Resorts and clubs from across the UK & Ireland came together at The Double Tree by Hilton at Stadium MK on March 13, 2025, as 59club UK and Ireland recognised the outstanding Venues, Teams and Individuals in the Golf, Leisure and Spa industry. 59club’s prestigious accolades are awarded based on scores from their impartial mystery shopping audits, evaluating the guest, club member, and prospective member experience according to 59club’s objective benchmarking criteria.
With awards spanning 13 categories recognising service excellence — in management, sales, service, operations, retail, spa, golf course management, and food & beverage — 59club continues to honour the best performances across venue of all sizes and profiles, segmenting their main individual award titles into three tiers based on a properties average green fee rate.
Will Hewitt, General Manager of 59club UK, commented: “It is essential to celebrate those who go above and beyond to provide outstanding experiences for their members and guests. With over 250 venues now working with 59club in this region, those nominated for an award really are some of the very best in our business and we are delighted to recognise their performance on this special night.”
The evening honoured some incredible achievements with Ballybunion retaining their title of Ultimate Members Club for the second consecutive year. The Grove claimed Ultimate Resort, and also saw Joel Westwell named Golf Manager of the year, alongside his team who collected Golf Operations Team of the year. A number of Irish venues were honoured with Eddie Devane and Martin Lehane from Mount Juliet winning F&B Manager of the Year and Greenkeeper of the year in their respective categories, together with John Dwyer of Royal Dublin who was named Retail Manager of the Year.
Wales and the South West were also well represented with Paul Thomas from Newport GC and Giuseppe Licata from Filton GC claiming retail awards and Mike Bush from St Mellion celebrating retaining the greenkeeping team of the year award for the resort.
The two outstanding individual performers which nobody seems able to surpass remain Glen McNaughton from Long Ashton GC, who retained the title of Food and Beverage Manager of the Year for a sixth consecutive year and Matt Aplin from Goring and Streatley GC who was named Greenkeeper of the Year for a seventh consecutive year, both quite remarkable.
The celebrations concluded with the prestigious 59club Flag Designations, recognising clubs and resorts that strive for excellence, in both customer experience and the facilities they afford their members and guests.
