A Wake Up Call

When you're in a certain business for a long time, a sense of comfort - and an unfortunate habit of making quick assumptions - tends to set in.
In the golf business, when someone shows up at your golf course, we assume that they know about golf... otherwise why would they be here, right? Well, we recently had an event that promptly put us on our toes, and reminded us about the necessity of good, pro-active communication:
A local company decided to treat their staff to a day on the golf course. Great! We love that. We promote that, and would like to grow that market.
Our tournament co-ordinator had everything organized in terms of tee times, carts, dinner, etc. What we weren't ready for, was the number of people who had NEVER been on a golf course, had NO previous exposure to golf otherwise, and had absolutely NO IDEA about anything to do with golf.
"What hole, a hole? What's a tee? Do you rent golf balls? Can we share clubs?"
We finally got everybody sorted out, did our best with the customer to put golfers and new golfers together, and held our breath as we watched people hit a ball 3 yards at a time.
Lesson learned:

1. If it's a group new to the golf course, ask pertinent questions to the person making the booking: are there any new or non-golfers in the event?
2. If yes, can we suggest ways to make your event run more smoothly? (i.e., pick up the ball after a certain number of strokes, and proceed to putt)
3. Can we offer a 30-minute clinic to the new golfers before they tee off, to help them with the rudiments of the golf swing?
   
   Other ideas came out of this experience, but the important thing is "nipping it in the bud"... and don't assume!

The Long or Short of Golf

An interesting article appeared in many of the TorStar newspapers' Business Sections on Saturday (May 16), with, in my opinion, a somewhat inaccurate headline:
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/5631069-golf-just-takes-too-much-time/

There's no question, the prevailing sense among the very casual or very seasoned golfer is that golf is an "18-hole" game; and on some golf courses, it can be a 5-hour commitment (or more!) if you factor in some warm-up time, and a beverage afterwards. 
Over the last decade, as we have had to become more competitive to keep and grow our customer base, we've learned to think outside the box a bit. The "time factor" of golf has definitely been a major consideration in our marketing plans. For example, we began promoting a Fun Nine & Dine to groups and companies, as an alternative to the full-on 18 hole tournament. We've had some marginal success with this, and the groups that have bought into it love it: start at 4:00, play 9 holes, have dinner, and away you go!
We've even began replacing the word "Tournament" with "Event" or "Golf Day", since learning that many people new to the game, or non-golfers who wish to participate in a company golf event, are intimidated by the word "Tournament".

Back to the article: Golf does NOT have to take TOO MUCH time. The options are: hitting balls on a driving range, or practice putting; play a 9-hole round instead of 18 (for example, 9 holes at our Victoria Park Valley course can be walked in as little as 90 minutes or less!); or, a membership can offer great flexibility: if you don't want to play competitively, with a membership you can golf as little - or as much - as you want. Some of our members come out in the evening and play 4 holes.

The game of golf is certainly going through some changes, but I firmly believe there will always be room for the Purist, and if you ask around, always be options for those who are new to the game... or just enjoy getting out for a bit of fresh air!

Wake Up! Smell the Turf.

Wow, so much going on...
I just noticed my last post was LAST YEAR, so I thought it was time to get back on the bandwagon.
We opened both Victoria Park East and Valley this year on April 11, so an average opening date. Course conditions are, what I would term, as a "standard spring" - minimal winter damage, otherwise healthy turf. So that's good news.

We hired an experienced food manager this year to look after the food & beverage controls for both golf courses, as well as manage the Golfers Lounge at the East. Derek Wright comes to us with a solid restaurant and resort background. This is a big job, and takes a load off my plate. I will work closely with Derek, to ease him in to the vagaries of the golf business, and I will also concentrate more on marketing our golf courses.

Now a week-and-a-half into the season, I'm very pleased to see the number of returning members to the East and Valley, as well as the up-tick in Junior players at the Valley. Also, our FlexPass discount program, introduced last year, is a hot seller!

What else is new this year? We're considering using the larger golf hole (8-inch diameter), occasionally, on 9 holes at the Valley: this may help with speed of play for beginner golfers, as well as add a bit of fun to the game. Other golf courses in the region have tried this, comments have generally been positive. More on this later!

Another big plus is the number of returning staff. We're very proud of our teams here, and we continue to instill the importance of great customer service among our staff.

Comments from our customers are always welcome; it's great to hear positive comments, but I always understand that problems will come up and need to be addressed. Contact me any time: john@victoriaparkgolf.com

Long-time members Ted and Randy practicing for Opening Day, April 11 2015

"The Wave" that Didn't Happen

Seniors Golf: The New Wave?

In the 1990's, many "experts" warned us in the golf business of the tidal wave of retiring baby boomers that would flood our golf courses, "They're coming," we heard. "Educated, disposable income, generally fit, and lots of time on their hands. THEY WILL WANT TO GOLF!"

The industry reacted. Golf course construction was rampant, especially in the Sun Belt states. Equipment manufacturers and retailers also ramped-up. 

Now we're halfway through the second decade of the third millennium, and seriously reflecting on what happened to this elusive group. Where did they go? Or, to be slightly optimistic, what are they waiting for?

Here at Victoria Park East, the trend did not go as forecast. Our Weekday membership category - the one that we imagined would be overwhelmingly senior - has declined steadily since the early 2000's. Our Full Membership category has remained strong; but here, the median age has risen, and is touching the 60+ level. Since introducing two Intermediate Full categories in 2008, we have seen a marginal increase in younger golfers, which has certainly helped.

One factor may be economic: the disposable income is there, but people are just being more careful with how they spend it. In terms of affordability of golf, I sincerely believe nobody can complain: in our market, green fee rates have not increased in seven years. In fact, golf deals are getting better all the time, with the proliferation of online tee time marketers like GolfNow, WagJags, coupon books, etc., there are a lot of money-saving opportunities for the casual and frequent golfer (although a membership still offers the best value for the frequent golfer).

An unexpected trend that, in my observation, seems to be more popular in the last few years are "golf-around" groups of senior players - groups of 12 or more that go around to different golf courses in their region and negotiate a group rate. More choice for the consumer.

The golf industry in North America is now experiencing a correction (for lack of a better word). News of golf closures - again predominantly in the U.S.'s Sun Belt, but also here in Canada - is now no big deal, To be fair, this cannot be blamed on the perceived lack of seniors playing the game. They're playing... maybe not joining, but playing. 

Is This Event on Life Support?

Here's a picture of Emerald Hills Golf Club (near Stouffville Ontario) taken on Monday September 29. What a beautiful day it was! And of course, a great day to golf at this fabulous course.
It was the annual "Pro Executive Day In Support of the Hulbert Memorial Fund" (aka "The Hulbert Memorial"), hosted by the PGA of Ontario. I've blogged about this event before - it's a fundraiser for the PGAO Benevolent Fund.
Sadly, this year there were only nine (nine!) teams participating. When I first played "The Hulbert" back in 1998, there was a waiting list. In those days, it was played at the Board of Trade Club (now The Country Club) in Woodbridge: 36 holes, and all 36 holes were filled. We brought a jacket and tie for dinner. It was a BIG deal!
So it's unfortunate to see it shrink to the point of, well, almost nothing.
Certainly, events sometimes "run their course", but this is such a great tournament, and an important one for the PGAO, that it shouldn't be mothballed. There was a short discussion at the end of the day, about putting forth some ideas on revitalizing the Hulbert. The format has always been a 4-person scramble, with each team consisting of a club Pro, a manager, and executives from a club's membership. I was thinking of presenting the idea of a ProAm with the "Shamble" format.  Any ideas?

Does Golf Need to Be "Re-Defined"?

Here's a video from HBO Real Sports, that may be cool and entertaining to some, and definitely scary to other - especially to us, in the golf business.

Are the number of golfers down that much? What can we do to attract a new generation of golfers? A better question would be... How low should we go?

An Indoor Golf Simulator - in 1966??

Here's a head-scratcher! From the November 1966 "Golf and Club News" magazine is an article about - drumroll please - an indoor golf simulator. Sure, it wasn't run with an i-Core processor, but I never would have guessed the concept began in the mid-60's. And judging by the picture, it looks very familiar to what we see today (with the exception of the clothes).

Thanks Murray McLaren, teaching pro at Victoria Park Valley, for finding this publication. I love this stuff.