Hankley Common Golf Club

125 years of golfing excellence

Hankley Common Golf Club is a club with a rich history and exciting growth. Originally founded in 1897, the club has been located at its site on the Hankley Common heathland for its entire 125-year history. Whilst the club has evolved gradually over the decades, many of its loved features from the original 1897 layout remain. Today, Hankley provides a challenging, yet spacious course. It is highly praised, sitting proudly as the 58^th highest-rated course in the British Isles.

Away from the course, the club boasts a diverse and welcoming membership full of different backgrounds and personalities. Its membership is deeply loyal and active within the club, shaping the direction the club moves in. With that in mind, Hankley seeks to balance modernisation and change, whilst maintaining the respect of its history and traditions.

These objectives led to Hankley seeking a partner to assist them in navigating the complex world of technology. A partner who could be proactive, and who understood the unique requirements of the golf industry.

The Challenge

“At Hankley, we are proud to be part of a prestigious club. We know that to keep providing a top-rate golfing experience, we need to constantly adapt to change.” comments Ed Richardson, General Manager at Hankley Golf Club. “We wanted our focus to be on the golfing side of the club, so we needed a partner to assist us with technology.”

Hankley looked for a partner that had a proven track record of experience in technology for Golf Clubs. They also wanted a partner that was close to them – as the feel of a local partner who understands their needs was vital. The club settled on entrust IT Group, based locally to them in Farnham.

Just as is the case in any modern business, IT and Technology offered to unlock a lot of potential at Hankley. The club required modern hardware and software to manage the day-to-day running of the club. It also required support to ensure that staff could always be working, even when technological gremlins appeared. Finally, a long-term view needed to be taken, ensuring that a multi-year technology plan could be enacted.

The Solution

The entrust IT Group brought their experience in supporting other golf clubs to their approach with Hankley Common. Having worked with several different clubs, they understood what was required. At that time, Hankley was using an ageing server that was reaching the end of its useful life. The club could decide to upgrade their server at great cost, but entrust used their experience to recommend an adoption of Microsoft 365 instead. The entrust IT Group undertook a project to decommission the old server, migrating its data across to a new environment in the Microsoft cloud.

The migration to a cloud-first, modern IT environment not only freed up space in the server cabinet, but also allowed more efficient collaboration and the ability to work away from their physical desks. The solution also future-proofs the business, as Microsoft 365 is continuously upgrading and evolving.

A rollout of shared spaces was completed to allow staff to share files and information more simply, and email hosting was moved into the Cloud with Exchange Online.

The entrust IT Group also implemented a comprehensive backup solution to ensure that the club is protected from data loss.

Hankley also required an upgrade to other elements of their hardware in order to get the most from their investment. The entrust IT Group implemented a hardware policy, with baselines of device requirements and, using their network of suppliers, are able to procure devices at highly competitive rates – ensuring Hankley are always getting the best deal. New devices are setup using a pre-agreed template which ensures devices are delivered ready-to-use, with the appropriate applications, security, and access permissions pre-installed.

The entrust IT Group also assists with installation of wireless networks and wallboards. This includes pulling cables, installing screens, and boosting wireless signal across the site by installing wireless access points.

Joining this all together is access to a helpdesk of local IT professionals, available during all business hours with rapid response times and absolutely no automated attendants. Hankley can get the help they need, immediately.

“The entrust IT Group handle everything we need day-to-day from a technology perspective. If we need new hardware, they source it. If we need increased security, they bolster it. If we have a problem, they fix it. Their service team is incredibly efficient, very speedy, and they’re a pleasure to deal with. The service truly has been first class.” continues Ed Richardson.

Looking to the future, entrust worked with Hankley to develop a multi-year plan for technological improvements. This includes technology to continually improve the wireless signal throughout the club. Furthermore, it includes working with software providers to rollout software that displays competition scores and other details for members to reference on their way around the club.

“Our membership is increasingly demanding more technology features around the club, particularly since Covid. Thanks to entrust we can offer incredible service because we are always up and running. We never have downtime, our club has better Wi-Fi than ever, and modern cloud features have improved the way we can look after our members. The entrust IT Group have worked tirelessly to ensure we are ahead of the curve in terms of developing our technology, always ahead of member expectations. I’m so grateful to them for their help.” says Ed Richardson.