The name of the club, and the town where it’s located, translates from Spanish as “fence of earth.” The picturesque part of Northern California where both can be found, nestled in the scenic hills between Monterey and Salinas, provided the inspiration for the John Steinbeck novel, The Pastures of Heaven. And the new video that was recently produced about Corral de Tierra Country Club also sets the proper tone for such a place, with pleasant music and the resonant words spoken by its narrator, Bob Murphy, a club member who is well-known in the region as the long-time voice of Stanford University football and basketball.
In the video, Murphy evokes more peaceful images as he guides a tour of a property while using phrases such as “sun-splashed,” “constant breezes,” “breathtaking vistas,” and “gentle elevation changes” to describe its special surroundings. The serene feeling carries through to his characterizations of the 50-year-old club’s social atmosphere as well, with descriptions of its “quiet, relaxed ambience,” “year-round comfort,” and “very casual elegance.”
The 443 proprietary members of Corral de Tierra CC, along with those in social, junior and “super senior” categories, enjoy a special mix of physical beauty and casual social elegance in the region of California that inspired John Steinbeck’s “The Pastures of Heaven. |
With such a truly pacific environment that is so deeply rooted and has been carefully preserved in every aspect of the Corral de Tierra experience, the last thing the club’s General Manager, David Webb, needs is to have the peace disturbed for him—or more importantly, for any of the club’s members—because of mundane problems like generic-brand toothpaste or a shortage of disposable razors in the locker rooms.
To make sure that has never become the case in his five years at Corral de Tierra, Webb has maintained the relationship he’s had throughout his club management career with Tri-C Club Supply, Inc., the Garden City, Mich.-based, family-run company that has been providing club and resort properties with top-quality locker room, shoe shine and cleaning products and amenities since 1978.
The locker rooms at Corral de Tierra are another source of no-surprise serendipity at the club, with brand-name products that members readily recognize and trust. |
Webb says his relationship with Tri-C [also known within the industry as “Duffy’s,” after Duffy Linsell, co-founder of the company with his wife, Mary Anne] dates back to the early 1980s and has carried through his advancement in club management at several properties in Michigan and California, including Oakland Hills Country Club. As a result, one constant while he has moved up and around in his career has been unwavering confidence in the reliability of his locker room supplier.
“Product lines and pricing are pretty similar from one supply company to the next,” Webb says. “But the one thing about Tri-C is that they just can always be counted on to provide wonderful service, by jumping through whatever hoops they have to and just flat out getting it done.”
That reliability involves more than just assurance that what’s ordered will always be delivered in a timely and error-free fashion. It actually begins with knowing that the range of available products will encompass virtually anything a member might desire—and that in the rare cases when something that’s requested might not be on the product list, it can quickly be sourced and added to the list.
Corral de Tierra CC doesn’t put a great emphasis on offering “signature” products in its locker rooms, or on setting out logo’d dispensers. “We may occasionally have some special items like sunscreens or shower gels, but for the most part we stick with brand-name products that members recognize and are likely to have in their own bathrooms and medicine cabinets at home,” Webb says. Tri-C’s comprehensive,well-organized, user-friendly website makes it easy to get a centralized, comprehensive view of all that’s available, he notes. He also finds value in the special e-blasts that the supplier sends out to highlight new items in its catalog.
A new $10.6 million, two-story, 30,000-sq. ft. farmhouse-style clubhouse, designed to honor the region’s agricultural heritage, opened at Corral de Tierra CC in 2006. The lower-level locker rooms serve golfers and users of a new Fitness Center. |
Reliability also means providing welcome solutions to those nagging everyday issues that club managers really don’t want, and can’t afford, to be concerned with. For example, Webb long ago came to appreciate the value of individually wrapped disposable swivel-head razors and sealed-bag toothbrushes made available by Tri-C. “Having those things wrapped when they’re put out really makes it easy for everyone to know they’re fresh and haven’t been used,” he says.
Simple solutions like that, Webb has found, can matter even more in a service environment where the emphasis is on not only attending to, but anticipating, everything that’s needed to make sure members are left free to fully enjoy an especially carefree club environment.
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