Scott Maclean — General Manager in Focus

How far back does your relationship with the industry start?

I started in the industry in 2014. Growing up in Canada the club industry was unlike anything I had experienced at home or while on a travelling overseas. Upon arriving in Australia, I moved directly to the Far South Coast and started as a Duty Manager after working in restaurants and pubs back home in Canada and in the UK. On the Sapphire Coast visiting a big Club meant going to Club Sapphire or Merimbula RSL. My first session of the Future Club Leaders program certainly opened
my eyes to the size and scale of the club industry.

What is your proudest moment at Tura Beach Country Club?

I feel like I’m having these moments over and over again over the last 12 months. Coming out of COVID, both the management team and Board decided that we wanted to give more back to the community that supported us so well during the pandemic. The Club got more involved in helping raise funds for charities and community organisations. 

So far in 2023, we’ve helped to raise over $75,000 for various organisations including The World’s Greatest Shave (we had four staff members and two directors shave their heads to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation), and more recently The Push-Up Challenge where 10 staff completed over 31,000 push-ups in 23 days to help raise awareness and fundraise for mental health awareness.

What do you feel the community expects of your club and how do you go about meeting those expectations?

Being a medium-sized club in a touristy area, we get pulled in a lot of different directions — value for money, higher end offerings, the quality of our golf course and bowling greens while also being competitive with larger clubs in the area. I think historically, the Club has struggled with trying to keep up with the larger clubs rather than carving out its own identity. Prior to my starting at the club, the Board made the decision to breathe some youth into the organisation by starting with a new superintendent who was in his late 20s (and then later myself in my early 30s). Each of us brought a broad international experience to the Club. 

Since then, the course and greens have been reinvigorated with improved playing conditions and a number of projects that have increased our ranking. The Club has become more family friendly, attracting 150 kids each to Halloween and Easter events to provide for the growing community of young families in the Tura Beach area. 

You are a Future Club Leader Graduate – tell us about it, why you did it, how did it help you with your career? What learnings (both professional and personal) can you take back to the club?

At the time I started Future Club Leaders, I was managing a small struggling ten-machine venue. I was still new to the industry and wanted to give the Candelo Kameruka Bowling Club the best chance at survival. This meant broadening my knowledge of the industry and gaining knowledge through education and networking. The program provided me with that opportunity and helped me immensely in the early years of my club career. I was able to use the diploma I gained as Recognition of Prior Learning towards a Bachelor of Business at the Southern Cross University. This allowed me to briefly leave the industry to gain experience as an auditor for a local accounting firm and then return to the industry as a General Manager. I have also started the CPA program — that would not have been possible without completing the Future Club Leader program. It grew my knowledge in leadership and management in the club environment, and certainly help me achieve my career goal (my current General Manager position).

At industry events, I still run into other participants in the program and it’s great to hear everyone’s progression as well as exchanging ideas with managers from all over the state. 

For a large number of our club members, we were their second lounge room, and a social outlet for individuals who otherwise be isolated.

As a CEI member, you have access to a whole range of courses, why is ongoing training so important?

The club industry is so heavily regulated and constantly changing, so taking part in ongoing train is vital to continuing skill development, adapting to change and improving the performance of the club and contributing to the effectiveness of the Board and Management.

What do you see as the greatest challenge facing our industry?

I think the greatest challenge facing our industry in the near future is our image and perception outside of the industry. As an industry we should be celebrated, not demonised. For a large number of our club members, we were their second lounge room, and a social outlet for individuals who otherwise be isolated. This is in addition to the subsided facilities we provide, including world-class sporting facilities. 

As an industry, we all know the good each of us do, but once we leave the club bubble, the knowledge and promotion of it seems to disappear or get lost in translation. As individual clubs and an industry we need to do a better job of letting the wider population know we’re not just pandering alcohol and gambling, but providing facilities and programs that are vital to our communities.