Women & Golf recently spoke to Ali McGuirk, Business Development Manager at Prince’s Golf Club in Kent. We asked about her role and the Prince’s future. Find out what she said…

Tell us about your career

I started playing golf as a junior at Royal Blackheath Club, which first sparked my interest in the game. I went on to play for the women’s golf team at the University of Stirling.

I began my career at the Country Club Hotel group as a graduate golf management trainee. I really enjoyed this role as it meant I got experience working across lots of departments at different venues, including greenkeeping and working during large tournaments like the Solheim Cup. These experiences have given me valuable insights into how the whole club operates. I joined Prince’s in 1998 and had a brief spell working in sales & marketing at New Homes, but came back to Prince’s to work with the team delivering The Lodge build in 2011/12.

What is your day-to-day role?

I am responsible for the club’s marketing and business development. I deal with all our marketing tasks including social media, advertising, working with our agency GMS, creative, marketing collateral and digital media.

I am involved with refurbishments at the club and The Lodge. We opened a new function suite at The Lodge last year called The Lucas Lounge in honour of Laddie Lucas who was born in the old clubhouse and whose father was Secretary of Prince’s. Laddie was a brilliant left-handed golfer, Walker Cup Captain and fighter pilot for the RAF.

I also manage our partnerships with Visit Kent, Golf Tourism England and IAGTO to promote Prince’s internationally and facilitate easier trips for international golfers to the east Kent coast.

What do you enjoy most about working in a golf club environment?

We have a great team at Prince’s, many of them family members, and I’m fortunate to work in such a beautiful part of the world that makes coming to work each day a pleasure! We are located right on the beach so I love wandering along the course and beach every day with our dogs.

Given the nature of your role, what development at Prince’s are you most proud of?

The work that was completed last year to redesign our Himalayas nine with Martin Ebert marked a huge achievement for the club on the golf course. It is a phenomenal nine holes and it has been very well received by our membership as well as visiting golfers. For me, though, the completion of The Lodge in 2012 was a huge project for the club. I worked with the team that delivered the project, from the long planning and architectural design process through to choosing wall colours, tiles and furniture! We opened on schedule and have continued to grow occupancy over the years.

What are Prince’s future plans?

We always try to keep moving forward as a club, which is why we are now working on improvements to the Shore and Dunes nines. The work is mostly directed at enhancing the tees and bunkering, featuring the sand scrapes that were a feature of the new Himalayas and takes us back to a truer links style. We also hope to make further decorative improvements to The Lodge such as theming our bedrooms to feature key individuals from Prince’s history or local points of interest to enrich our guests’ experience.

We launched our junior foundation earlier this year with the aim of bringing through the next generation of local golfing talent to elite and professional level. This includes providing coaching, equipment, clothing and membership thanks to the help of our sponsors including Callaway Golf. We currently have six boys and girls in the development program and we will look to grow it over the coming years. I really enjoyed my own junior golf within the Kent girls’ set-up and want other junior golfers to experience the same.

Do you have time to play golf?

I have maintained a handicap of around 10 since my teenage years, never better than that though, I certainly wouldn’t make any of the Stirling Uni teams these days! I love playing social golf and at Prince’s we have nine-hole competitions which work perfectly around our three loops of nine holes, so that fits well into my busy working and family life.

Both my teenage kids play golf and we play together as a family on holiday. My husband Rob (Prince’s General Manager) and I try to play different courses each year. I’d like to play Lofoten Links in Norway, the images look amazing!

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