The Cochrane Golf Club is undergoing changes to its management team, with hopes of injecting new life, atmosphere and competitive opportunities into the Riverview-based course. Englishman James Darby was hired to be the new general manager of the course last week. While Darby is new to the golf club, he has nearly 30 years of experience in the golf course business through the British Military. "I previously spent 30 years in the British military and I was in the Royal Army Physical Training Corps for the majority of that time. My job was to keep the army fit for operations and as part of that, I had a real link to recreation ... I played golf with the army, represented the army and taught golf skills for people within the military. I played golf as a youngster too, so my experience goes even further back then my time with the British military." "As for my first week, it has been really exciting. I met the owners of the complex a few weeks ago and I think they believe that over the last 10 years or so there has been a bit of a decline in business. I offered my help and assistance because I have 30 years of experience in this area and I think Cochrane is a booming, thriving town," Darby said. "I think the stats came out that there's 28,000 people in the town and I just view this job as a fantastic opportunity to develop this golf course. I've been here a week already and I'm starting to understand how the operations run ... there's some challenges but there's also some really quick fixes as well. It's not hard to keep people happy in this business if you do it the right way." "We're also up against the time frame because we have a short season, so by November we're looking to see an increase in people playing and learning the game of golf. Cochrane (Golf Club) is a place where people can learn the game and understand the benefits of playing golf." Darby also made comment on the fact that there will be some changes to how the course is run on a day-to-day basis and hopes it will be a smooth transition for himself as well as the staff. "There's a bit of a mindset change, so I think what has happened over the last few years is there's lots of golfers and lots of interesting golf, but I think possibly the organization of some of the competitions we have here, customer service, how we look after the people and interact with them ... I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit in those regards," Darby said. "Any business, as soon as you don't give any support to those who are willing to use your facilities, they're going to go elsewhere. The first thing I said to the team is that we're providing a service and we want to provide the best service possible." The new general manager of the course said that the Riverview-based course should be a good experience for all types of golfers, because it presents challenges to them that they might not find at other facilities. "I think what's great about this course is it has this unique challenge for every level of golfer. You can take someone who has never played golf before and they won't feel intimidated and they can enjoy the experience of golf. Then you can put single digit golfers on our course and they would be challenged ... whoever designed the course was very smart in how they developed what the course was going to look like." "Another thing that makes it attractive, is the fact that our course is basically centred in the middle of Cochrane. There's an added advantage and beauty of having a course in a residential area ... but I think the biggest pull for this course is we have a great practice facility. We have a great putting green and mini-golf course and then we have our driving net and golf simulator to warm our golfers up. I don't want to take anything away from the other courses because they're all great in their own way but our course allows for more of a family environment." "What we're also trying to do is introduce a tournament for junior players. The last time we held a junior championship was in 2004, which is way too long and we need to recognize the younger golfers within Cochrane. Then we're also going to introduce a Cochrane Open golf championship, which opens it to all the other areas such as Springbank, Bearspaw, Calgary, Bragg Creek ... which allows people from outside of Cochrane to see the course. We want to be able to show off the course and show people what Cochrane is all about." The open championship is scheduled for Aug. 4 and 5. The Cochrane Golf Club is a nine-hole semi-private regulation golf course nestled in the community of Riverview Greens. The course is a full-service facility with a full club house amenities including fully licensed restaurant, locker room, power cart and equipment rentals, lessons and a retail store.
