Three executive golf courses in Manatee County are “bucking the stigma that their style of course is for beginners and full of par-3 holes.” Efforts include keeping the greens in top shape, aggressive social media activity, and Groupon vouchers.
When Palm View Hills Golf Course in Palmetto, Fla., closed operations in mid-June, it left a void for golfers aiming to play executive courses in the area, the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald reported.
“I think that what we have seen is there has been a very large supply of the product and not the demand,” said Joel King, head pro of Pinebrook/Ironwood Golf Club in Bradenton. “At some point, it eventually starts to catch up. In the early 2000s, we had over 500 golf courses being built a year. With Michigan being number one, California, Florida in that order. And right now, we’re at a net 165 golf courses closing a year.”
Yet, there are still executive courses vying for business in Manatee County and the surrounding area. Three different executive courses rely on different methods in bucking the stigma that their style of course is for beginners and full of par-3 holes, the Herald reported.
The semiprivate Peridia Golf and Country Club in Bradenton sustains itself with a membership base of 648, which is tied in with owning a home in the neighborhood where the course sits, in addition to various promotional ideas with different play cards and sending email blasts to Big Summer Golf Card holders, the Herald reported.
“Utilizing those things are a big key in getting through the summer and throwing those specials out there,” said Mitch Riley, Peridia’s head pro since 2012.
Another semiprivate facility, the par-61 Pinebrook/Ironwood Golf Club in West Bradenton, utilizes its knack for having the course in tip-top shape. Green quality has a reputation at executive courses to be lacking compared to the regulation-length tracks, due to smaller revenue coming in, the Herald reported.
But King, who has been Pinebrook/Ironwood’s head pro for 29 years, said the greens at his course are its strong suit. “Our philosophy is to always produce quality,” King said. “We feel that people will respect it and come play.”
King said they’ve renovated the greens twice in the last 15 years to keep the standard that the course has offered throughout the years. “We take a lot of pride in our greens,” King said. “We feel that doesn’t necessarily set us above anybody else, but it certainly doesn’t leave that to question.”
Freedom Fairways, a par-63 layout in Sun City Center, increased its gross revenue about 30 percent in 2014 compared to the 2013 numbers. Director of Golf Frank Hinson attributes an aggressive approach with social media such as Facebook, an up-to-date website and vouchers with Groupon as some of the methods geared at attracting players to the course, which churned out more than 15,000 rounds in 2014, the Herald reported.
“We are using every tool we can find to drive players to our golf course,” said Hinson, who has been at the course for the last 2 ½ years.
Most golf course revenue in Florida is built during the peak winter season months, when tourists flock local tracks throughout the shorter days. Usually, courses are hit harder with the summer due to higher temperatures, course aerification schedules, less players around and hurricane season dropping lighting storms to pop up regularly, the Herald reported.
However, Hinson said Freedom Fairways is having a good summer, and that might be because of the recent Palm View Hills closing sending its players there—as well as most executive courses in the Ruskin area shutting down in recent years, the Herald reported.
“The demographics set up perfectly for the golf course that we have, which is roughly half the size of a full-size course,” Hinson said. “People are getting older and they don’t want to spend five hours out there playing.”
The Suncoast Golf Center offers lighted golf near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. Other public-accessed executive courses in the area include Greens of Manatee, The Groves at the Meadows, Palmetto Pines Golf Course, River Isles Golf Course, Terra Ceia Bay Country Club and Timber Creek Golf Course, the Herald reported.
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