Lon Grundy

Chief Operating Officer, World Golf Village

More than thirty-five years running golf and resort operations, and only four companies in all that time. Texas to Arizona to California to Georgia, and now the Atlantic coast of Florida.

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WHERE I'VE WORKED

Ten roles, four companies

Marriott, Troon, Hilton, and Reynolds. Select any role for its scale, its setting, and what came of it.

TROON  ·  2018

World Golf VillageCURRENT

Chief Operating Officer, Troon

REYNOLDS  ·  2015

Reynolds Lake Oconee

General Manager

HILTON  ·  2013

PGA West, The Citrus Club, and La Quinta Resort

Executive Director, Hilton

TROON  ·  2011

Indian Wells Golf Resort

General Manager, Troon

TROON  ·  2008

Troon North Golf Club

General Manager, Troon

TROON  ·  2003

Troon headquarters

Regional Director

TROON  ·  2001

Legend Trail Golf Club

General Manager, Troon

MARRIOTT  ·  1999

Camelback Golf Club

Head Golf Professional, Marriott

MARRIOTT  ·  1996

Kierland Golf Club

Golf Professional, Marriott

MARRIOTT  ·  1990

Golf Club at Fossil Creek

Golf Professional, Marriott

Overall management of the King & Bear and Slammer & Squire courses for the world's largest golf management company. Two top-ranked championship courses, a team of 160 employees, and two clubhouses with two restaurants and two retail shops serving 700 club members plus guests of a 300-room Marriott resort. Golf, retail, food and beverage, catering, membership, marketing, agronomy, accounting, and human resources all report in.

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All operations across roughly 11,000 acres in northeast Georgia: 117 holes designed by some of the biggest names in the game, six clubhouses, six food and beverage outlets, eleven retail outlets, the Reynolds Kingdom of Golf, four marinas, a wellness center, four pools, two water parks, an award-winning tennis center, and four family parks. More than 600 employees serving 3,500 private club memberships, with services and amenities producing over $60 million in annual revenue.

WHAT CAME OF IT

• Member dues up 23 percent, golf revenue up 15 percent, food and beverage up 58 percent, and golf retail up 24 percent during my initial tenure.
• Recruited and developed seven new director-level department heads, and created two new roles, golf sales director and events director, to drive outside business for golf, weddings, and corporate meetings.
• Opened The National Tavern, a non-traditional gastropub that produces more covers than every other restaurant on property combined.
• Renovated and reopened Eighty8 Kitchen + Cocktails, which beat every historical figure recorded before the renovation in its first year.
• Built the first daily member and guest feedback program at Reynolds and collected more than 15,000 surveys in two years.
• Rebuilt a poolside cafe into a year-round market with grab-and-go and made-to-order menus, and added poolside food and beverage service.
• Negotiated a six-course turf equipment lease and a 470-car golf fleet lease with service and preventative maintenance included.
• Expanded indoor instruction at Reynolds Kingdom of Golf with two enclosed bays and three covered open-air areas for year-round teaching.

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One of the largest golf operations in the United States. Nine championship courses hosting a PGA Tour event, five clubhouses and six turf care facilities, serving 2,400 private members and guests of an 800-room Waldorf Astoria resort, with $5.5 million in annual club food and beverage and $3.5 million in club retail.

WHAT CAME OF IT

• Led a business restructure creating a senior golf leadership team of three general managers and a director of agronomy, moving retail, food and beverage, receiving, and clubhouse maintenance out of a centralized off-site function and into on-property ownership.
• Contracted retail purchasing through Troon across all five shops, adding half a million dollars of retail revenue in one year.
• Led a multi-million dollar renovation of a 60,000 square foot member-only clubhouse, moving the golf shop to the first floor for easier check-in and creating a patio cafe and an upscale second-floor dining room with a terrace. Sold 138 memberships in 2014 and secured 230 more in a bulk deal with a nearby residential development.
• Managed two major floods requiring $5 million of course repairs, working directly with insurance adjusters and golf course construction contractors across nine courses.
• Built a five-person club engineering team focused on asset preservation and preventative maintenance across twelve buildings.
• Created a smartphone-friendly employee recognition program that tripled participation and was adopted by the 800-room Waldorf Astoria for its 1,300 employees.
• Implemented a guest loyalty feedback program adopted by every Hilton property with golf on site.
• Negotiated the transition from owned to leased turf equipment across nine courses and a 580-car golf fleet lease.

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A city-owned resort operation with a 60,000 square foot clubhouse serving 5,000 residents and four on-site resort partners with 950 hotel rooms, plus a $4.5 million food and beverage operation and a retail center recognized among the top 100 golf shops in America.

WHAT CAME OF IT

• Improved financials by more than $1 million in my first year, delivering the club's first profitable year, and its first profitable year in food and beverage.
• Improved financials by more than $600,000 in the first six months.
• Earned a facility of the year nomination at the Troon annual conference in 2012.
• Appointed with one year left on the management contract, then successfully renewed it in 2012.
• Raised employee satisfaction 9 percent with a rewards and recognition program built around communication and continuous improvement.
• Moved the club off aging owned assets onto capital leases for turf equipment, golf cars, and facility technology, and managed $300,000 of capital projects a year.

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Troon's flagship facility and the only owned asset of the world's largest golf management company. A 40,000 square foot clubhouse serving 150 golfing members and an on-site Four Seasons partner with 205 casitas, a $2.5 million food and beverage operation, and a top 100 golf shop turning $2 million a year.

WHAT CAME OF IT

• Improved financials by more than $1 million.
• Recognized as most improved facility at the Troon annual conference in 2011, and nominated for general manager of the year in 2010.
• Raised employee satisfaction 22 percent in two years with a recognition program built on text voting, which became a Troon best practice.
• Delivered the largest food and beverage revenue in the history of the club.
• Created a logo and marketing campaign that opened the restaurant to the local community for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week for the first time.
• Grew total facility revenue 12 percent by shifting marketing dollars into payroll and doubling the sales staff.

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Oversight of multiple facilities spanning new development projects, private clubs, resorts, and daily fee clubs, in markets from Arizona to Florida and on to five Caribbean islands and Japan. Managed owner relationships and served as the resource for on-site management teams.

WHAT CAME OF IT

• Opened eight new facilities from the earliest stages of course and clubhouse construction, coordinating course equipment, clubhouse furnishings, golf cars, and operating supplies.
• Prepared five-year proformas, first-year budgets, business plans, and operating procedures, plus logos, websites, collateral, and first-year marketing plans.
• Led a 90-day due diligence review of a 30-course portfolio in Japan for a Troon investor and partner, delivering financial and physical condition reports with photography and a staff and service survey for every facility.

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One 18-hole championship course serving a residential community still completing its build out, alongside visitors to the Scottsdale resort destination.

WHAT CAME OF IT

• Protected a developer-owned asset through the difficult period following September 11 while the residential community completed its build out.
• Managed the sale of the facility on completion, working with brokers and buyers on the owner's behalf through a successful transition to new ownership.

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The foundation of my hospitality training with Marriott, and the place my election to PGA membership in 1999 turned into a first upper-level management role. I first arrived in 1993 as a golf professional, a transfer from Texas, to learn the business at Marriott Golf's flagship property alongside resort play from Camelback Inn.

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On the opening crew of a new 27-hole championship course serving daily fee play at a resort destination.

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Eighteen holes of Arnold Palmer design serving 100 golfing members and daily fee play from across the metroplex. Where it started.

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