not only as a reliable source of one-stop shopping, but also as a partner he could trust to help identify the exact product mix, in terms of quality, variety and competitive pricing, that would be right for a particular property’s needs.

San Diego CC

Fully confident in ‘Fore’ Supply’s ability to provide expertise and service in a timely fashion, Morris asked for suggestions on how the SDCC locker rooms could get a facelift not only from the type of products that would be put out for the men and women coming off the club’s William Bell-designed course (site of the first San Diego Open in 1952, the 1964 U.S. Women’s Open, and where one of the club’s young caddies and junior players, Billy Casper, first honed his game)—but also from how those products would be presented and displayed.

‘Fore’ Supply responded quickly to Morris’ inquiry by suggesting that the locker rooms could use Corian® countertop displays, which would complement the existing decor, to hold the wide variety of aerosol cans, plastic bottles and other containers of personal grooming products being put out for members’ use. Further, all of the displays and carriers would be imprinted with the SDCC logo—as would special containers with the same look that would be provided for washcloths, pump-dispensed hand soap and mouthwash, drinking cups and other products.

“The [logo’d dispensers] are holding up well, and they look good,” says Morris. They have also been used to help highlight a new line of premium products, such as aftershave and hair spray, that SDCC has introduced in its men’s locker room. “We wanted to offer things that went beyond the usual brands like Clubman, and [‘Fore’ Supply] helped us identify some new options,” Morris says.

“There’s been a lot of good feedback about [the new products] we’re putting out there—and I think much of that comes from how they’re being displayed in the special dispensers, too.”                                                                      C&RB

Tags: David Morris Fore Supply Co. issue locker room products product display San Diego Country Club SDCC