Page 24 - GBC Magazine Winter ENG 2023

Be especially on the lookout for “sweethearting,” where employees give unauthorized discounts to their friends and family. If you notice more inventory turnover than the sales numbers justify, there is a good chance one or more of your employees are providing “extras” to their friends.
Finally, clubhouse security, along with golf course security, is not just about loss prevention. It is important to keep patrons safe. A safe bar and restaurant protects you from liability while also improving your customer experience.
Pro Shop Security
The pro shop is similar to any retail location, and considering the security of the pro shop separately from the rest of the golf course can help create an appropriate security perimeter. In the pro shop, your loss prevention strategy needs to focus on internal and external theft. While both are important and worth the effort to reduce shrinkage as much as possible, the reality is that employee theft can be as much as 90% of total theft.
Discount abuse is an often overlooked form of internal theft, where an employee shares their discount with friends and family. Do you know which employees discount the most? More importantly, do you know how much it is costing you? Pairing video with your POS transactions can help automatically filter out risky transactions and give you full context to what is occurring.
That being said, organized retail crime (ORC) is becoming a larger threat to retailers. This is especially true for pro shops as the increased popularity of golf along with the high average cost of stock items make them enticing targets for “flash mob burglaries” and other ORC incidents.
Golf Course Security
While golf course security has some similarities to property management protection, it differs in two main ways. First, fees are being charged to enter the open area. Second, fairways and greens require a lot more maintenance than most properties. Let’s take a look at these differences.
How does your golf course keep track of tee times? Have you experienced golfers sneaking onto the course without paying? Using a camera to keep track of footfalls into the first tee area can help you match purchased rounds to the number of golfers.
“Discount abuse is
an often overlooked form of internal theft, where an employee shares their discount with friends and family. Do you know which employees discount the most?”
Have you heard the term time theft? Time theft is when an employee is not working when they are supposed to, but they are still being compensated as though they were working. For example, grounds keepers might use “buddy punching” to come in late or leave early by having a coworker punch in or out for them. There are also cases of the overnight irrigation squad not showing up at all and still billing for a night of labour. Once a culture of time theft begins, it can be hard to stamp out. Talking to staff regularly about theft, including time theft, lets them know that you take stealing from work seriously.
Golf Cart Security
Protecting a fleet of golf carts is no easy task, which is why there are so many instances of thieves stealing multiple golf carts, often to ship overseas where they cannot be recovered. In addition to the golf carts, there are also the gas tanks to protect.
Once stolen golf carts are off your property, it is almost impossible to recover them. Your golf cart security system needs to be focused on rapidly identifying a threat and dispatching law enforcement. In addition, good quality video footage, including
24 Golf Business Canada