Golf professionals still hold the keys to stimulating more participation in the sport. Here are profiles of several who have found especially effective ways to unlock new interest and enthusiasm.
Interested in bringing more people into golf, and hopefully onto your tee sheets or membership rolls? Want to see your current players more often?
The solution to reversing golf’s declining participation is probably not coming down from the United States Golf Association or PGA of America headquarters, or from a list of best practices handed down by the National Golf Course Owners or Club Managers of America associations.
Instead, the best path to more participation probably lies in the ability and enthusiasm of the golf professionals you’ve hired—and the freedom you’ve given them to share that with your customers. We invite you to meet some of the professionals on the front lines who are proving out that theory.
Spreading the Spirit
Wendy Werley Bullock, Director of Sports and Wellness at the Rancho Viejo (Texas) Resort & Country Club (RVRCC), is not your average golf professional, to say the least. After all, how many pros started playing at age 3; were taught and mentored by a Hall of Fame golfer like Paul Runyan; worked with renowned performance psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr for 15 years; played on the U.S. and Japanese pro tours; developed a golf program for wellness and spiritualist guru Deepak Chopra at his famed Wellness Clinic in La Jolla, Calif.—and then converted Chopra himself into an avid golfer?
It’s little wonder, then, that Whitney Crouse, Chairman of the Board of Mosaic Clubs & Resorts, which manages RVRCC, refers to Bullock as “one of our superstars.”
Bullock incorporates a wide range of industry programs at Rancho Viejo, including Little Linksters, SNAG Golf and U.S. Kids, and is now starting the first PGA Junior League Golf program south of San Antonio in Texas. Additionally, on her own initiative, she has built a thriving women’s golf program from scratch. In the process, she has changed the culture of the resort and club’s golf programs, even making it possible to get her junior students out on the course during the coveted Saturday morning times.
“We have 50 to 60 kids out on the course on Saturday mornings, which just wasn’t done around here before,” she says. “In three years, we’ve touched over 500 kids. We also developed a ladies clinic with eight sessions for $150—and since I’m a mother myself and know that your schedule changes, the ladies can come whenever they can make it.”
Bullock incorporates her own status as a wife and mother into how she relates to her students, especially women and juniors. Her 12-year-old son and 8- year-old daughter help her with some of her junior lessons. Plus, she notes, “I’m 93 lbs. and 5 feet tall—so I’m like one of the kids, which probably helps me to relate with them.
“I also coach the parents when I’m coaching the kids,” Bullock adds. “You have to have the parents onboard and supportive, to keep the kids involved.”
RVRCC’s owner is an industrial developer from Mexico who is committed to growing the game in any way Bullock can come up with. He also supports wellness activities that Bullock has helped to develop for resort guests, club members and the community. His faith is obviously well-placed—RVRCC, which charges monthly dues of $275 but has no initiation fee and no monthly minimums, added 34 new members in one month alone earlier this year.
Plenty on the Line
Chris Thomson is the Director of Golf at Wilderness Ridge Golf Club, a KemperSports-run property in Lincoln, Neb. A 25-year industry veteran and former member of the PGA of America National Board of Directors, Thomson knows that like fishing, you have to keep putting bait in the water to keep customers coming back. He also knows that, unlike fishing, constant communication with members and guests is key.
One of Wilderness Ridge’s most successful lures is the Get Golf Ready initiative. With the club’s current golf season just getting underway in mid-May, the first eight weeks of its Get Golf Ready sessions were already sold out. One hundred and twenty-five people completed the introductory golf training last year, Thomson says, and more will enroll this year.
Thomson makes sure the club’s more than 150 members, and its daily-fee customers, always know what programs, events and special offers are available. In addition to keeping the course website updated, he sends out e-mail blasts on an almost-daily basis, to preview coming events and specials.
“With the adult programs in particular, you’ve got to keep chipping away at it,” says Thomson, an alumnus of Ferris State University’s graduate-level golf management program. “Industry-wide, everybody at every facility has to do their part to get more people involved in the game.”
Wilderness Ridge has approximately 300 youngsters involved in junior programs, including three leagues. Unique programming includes “The Golf Doctor,” a regular Monday-evening event on the practice range. During those sessions, the club’s pros provide 15-minute lessons and issue a note card, styled after a prescription pad, to give each player specific tips for what he or she should work on.
Thomson has also instituted an offer of a car-wash and detailing, at a very nominal fee, for the first six players to sign up for tee times on specific dates. Member events include cookouts and a series of golf-skills competitions similar to those on The Golf Channel’s “Big Break” program, as well as league play.
The practice range is a key element in Thomson’s campaign to get members and customers out to the facility more often to work on their games. With each bucket of balls purchased, players have their range cards punched. Completed cards earn some type of gift, such as a free round on the facility’s par-32 executive course, or a free bucket of balls. On “Two-Punch Tuesdays,” customers receive a bonus credit for every bucket they buy.
Igniting the Spark
Shawn Cox is the Director of Golf at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, Calif. With an award-winning Tom Fazio-designed championship course, deluxe resort hotel and extensive practice facility, the club’s membership is younger and boasts a number of skilled players, including current U.S. Amateur champion Gunn Yang. While Cox is proud of these assets, he is equally proud of the progress the club has made in bringing juniors into the game.
“The club is a great atmosphere for kids,” he says. “In addition to our PGA Junior League teams, we have two-hour classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for older kids on what I call ‘The Varsity,’ and classes on Friday for what I call the ‘Junior Varsity’—kids ages 5 to 8. Before the PGA Junior League came along, we had our own junior leagues at the club.”
The average member age at the Grand Del Mar is only 50, which bodes well for the club’s future, but poses some challenges for members and the golf staff. As a result, Cox has developed some unique events to accommodate his members’ schedules and get them out to the club during the week.
“A lot of our members are still working,” he notes, “so they can’t come out consistently during the week. So about six years ago, I read a story in one of the industry magazines about PowerPlay, which is a game that’s big overseas, and stole the idea.
“It’s played with two flags on every green, and you choose ahead of time which flag you’re going to play on each hole,” he explains. “You have to pick at least three of the harder flags, and those are worth more points. You play nine holes, and it’s a Stableford scoring system with a shotgun start.
“We do it on Monday nights during the football season, with a buffet and heavy hors d’oeuvres in the men’s locker room,” Cox says. “Everyone puts in $20 each night. We keep a year-long total of the scores, and take $5 out of the pot each night for the top scores at the end of the season.
“It’s a great way for members to get to know other members, and we also allow members to bring up to three guests who are comped,” he notes. “We figure we’re not going to get a lot of people bringing guests out on a Monday afternoon anyway, so it’s no loss for us, and it’s a great way to expose potential new members to the club.”
The presence of skilled players—especially younger ones like Yang—serves as added inspiration for the club’s juniors, Cox notes. “I was reading something about motivation,” he recalls, “and saw a reference to what the author called ‘ignition,’ which was seeing or meeting a person who inspired you to improve. I thought of that today when I saw a few of our kids out there practicing in the rain with the U.S. Amateur champion.”
The Pick of the Crop
Jason Beffert, General Manager of the Billy Casper Golf-managed Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield, Conn., knows he’s a lucky man. In addition to a pair of championship courses designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and Gary Player, plus the “Apple Nine” short course, Beffert has an experienced and talented instructional staff. Between them, Lyman Orchards’ four teaching pros—Marissa Kulig, Jon Wilson, Randy Taylor and Hermine Greyling—check all the boxes on a general manager’s wish list. Each brings a unique skill set to the facility, yet collectively they function flawlessly as a team.
“The biggest thing we’re looking for [in an instructional staff] is diversity,” Beffert says. “And by that I mean background, cultural and skill-set diversity. We are very lucky to have found that in these four.”
Marissa Kulig spent the first 17 years of her 20-year golf career as something of a golfing Renaissance woman, progressing from college golf to Assistant Pro, Greenskeeper, Head Professional and then General Manager of The Ledges Golf Course in Massachusetts, before returning to her true passion as a teaching pro at Lyman Orchards. She obviously loves the choice—she commutes an hour each way from her Massachusetts home.
Since joining “Team Lyman,” Beffert says, Kulig has made a dramatic impact on the facility’s campaign to attract, develop and retain more female players. “She’s had tremendous success with women’s golf instruction, turning them into golfers,” he says. “She has a way of making the women coming to our facility feel comfortable. She’s the pilot that drives that ship for us.”
“We have a Golf for Women program that was basically following Get Golf Ready, but needed to be tweaked a bit,” Kulig reports. “Now we have four classes of Golf for Women, 101 through 104. The women transition from level to level, with the goal being to get them to play up to our top course. I think women are a little more comfortable with me than they might be with a male instructor.” Apparently so—the most recent Golf for Women sessions attracted 200 women.
Lyman Orchards GC has an historic old house on its property called The Homestead, and every year before the season starts, a social event for women is hosted there. This year, Beffert reports, 50 women turned out, even with snow still on the ground—a turnout he attributes primarily to Kulig.
Jon Wilson, a 25-year PGA pro, is also in his third season at Lyman Orchards, and brings a comprehensive background in golf instruction. In addition to owning and running his own Sound Approach Golf Academy and Studio, he was the women’s golf coach at Yale University for several years, the National Golf Professional of the Year for the Arnold Palmer Golf Management company in 1999, and has held numerous other teaching and head-pro positions during his career.
“Jon’s skill set lies in working one-on-one, and he teaches a lot of our better players,” Beffert says. “We think we’re a place for new golfer development, but we want to guard against not having someone for the better player, too.”
Randy Taylor also brings an extensive and diverse background to the staff. His varied career includes a 10-season stint as Program Director for The First Tee of Metropolitan New York and as Site Director for both the LPGA Girls National Program and Nike Golf Schools at Fairchild Wheeler Golf Course in Fairfield, Conn.
“Randy is very family- and juniors-centric,” Beffert says. “He has an extensive background with The First Tee, and he’s really good at introducing people to the game.”
The fourth member of the staff, Hermine Greyling, is a native of South Africa who has been serving an LPGA apprenticeship at Lyman Orchards—but sadly for Beffert and her fellow staffers and clients, Greyling will soon be returning home to pursue her career there. “She has a degree in physical anatomy [and knows] how the body works, and that’s a niche we’ll be looking to fill when she leaves,” Beffert says.
While each staff member has special expertise, their ability to work together sets them apart, Beffert believes. “It’s impressive how cohesive they are,” he says. “We used to have a director of instruction, who was kind of a true boss of the staff. But we lost that position last April and decided not to replace it, because the staff works so well together.
“Our instructors realize that unlike some places, we’re very much a for-profit facility,” he adds. “[Instead of using] lesson fees to boost pros’ salaries, we’re trying to make money for the owner, while also developing new players.
“Our staff works really hard, and the club is making a margin on lessons, so everybody is pulling the rope in the same direction,” Beffert says. “It also helps that we’ve got 45 holes of golf, so we have inventory. Our owner realizes that and lets us get people out on the course for a golf experience. We talk every day about how we can make new golfers more comfortable.”
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