Locker Room Living

With expanded services and comfortable lounge areas, a club’s locker room is becoming an oasis all its own.

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
June 2006
 

Summing It Up Beyond taking care of obvious needs (i.e., offering an adequate number of lockers), club and resort locker rooms must now also meet upgraded “standards of living,” with an emphasis on providing home-like comforts. One of the most important aspects of locker room management is ensuring that toiletries are well stocked and cover a wide range of needs. Take a cue from spas and fitness centers and upgrade wet areas with whirlpools and saunas. Or, add manicure, pedicure and massage areas. To maintain a comfortable atmosphere and high quality of service in the locker room, clubs must have a dedicated locker room staff Finishing Touches Gone are the days of slamming metal lockers and unattractive fluorescent locker room lighting. Today’s locker rooms are all about luxury and comfort. Here are some design cues to update your facility: Lockers: Wooden lockers in oak, maple and cherry finishes offer a distinguished look. Some clubs also engrave members’ names on their lockers for a personal touch. Flooring: Stone tiles and high-quality carpets set a luxurious tone throughout a locker room. Countertops: Granite and marble counters give impressive finishes to vanity stations. Lighting: Soft lighting creates a complementary glow throughout the space.

If you think locker rooms are simply a place for members and guests to hang their street clothes before a round of golf or a workout in the fitness center, think again. Through the years, clubhouse locker rooms have become more than mere changing rooms; they’ve been transformed into social gathering spots and pampering spaces that rival luxury spas and health clubs. Upgrading locker rooms not only expands the high-quality service that members and guests have come to expect from a clubhouse, but can also give clubs and resorts the competitive edge they need amid growing demand for fitness and recreation amenities.

For example, the state-of-the-art fitness facility at Brier Creek Country Club in Raleigh, N.C., attracted so much traffic that members were put on a waiting list for lockers. “The clubhouse has been open for just over three years, and since then we’ve had to increase the fitness lockers in both the men’s and the women’s rooms,” says Chad Flowers, Membership Director. “We didn’t expect to have 100% locker usage on the first day we opened.” The club currently has 376 halflockers and 138 “one-third” lockers, which are now 98% occupied.

Along with offering an adequate number of lockers, locker rooms must also live up to the high-quality standards of club life. An effective and comfortable locker room requires a careful combination of amenities, atmosphere and service. “Your first impression is coming into the club, and the second impression is going down to the locker room,” notes David Przybylski, Clubhouse Manager at Lake Winnipesaukee Golf Club in New Durham, N.H. “Whether you’re using the facilities or just changing shoes, you’re spending time in there. To have an absolutely gorgeous clubhouse and then a sub-par locker facility just doesn’t match. People come to expect that these facilities need to be top-notch.”

Awesome Amenities

Transforming a simple changing room into a luxurious locker room starts with amenities. Offering complementary toiletries in the vanity stations allows members to pack their workout and golf bags lightly. And if they’re of high enough quality, they can even become a mini-profit center of their own. The complementary locker room shampoo, conditioner, soap and other assorted bath products offered by many clubs across the country are of such high quality that they are also sold in the club’s pro shop, reports Todd Dufek, Locker Room Manager.

Dufek, who is also President of the Locker Room Managers Association (www.yourlrma.com), says that providing different amenities to members and guests, and then selling them in the pro shop, is an excellent way to promote locker room use. “It creates a tie between the golf shop and locker room, and helps market the locker room and the products,” he says.

One of the most important aspects of locker room management is ensuring that toiletries are well stocked and cover a wide range of needs. “In the ‘wet area’, we have anything from hair dryers, after shave, razors, band-aids, aspirin, and any type of toiletry that you can imagine,” says John Swaney, General Manager of the Golden Valley Golf & Country Club in Golden Valley,Minn.

Contemporary locker room design has found a home in many clubs, such as the Golden Valley G&CC.

Sit Back, Relax

Many clubs are taking a cue from spas and introducing whirlpools, steam baths and saunas to increase locker room use. Other clubs include nail services, body treatments and massages in their locker room operations.

Locker room traffic at the Edina Country Club in Edina, Minn., has grown in the past few years, along with increased usage of the fitness facilities. The expanded services have turned the locker rooms into oases in their own right, with whirlpools, private showers, vanity stations, and shoe cleaning and repair service for both golf and dress shoes.To pamper their female members and guests further, the club recently built a manicure-pedicure station and hired a nail technician to work within the ladies’ locker room. “[The locker room] is pretty much [our women members’] favorite place,” says Alan Turkbass, Locker Room Manager.

Taking pampering to another level, the Brier Creek Country Club built a massage room directly off the women’s locker room and down the hall from the men’s. With four massage therapists on staff, this has become an incredibly popular service with the members, despite an additional charge.

Contemporary locker room design has found a home in many clubs, such as the Golden Valley G&CC.

The Mirabel Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., installed individual Jacuzzi tubs in its locker rooms, rather than large whirlpools, to allow members to relax in private. “We put in four personal Jacuzzi tubs to get away from the chlorine smell in the locker room,” says Al Marlinga, Locker Room Manager. “They are in their own little area with a couple of TVs and a private sun deck off of it.We provide bath salts and bubble bath, and the membership loves it.”

Brier Creek CC has such high demand for lockers that members sometimes must join a waiting list just to get one. Perhaps the four massage rooms are to blame...

Setting the Mood

Creating a comfortable and friendly atmosphere that mirrors the membership’s personality is a crucial part of attracting members to the locker room. The Brier Creek Country Club’s locker rooms are social centers for men and women to talk and rehash the day, and the locker room attendant keeps the mood light by constantly engaging members in conversation.

This relaxed atmosphere can also be a successful marketing tool for attracting new members. “From my standpoint, it helps when I am on a tour with a prospective member to be able to walk through the locker room, show the nice facilities and steam baths, and see members that have just come off the golf course, having a good time and talking about their games,” says Flowers.

With many professional members on its roster, Brier Creek Country Club recognized their need to unwind and relax without completely neglecting work.To establish a balance between business and pleasure, the entire clubhouse—including the locker rooms—is wireless, and locker room lounges are set up so members can do anything from relax to plug in their laptops. “As opposed to a traditional card room, it is more of a business center,” says Flowers. “They use it as a place to pull up the laptop at the end of a round of golf and do some business; it gives them a little office away from home.”

The locker room lounges at Golden Valley G&CC also have a more contemporary profile than traditional card rooms.When the clubhouse was first built, women- and men’s-only lounges extended from the respective locker rooms. But as times have changed, the two lounges have been opened to both sexes. “There is no club rule that disallows the opposite sex in either lounge,” says Swaney. Old habits do die hard, though. Despite the lounges’ new all-inclusive nature, the women and men still tend to congregate separately in their respective lounges, he notes, give or take a few exceptions, such as bridge club.

The goal of providing a comfortable and social atmosphere generates creative design. Both lounges at Golden Valley have fireplaces and plasma TVs. Off the men’s locker room, the “Baltusrol Lounge” has a custom-made pool table, oak chairs, and comfortable, leather-leisure chairs around the fireplace. It also has full food and bar service, staffed by the club’s F&B personnel. Off the women’s locker room, the “Newport Lounge” has comfortable seating and card tables, along with a buffet line run by the women’s locker room manager.

Of course, the decision whether to go traditional or contemporary with locker room lounges and card rooms hinges largely on the demographics of a club’s membership. The locker room lounges at Edina Country Club are set up as more traditional card rooms, with a few contemporary touches. The ladies lounge is complete with sofas, coffee tables and card tables. The club sets up a buffet of fresh fruit, homemade pastries, assorted snacks and beverages when women hold events. The men’s lounge overlooks the patio and golf course, with six tables comfortably accommodating 30 to 40 men. There are plush chairs and two large TVs. Both the women and men can order food from the pub located between the two locker rooms, and eat their lunches in their respective lounges.

Brier Creek CC has such high demand for lockers that members sometimes must join a waiting list just to get one. Perhaps the four massage rooms are to blame... Service First

 

To maintain a comfortable atmosphere and high-quality service in the locker room, clubs must have a dedicated locker room staff. Most locker room managers are senior-level, salaried positions. Additional locker room attendants and housekeeping staff report to this manager.

Depending on the season, there are typically three people working in the Edina Country Club men’s locker room, and one manager in the women’s locker room. The locker room staff repairs and shines shoes, converses with members and guests, and ensures a clean, well stocked facility. “Whenever someone leaves their last shift, it has to look perfect, as far as I’m concerned,” says Turkbass. “We make sure every leftout towel is put away, the countertops are clean, and everything is tidy.”

The nicer the facilities, the more members will want to stay around to use them.

Locker room managers also must be serviceoriented. “We’re the first ones who see people at the club,” says Dufek. “Our primary role is greeting members and getting them oriented.” But Dufek acknowledges many other critical tasks as well, from relaying course conditions to shoe repair. With 20 years of locker room and shoe repair experience under his belt, Dufek does many complex shoe repairs in-house. “Shoes have changed over the years, and locker room managers need to be more knowledgeable about them now,” says Dufek.

The nicer the facilities, the more members will want to stay around to use them.

In general, locker room managers often get to know members the best of anyone on a club’s staff. “They deal with the members and are in front of them more than anyone else,” says Golden Valley’s Swaney. “I am blessed with an individual who has been here 30 years. He deals with our members each and every day. If you wanted to know anything about the members, you could go to him.”

Locker room managers, like all club managers, must be energetic, extroverted and committed to service, Swaney believes. “[He or she] has to be someone the members can be comfortable with on a personal level,” he says. “The locker room manager understands the need for a professional staff, and the need to serve members’ individual needs. They need to provide friendly conversation, and achieve an atmosphere of family.”

In fact, Swaney adds, the locker room manager at Golden Valley made such a big personal impression that one past member, who did not have any family, left the ultimate tip in appreciation for great service: a bequest of his estate. C&RB