PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., October 21, 2013 -Gainey Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, a member of the ClubCorp family, has earned the Rolling Out the Green Carpet™ certification from the National Women’s Golf Alliance (NWGA).
The certification program assesses golf facilities on standards and best practices that make the facility welcoming and attractive to women. A trained NWGA evaluator and three female guests play an 18-hole round to evaluate the facility on five key areas of focus: Golf Course Playability, Customer Service, Golf Course Amenities, Facility Amenities and Golf Programs. Facilities that achieve a score of 80 percent or higher in at least three of these areas receive certification. Half stars are awarded for ratings of 75 percent or higher. Two half-stars do not equal another star.
The facility, which offers three distinctive championship nine-hole courses, received 3-plus Star status. Valid for three years, the designation comes with publicity and marketing, including an insignia to use with promotional materials and advertising.
“We are pleased to award Gainey Ranch a 3-plus Star rating for Rolling Out the Green Carpet™ for women golfers,” said Debbie Waitkus, a founding partner of NWGA and president of Golf for Cause.
“They excel in customer service, have strong women’s programming and are a welcoming facility. We also want to recognize how close they are to achieving additional stars in the areas of Course Amenities and Playability so they have been awarded half-stars for those areas. ”
Gainey Ranch Golf Club, an award-winning 27-hole private golf club was once a historic Arabian horse ranch owned by Daniel C. Gainey and offers panoramic views of the McDowell Mountains and the allure of the Sonora Desert.
Dallas-based ClubCorp owns or operates a portfolio of more than 150 golf and country clubs, business clubs, sports clubs and alumni clubs in 25 states, the District of Columbia and two foreign countries.
“The National Women’s Golf Alliance is providing a valuable service to the golf industry,” says Cathy Harbin, Vice President, Golf Revenue at ClubCorp. “We share their goal to offer women a better golf experience. Through their certification program, clubs can demonstrate our commitment to bring, and keep, more women in the game of golf.”
For more information on the Rolling Out the Green Carpet™ program, please visit: www.nationalwomensgolfalliance.com.
About the National Women’s Golf Alliance
With the mission to increase the number of women playing golf and improve engagement levels of existing women golfers, the NWGA unites four of the nation’s most highly respected women’s golf organizations, the EWGA, Golf for Cause, LLC, Jan Bel Jan Golf Course Design, and Ladies Links Fore Golf, LLC (LL4G).
They have brought together their years of expertise, data and observation regarding what women golfers want, need and expect for an enhanced playing experience that keeps women excited about and engaged in golf for years to come. Utilizing this information, the NWGA has developed a base of standards and best practices to help make golf facilities more welcoming and attractive to women and enhance golf’s overall appeal to women.
To learn more about Rolling Out the Green Carpet™ program, see www.nationalwomensgolfalliance.com
Contact:
NWGA: Angie Niehoff 561-868-0297 angie_niehoff@nationalwomensgolfalliance.com
The PGA of America: Michael Abramowitz 561-624-8458 mabramowitz@pgahq.com
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