Fore!mula For Success - Wise Web Branding - October 2008

If you want customers to consistently play at your course and develop loyalty to your brand name, why would you send them someplace else to book their tee times? After all, it's like sending your customers to your competitors to play.

Over the years, as course owners transitioned to developing an online presence, many courses turned to bartering tee times to outside companies in exchange for marketing services such as web site development and maintenance. The companies then re-sell the tee times, generally at a substantial discount, thus attracting customers to their web site and turn rack-rate golfers into plain old consumers who are simply searching for discounted tee times. As these customers discover the lower cost alternative, they learn go there to book the tee time rather than to your site to book. 

"I don't co-brand my web site because I want people to know my name and my product," says Mike Malone, general manager, Ridges at Sand Creek, Jordan, MN. "It doesn't make sense to give away my product and make my customers loyal to anyone else's brand. I make mine the best value for their money and while it may be tempting, I believe the golfers know where to go and who is good."

What does this require?

"Time really isn't an excuse because it only takes a few hours a week. How can you say you don't have time when this is about taking care of customers and attracting new customers?" Mike says. "It's for the customers so this comes before everything else."

Located in the Minneapolis metro area,Ridges at Sand Creek is an 18-hole public course and restaurant.To keep customers returning to his course and his web site, Mike highlights the course web address at every possible point of customer contact including in advertisements, on the phone answering system, and even at the counter when conversing with customers. Currently about one-third of all his 35,000 annual rounds are booked on-line. "We focus on creating traffic to the web site, including our golf leagues. We develop our own content and keep the information fresh to give customers a reason to go to the web site," Mike says.

With an estimated 20 courses within a 45 minute drive, Todd Parrish, general manager of Lake Mills Golf Club in Lake Mills, WI, and his staff have generated a lot of "out-of-the-box" ideas to fill up the tee sheet and keep customers returning to their course. "It is part of our strategic direction to brand our web site and generate more awareness and use," Todd says. "This year our online reservations increased by nearly 50 percent over last year." 

Similarly, the web site at Turtle Creek Golf Course in Limerick, PA under the direction of Lisa Waltz, daughter of owner Bobbie Waltz, is a critical entry point for customers. "I want the web site to reflect who we are and what we do. We're all about golf - we're not a country club, or a banquet facility, and we're not a resort," Lisa explains. "We designed the web site to be easy to use and dramatic with enhanced photos. Players can see the course and see that they're getting a country club experience at a public course price." This year, Turtle Creek's Internet Bookings are up 21% over the same period last year.

Lisa manages the content and format of the web site and has made it a priority to understand how customers use the site. "The site is evolving and it changes every day," she says. "Branding is important to us and we focus on what we do best and what we're all about.  There are some terrific places to play in our area, and we've decided that we're going to stay true to ourselves and maximize the things that we do right.

"We're family owned and we're in a price range where people can afford to play," Lisa says. "We won't promise what we can't deliver because of what is available or offered someplace else."

‘Tuesday at the Turtle', one of Turtle Creek's most successful weekly web site ventures, offers specials, free products, and cooperative promotions with local vendors such as hoagies from a local sandwich shop and specialty coffee offers. In addition, the course's 4 ½ star rating from Golf Digest as a 2008-09 Best Place to Play is promoted in multiple locations. 

"I try to analyze the data that is available from Fore! Reservations and other analytic data so that I can better understand our customers, what parts of the web site are working and where we need to make changes," Lisa says. "We're taking baby steps now, but we're working toward greater things."

"I would advise every course to take ownership and control of its web site - don't trust anyone else to market it for you," Mike Malone says. "I should be the only one selling my tee times. It doesn't make sense to promote someone else's site when the end result is that they siphon off your customers. Just make sure you're giving your customers a reason to come to your site."