Fore!mula For Success - Growing the Game of Golf - February 2010

Growing the Game of Golf - A Win for Everyone

This month's Fore!mula for Success features two Fore! Reservations Users that have made it a priority to grow the game of golf at their facilities. Their commitment to this initiative has yielded great results in terms of increased business, but more importantly, it's achieved their goal of getting more people playing the game.

One User committed to growing the game through increased junior play regardless of skill or income level is David Ogrin, former PGA Tour Player and current President of the Board at the Central Texas Junior Golf Association and Director of Instruction at Rivercity Range, a world class practice facility in New Braunfels, TX.

"When you build a public facility I think you have a responsibility to try to grow the game and reach out to segments of the population that wouldn't normally get a chance to be involved," says David. "It's also important to provide accessible locations for kids to play. At Rivercity Range we're committed to enhancing the golf experience of the community, promote sportsmanship and the spirit of golfing."

Rivercity Range features 14 acres with 30 hitting stations (grass and mat), a sand trap, targets, and an artificial putting green. With future plans to possibly become a vendor of U.S. Kids Golf and partner with The First Tee of San Antonio, David uses the facility to reach as many youths as possible. "I offer two instruction tracks to teach different segments of the junior population in our area; the first is for the community at large and the second is catered to those playing competitively at our local high schools. Both groups are provided equal instruction regardless of the different price point," adds David.

To increase the number of youth visiting Rivercity Range, David understands that his staff plays a critical role in acquiring and retaining customers. "Our staff is trained to treat junior golfers with the same level of respect as adult customers. I believe if kids are treated correctly, enjoy learning, and have fun practicing, their parents will also gravitate to the facility for their golf needs," David states. "Too many operators neglect to pay attention to the people coming into their pro shops or they view junior golfers as obstructions not assets to their business. It's important to have relationships with all customers (youth included) to learn how you can help them with their game so they are life-long players."

Also recognizing the importance of making customers life-long players starting when they're young is Third-Generation Owner Allison George of Toad Valley Golf Course, Pleasant Hill, IA. "My entire marketing philosophy is family and fun," Allison says. "We have a lot of ideas for marketing tactics each year but we always ask ourselves is it fun and is it family-friendly?"

Toad Valley Golf Course, an 18 hole public facility located just outside Des Moines, caters to the average golfer who wants to enjoy a round of golf without worrying about overly-difficult playing conditions; lending itself well to family activities. "When planning the year's events I think about what do we enjoy doing as a family, how are other families in the community spending time together and how can we offer that at Toad Valley," says Allison. "It's important to get kids involved in the game at an early age."

As a busy mom of three, Allison credits the majority of her ideas from experiences with her children. "I understand what it means to take the kids to three different practices during jam packed summers, but for some reason golf is typically underrepresented in kids activity schedules. I believe there's room for it, you just need to know how to make it accessible and affordable for the entire family to participate."

Determined to find a way to introduce more youth to the game, Allison knew that would require getting moms on board and catering to the specific needs of busy families. She successfully identified obstacles that could reduce family participation and offered viable solutions to overcome those obstacles.

In an effort to create a fun, perhaps less-intimidating atmosphere on the course, Toad Valley instituted Family Golf five days a week (including Saturdays and Sundays) beginning at 4pm. 4,500 Family Golf rounds were played last season, making it a huge success. Pace of play is understandably slower, so Toad Valley offers an inexpensive rate so parents still see value in their green fee even if they can't get in 9 holes. Half-price driving range fees, half-price miniature golf for younger children, and great deals on food and beverage are also available.

In addition to Family Golf, Toad Valley started a Ladies Night Out event, Friday Evening Couples League, and the Tadpole Junior Golf Program; and each program saw considerable growth this past season.

"It all starts with Mom. She's the scheduler of the family; so if mom likes golf she'll make it a priority for the family, and that's why it's important to teach women how to play," Allison says. Toad Valley's Ladies Night Out, a fun group lesson format, grew to an outstanding 125 participants this year.

The Friday Evening Couples League, once the slowest night of the week, began with immediate success (50 couples playing each week) due to Toad Valley's added amenities - a popular babysitting service and weekly registration as opposed to requiring couples to commit to play every Friday during the season, providing busy parents the scheduling flexibility they often need. "Parents need a babysitter to take a ‘date night' so we removed that obstacle by watching the children while mom and dad play. While babysitting, we were also able to introduce kids to the game of golf through driving range activities, reading golf storybooks, or watching golf movies. It was a huge success that hopefully results in future Tadpole Junior Golf players!" Allison exclaims.

Toad Valley's Tadpole Junior Golf Program began five years ago and continues to grow each year with 100 juniors enrolled this past season. It's one of the course's most important initiatives every season. "We've made our program affordable and accessible to any child interested in learning how to play golf in a fun environment. We hold the sessions in the evenings so parents can attend and we remove the obstacle of golf being too expensive by offering the use of free clubs so parents don't have to invest money."

Allison mentions that too many people have an elitist view of the game of golf and it is a barrier she continues to try to break. "It infuriates me that golf is often viewed as an unattainable sport, that youth are often forbidden to play or discouraged to pick up clubs until they're much older," Allison states. "I want parents to teach their kids to play golf without thinking they have to second mortgage their home to join a country club just to learn the sport."

David agrees with Allison that too often golf appears to be divided into different classes rather than appearing accessible for anyone to play. "It's really very easy to get a wide-range of kids interested in golf. At the CTJGA I organized junior competitions with tremendous turnouts. It just took a little organization and promotion but we were able to help local golf courses fill their tee sheets during typically slower time periods by hosting one of our tournaments. It's a great way to grow the game."

Both David and Allison note their use of the Fore! Reservations system to efficiently manage their facility's activities. Whether that's collecting Customer Category information for targeted e-mail marketing purposes, utilizing Golf Shop Credits so parents can easily pre-load their account with funds for their children to spend at the facility, or running Sales and Utilization Reports to track the success of their initiatives, the system helps in a variety of areas.

"Fore! Reservations is truly the backbone of my business," Allison adds. "Installing Fore! Reservations was the single best decision I made when I became a golf course owner. Having a great system like Fore! Reservations enables me to implement new initiatives at the course without worrying how to manage them. I just hope other golf course operators can do the same so less time is taken on managing the daily operation and more time is spent growing the operation and the game in their area."