GOLF COURSE MARKETING TRAP?

DEPENDING SOLELY ON EMAIL AND NETWORK MARKETING I BELIEVE COULD BE A TRAP!

I was one of the very first in golf to utilize email lists to promote tee times. I started the idea as manager of Oak Ford Golf Club in Sarasota, Florida. It was actually my son who told me about a list service known as 'One List' that would send bulk emails. I found it handy, because every day we had an empty period on the tee sheet for about 30 minutes before the mid-day price drop. For instance, on Friday night we would check the tee sheet, then try to sell those empty tee times at a discount. It was an easy 'click-of-a-mouse' to inform thousand of already-customers of the special.

My use of email began away back in the 90's (I think a Tyrannosaurus Rex was on our list). Remember, email addresses were difficult to collect and many were misspelled and never got to their destinations. I remember almost all emails then were AOL. Back then we'd send the emails and wait for the phone to ring (no online tee times back then either).

Anyway. it was so easy to sell a couple more tee times using email. I mean, you could not place an ad in the newspaper that quickly.

Well, that was the beginning of using the Internet to market a golf course. If I wasn't the first for golf, I was damn close to it!

Since about 2005 or so, I noticed everyone was building email lists and ignoring their traditional marketing avenues like newspaper, radio and TV. Marketing budgets went from $60,000 to almost zero by using the network to sell tee times. So here we are in 2013 and it seems the only way to market a golf course is via the Internet. Has this change in marketing golf courses contributed in some way the a decline of golf players? I believe there is at least some connection. My rather crude illustration above tries to make my point:

I believe you need to be clearly visible in the marketplace to get new customers, and to remind occasional customers who are not on your email list to think of your golf course next time they play. I mean, how do they hear about your golf course if they are not on your email list - if that's the only way you advertise?

That's the trap you fall into.

I learned how to market a golf course during my 25-years in Peterborough, Ontario. I never forgot a mistake I made one spring when I figured I could save close to $50,000 by not advertising at all. I figured I could have a great time with $50K to myself (and my family). What a disaster!

In 25-years I only had one single two-month period when my numbers actually went 'south' and that was the year I decided not to advertise. And I am a numbers guy. I watch my receipts almost every hour. As numbers decreased I could see the $50K plans for me and my family were in jeopardy.

I woke up to the power of marketing, and I can tell you, that year would up my best ever.

I engineered a marketing plan that blew the lid off numbers for the rest of that season. Without going into details, hit every media avenue out there. By mid July my number-1 complaint was. "No place to park!" People who know me love to hear me say that!  

I spent the $50K and more in marketing and also earned my $50K to boot! If anyone tells me advertising doesn't work I see a person doomed to a business failure.

From my marketing experience in Peterborough I learned to fully appreciate the power and necessity of broadcast marketing, which brings me back to my point: You cannot depend solely on Internet network marketing to promote your golf course, or any business.

Yes, the Internet should be part of your marketing, but not your only marketing source. I believe those who have depended on network marketing entirely are the ones who's rounds are down the most.

Don't fall into that trap. You still have to advertise.

Mike

      

MOE NORMAN AND THE MASTERS

Now that he is gone, the late Moe Norman, the eccentric Canadian golf pro, gets more recognition than he ever got while he was alive. I have a little guilt about appreciating his greatness myself, because I had a whole summer with the greatest ball striker ever and didn't realize it.

I was a member of the Canadian PGA, and pro manager of a golf center in Peterborough, Ontario. My boss at the time was PGA Pro, Bert Turcotte, who was considered the first real golf business entrepreneur in Canada. Moe Norman worked for Turcotte's company, Eglinton Golf Enterprises, at the time and Bert thought it would be good publicity for his fledgling golf center in Peterborough for Moe to 'play' out of the golf center. So I saw Moe every day during the 1964 golf season. I even played a few rounds with him - just the two of us. Moe and I played Peterborough's Kawartha Golf Course, par-70. He was never over par. Always somewhere between 60 and 65. 

So, Moe came into the Peterborough golf center every morning and hit hundreds of balls, then left to play Kawartha Golf Course on the other side of town. He always had a Coke in his hand. Picking the range after his practice sessions - up to 500 balls - was easy, because it took about three passes of the ball picker to bring them all back. In fact, it looked like someone dumped a 500-ball bucket of balls in one spot. Later in the day Moe would disappear somewhere, then show up on the range next morning. He never spoke much, except to razz me about one thing or another.  

Moe kept his entire life in the trunk of his car - a Cadillac - even his cash! 

But this is about Moe Norman’s one-time participation in the Masters. I heard the truth directly from the man in the middle of the controversy, the late Sam Snead (May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002).

Sam Snead and me at Homestead in '99

Back in 1999 I was invited to Homestead for a business meeting with Anne Snead and his son Sam at the Homestead in West Virginia. While there we got to hit balls on the range with Sam Snead himself. I had a chance to talk to Mr. Snead and I mentioned I had a year with Moe Norman as my playing pro in 1964 in Canada. Sam did a double-take and told me he believed Moe to be the best golfer ever. I asked what he (Sam) knew about Moe’s withdraw from the Masters. This is what Sam Snead told me;

“On the night before the first round Moe and I talked about the golf swing and I gave him a tip about the grip. Moe went to the practice tee and hit balls all night. The next day his hands were raw and bleeding so badly he could not play.”

History says Moe Norman played nine holes on the first day of the 1957 Masters and withdrew. He never played there again.

Too bad, because Lee Trevino, a golf legend himself, said in an interview that, “Moe Norman should have won every major tournament in the world.”    

Anyway, there’s confirmation of what Sam Snead told me on a CBC program: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/sports/golf/on-the-ball-canadas-golfing-greats/moe-norman-my-way.html.

I would love to hear anyone’s experiences playing or watching Moe Norman. I will repeat them here from time-to-time. However, be advised; Most people don’t believe half the stories about Moe, because they are unbelievable. But in my experience after a year with Moe Norman, I can believe them! 

Mike  

YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!

Bubba's Hovercraft Golf Cart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z5u_2bGPdUY#.

Mike

HEAD COVERS ON LINE, SPAGHETTI AND GOLF BALLS – NEAT ONLINE GOLF SPECIALTY SHOPS

My good friend and business colleague, Bill McIntosh, a PGA Professional, has operated web site, "Head Covers Online" (http://www.headcoversonline.com/) for several years. It started small, as do most such businesses. But Bill and his wife, Dianne, stuck with it to the point it is now a going concern. They've added many products and made it very easy to place an order for all sorts of golf accessories.

Head Covers Online built itself around specialty items like; head covers (of course) in any animal you can imagine, plus, college logos, favorite sports teams, etc. They expanded to many accessory items and now have an endless selection, which they can ship directly to you - virtually everywhere.

Bill and Dianne opened another brand new site with a super name: ‘Spaghetti and Golf Balls’ (http://www.spaghettiandgolfballs.com/) including a wide selection of accessories including golf bags, logo golf balls, umbrellas, divot tools, practice nets and just about everything.

Bill and I go back several years and have collaborated to managed golf courses together. Between us we have over 100-years’ experience in every type of golf course operation – snow country or palm trees. We are always ready to team up to provide short term interim golf course management.

Anyway, I hope you’ll visit both of Bill and Dianne’s golf accessory sites and keep them in your favorites - handy when you’re looking for thoughtful gifts for the special golfer in your family or office.

Mike

3 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD RE-EXAMINE YOUR GOLF COURSE MARKETPLACE

By Michael A Kahn, Golfmak, Inc. Golf Course Business Consultant, Member of GCBC.

If your golf course or country club is doing better than it was five years ago you don’t need to read any further. For most of you, I believe a market update is the most important exercise you will undertake for the future of your golf course or country club. Make no mistake: The market you served ten years ago has changed. Have you adjusted to it? Nope!

I call it, “Asleep at the wheel!”   

So what has changed?

1.      Participation in golf in general has flattened – I say, “Declined!” in the past dozen years (read an article I published on my web site in 2000: http://www.golfmak.com/ball.htm – particularly the last paragraph in the article). For instance, in Sarasota, Florida over 90-holes of golf closed for good in a matter of a couple of years. But rounds at the remaining courses did not increase. Whoa! In 2012 we lost 154 golf courses nationwide. Remember, they were adding over 300 courses a year in the 90’s.

2.      The club’s grill room looks like a senior citizens lunch room. Twenty years ago the average member’s age was 55, now it’s 75. Are you ready for when they’re 85? I recently dealt with a private club that became suddenly financially desperate. They realized too late that the average age of the membership was over 70. No future! Every time they had to assess the membership to pay for capital emergencies more would simply resign (the ‘green banana’ syndrome).

3.      One private country club suddenly found out their 99.9% all white neighborhood had become over 30% non-white. The new local population had a much lower golf participation rate – less than one percent (national average hovers around 10% - National Golf Foundation, Jupiter, Florida). Mathematically, the reduction in participation by the new demographic more or less matched the drop in membership at the club. I call it, “Asleep at the wheel!” 

  

If the three reasons above don’t drive your decision to re-examine your marketplace, I predict your golf course is doomed.

I understand and appreciate the power of marketing. However, I learned over 50-years ago not to waste time and money chasing a customer who has no interest in my product (golf).

   

So, what should you try to learn, and what do you do with it?

You need to know your current loyal customers. They tell you they like to play your golf course for one reason or another. Look for commonalities like ages, skill levels, busiest tee time hours of the day, favorite grill room items, etc. When you have a profile of your main customer base you either need to change the profile – especially if they are all over 70, or if they are younger, go to the market to find more people like the ones you already have. That’s why you need an updated market analysis. Then you can decide on your next move.

I have colleagues who specialize in a golf course market analysis. The cost is not much more than a weekend ad campaign, but it can be a map to a gold mine for your golf course.

Want to discuss this article? Call me: 941-739-3990, or write: mike@golfmak.com. It’s a free consultation.   

April 3, 2013. While walking the dogs this morning...

I met my golf buddy-neighbor on the sidewalk while walking the dogs this morning. He was telling me how he was frustrated trying to stop a leak after he installed a new water heater himself. It was a brass coupling that he could not tighten enough to stop a small drip. No matter how tight he made it the leak still persisted. I can hear the expletives - like missing a 3-footer.

A one-hour job lasted all afternoon - not to mention two trips to Lowes, missing a golf game, and rising blood pressure.

Next day at the golf course he mentioned his dilemma to another golf buddy who happened to be a master plumber. Of course, the expert (plumber) said he knew exactly what the problem was and further, it would be a 2-minute fix! It was the way the seal was placed - backward.

Fixed!

The moral of this story is that the expert, in this case the plumber, understood the problem immediately. He drew from many years of experience as a professional plumber. That's the kind of experience I use as a consultant in my (golf) industry.

With the golf course business in a correction spiral (I'm being nice), I see golf operations operating like my neighbor and his water heater. I'm the plumber.

When I take on a golf course analysis assignment endless things jump out at me like Jack-in-the-boxes. Every one of these Jacks is throwing money into the wind - dollar bills, ten dollar bills, hundred dollar bills - even $1,000 dollar bills! Money gone for good! The sum of all those Jacks adds up to thousands and thousands of $ dollars every day week, month and year.

Really! I once walked into a golf course and found over $110,000.00 (that's one hundred and ten thousand dollars) in less than three minutes. At an evaluation of 10 X earnings, which was the norm at the time, that $110 thousand computed to $1.1 million in value to that particular golf course. My modest fee made that owner over $1 million dollars in a heartbeat!

I believe many failing golf courses can come back. I can find out very quickly. Sure, many are also doomed. I call them 'boats that won't float'. I'm not a patronizer. I mean, why try crossing an ocean in a boat sure to sink? If your ship is doomed I'll tell you.

But, if I see a way to survive I am 100% confident in my analysis and advice. Not only that, but my approach is not all that hard to follow. Not rocket science. I use very simple and basic principles. I mean, if you can tie your own shoes we can accomplish success.

If you are a board member of a troubled golf club give me a call. You'll be amazed at how your situation is so prevalent - everywhere. In a short, in a free consultation I can enlighten you. If nothing else, you'll feel better knowing you've got lots (and lots) of company.

I am an expert with over 50-years experience in the golf business world.

Mike

  

I love this...

A good friend and a real classy country club manager, Allan Irwin, just announced his new position at Niagara Falls Country Club/Youngstown Yacht Club. What a perfect match.

Allan and I go back to about 1990 when we were contemplating which direction we would go in the golf business. He came up on a vastly different track than I did. Allan has the polish and skill to manage high-end country cubs, while I came up from the down-and-dirty daily fee golf world. However, it was amazing that we had then, and still have the same fundamental approach to golf as a business today, which says, "At the end of the day the balance sheet rules - period!"

Allan stuck to his country club route with a long stint with Toll Brothers, Inc. as Vice President of Country Club Operations.

Congratulations to Allan Irwin and good fortune for Niagara Falls Country Club.

Mike