Showered with Affection

An old-line Chicago-area club teams with its long-time amenities supplier to provide members with new locker-room luxuries.

by Joe Barks (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
April 2007
 

 

For the 21 years he’s served as the men’s Locker Room Manager at Glen Oak Country Club in Glen Ellyn, Ill. (suburban Chicago), Mark Rudins has had the same window on the club world—a six-by-eight-foot space that he affectionately calls his “cubby hole.”

 

But while the space in the Glen Oak locker room that serves as Rudins’ office hasn’t moved during all those years, his view from it has changed dramatically in the last two.

“Up until two summers ago, the locker room here always looked like an old-time barbershop,” Rudins says. “But now, it looks the way a locker room in a nice club like this is supposed to look.”

 

Mark Rudins likes what he now sees, and hears, from his corner of the club world.

GM Jennifer Beck is glad the club now has a locker room that matches its members and manager.

Glen Oak, founded in 1911, has always been a “nice club” in all other aspects, with a highly rated, tree-lined golf course that’s been redesigned by the likes of A. W. Tillinghast and Ken Killian, and an equally impressive clubhouse. The locker room got its last upgrade in 1989, Rudins reports—but, he adds charitably, “We could have done more.”

At the end of 2004, however, the club decided it was time to try again—and this time, get it right. Glen Oak’s General Manager, Jennifer Beck, told Rudins she wanted him to help lead a project that would give the club’s members a locker area that matched the rest of the property.

Rudins was encouraged to visit other top clubs in the area to get new ideas, and also to talk with the vendors he used for supplies and amenities, to see how they could help.

For this part of his mission, Rudins knew exactly where to turn: ‘Fore’ Supply Co., which has been providing Glen Oak with locker room products and services for even longer than Rudins has been there.

“Kirk [Dahlen, ‘Fore’ Supply’s Sales Manager] had always been good about helping me find whatever I need for the locker room, even if it was something he didn’t carry,” Rudins says. “I knew he’d be a huge help.”

The Glen Oak locker room renovation began in November 2004 and involved a “complete gutting,”?Rudins reports. “It’s still the same amount of space, but everything else was changed,” he explains. “And this time, no expense was spared. All 335 of our double-door metal lockers were repainted and fitted with cherry wood tops. No attention to detail was missed, and everything was done very, very professionally.”

For many of the details, Rudins yielded to ‘Fore’ Supply’s expertise. “They helped us pick the color and dispensers for all of the products we put in the showers and on the countertops—soft soap, hand lotions, mouthwash, shampoo, cologne and many other things,” Rudins says. “And they showed us how they could put our club logo on everything; it really looks great.”

“We now have much more professional-looking displays,” says Mark Rudins about the logoed products and uncluttered counter space in the locker room.

‘Fore’ Supply also proved invaluable in helping Rudins sketch out a new approach to counter space in the room, and alleviate a long-standing problem in the process. “Everything had always looked so cluttered before,”?Rudins says, “and I thought there was nothing we could do about it. But they showed me how we could split up our longer counters and also use a beautiful Corian surface for some of them. Combined with the new dispensers, which have a softer look, we now have much more professional-looking displays.”

‘Fore’ Supply’s input even extended beyond the typical amenities product line to details that often go unnoticed in the locker room, such as towel and trash receptacles, and matting for the shower areas. The vendor also provided Rudins with some new ideas for product presentation, such as positioning small serving trays around the room with bottles of top-of-the-line cologne. “The guys love it,” says Rudins of members’ reactions.

When the locker room renovation neared completion in June 2005, everything looked so nice, it was decided to use some of the new wall space to display historical photos, trophies and other club artifacts. Some of those items now hang across from Rudins’ office area, adding to what he calls a “gorgeous” overall view.

In addition to what he sees, Rudins also likes what he continues to hear from Glen Oak members. “Even last year, in the second summer [after reopening], people were still coming up to say, ‘Gosh, what a nice place this is,’” he reports.

And in Jennifer Beck’s opinion, that’s the kind of good feeling that should be present in the Glen Oak locker room, both among the members and her locker room manager. “Mark’s a great guy and he’s the best in the business—and I’ve been in this business a long time,” she says. Now he, and Glen Oak members, have a space that ranks with the best, too.