Case Study: St. Margaret's Golf & Country Club

A New Look for a Championship Course

The Client

St. Margaret's Golf & Country Club is a spectacular 18 hole championship golf course located North of Dublin City. The course has played host to major European Tour Events including the Irish PGA, Irish Ladies Open & Irish Seniors championships. It boasts a modern clubhouse with elegant bar and dining rooms, state-of-the-art conference facilities, tour caliber practice areas, and the John Kelly Golf Academy.

Background

Although St. Margaret's is a championship golf course, its web site did not reflect the club's prestigious reputation. The site had undergone numerous changes over the years from different designers which had affected the overall concept and organization of the site. Other problems included:

• The members' area of the site contained a great deal of content, but was poorly organised and archived, and was difficult for staff and members to update.
• The club's site was not taking advantage of the latest technologies, such as online tee-time booking and content management systems. Bookings through the site were low.
• The site failed to emphasise the clubs key strengths.

The Solution

Green Island suggested a complete redesign of the club's website, including a new concept, design and layout. The focus was on creating a clean and streamlined site that was easy to navigate and:

• Reflected the courses championship reputation
• Emphasised the club's unique selling points- course, location, member services
• Displayed numerous course and facility photos, as well as a 3D course tour
• Integrated an online booking solution to facilitate member and guest bookings
• Reorganised the member section to better accommodate the vast amount of information
• Integrated Green Island's proprietary Site Caddy® golf content management system, allowing club staff and members to post news, results and photos to the site

Green Island is working with St. Margaret's to improve visibility of the new site through search engine submission and optimisation, reciprocal linking and online advertising opportunities.

The Result

The new website, with its clean lines and ease of navigation, successfully promotes the club as the "championship golf club" that it is. It also emphasises its great location and has enhanced club members and visitors experience. Tee-time bookings and revenue are on the up and members are delighted with the new and improved members area of the site which keeps them updated with tournament results, club news, photos and upcoming event information. All in all the new site has given St. Margaret's the fresh new look they need.

View the website at http://www.stmargaretsgolf.com.