Lakewood Country Club USA vs. the World Wine Social

How has this idea enhanced your club's operation, etc.?

Lakewood Country Club Members love wine socials; therefore, this idea came from wanting to create a more interactive event. The attendees were given a challenge as they visited five stations to taste the wines and enjoy bites which were paired with each wine. Their challenge was to first, match the three wines at each of the five stations to their country of origin. Next, they were to vote for their favorite wine at each station by placing a special event logo sticker next to their choice on the respective station’s wine board. The wines with the most votes were to be added to the LCC Wine List. The third part of the challenge was to turn in their wine tasting score card so it could be tallied; therefore, awarding the winner with a prize and the title of LCC Wine Tasting Champion. An awards ceremony and wine unveiling took place.

If the winner were to be a lady, a tiara and titleholder sash were to be awarded. If the winner were to be a gentleman, his prize was a heavy weight title belt. For the 2017 USA vs. the World Wine Tasting Challenge, the title went to one of the gentlemen attendees. He proudly donned his title belt!

How was this idea implemented, and what have been the club members' reactions?

Any time you can enhance your Members’ experience and WOW them with a new twist to a typical event, you can write that down as a win for the Club and Management Team. Exceeding expectations is always the goal of Club Managers and Staff. This event was implemented by being well thought through and planned by the Clubhouse Manager and Director of Events. The detailed planning, along with the Chef’s food pairings, created an event that was thoughtfully engineered and implemented. It exceeded attendee expectations and the Members were so pleased, that they requested this event to become an annual event.

LCC has held numerous wine events, and they were typically well attended and Members were pleased. However, when you play to the same audience for all events, one must change it up to keep it exciting; therefore, making the Members wanting to attend more Club events. This event did just that. The Members who attended raved about the event and shared stories with those who did not attend. There has been many requests to repeat this event every year…and the Members can’t wait to see what else we have planned for them; therefore, creating Member satisfaction.