Built around family-friendly facilities and a more effective management structure, the “farm system” at Haggin Oaks consistently yields new crops of eager young golfers.
The Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento, Calif., has long enjoyed a lofty reputation among golf industry observers for its vision, successful business model and commitment to nurturing the game and its participation base.
Owned by the City of Sacramento and operated by Morton Golf, Haggin Oaks’ elevated stature rests securely on what Director of Golf Mike Woods calls the company’s “four pillars of growing the game.” The basic tenets of the company’s player development strategy are not new, says Woods. But they have been augmented and updated with initiatives that include the PGA’s Get Golf Ready introductory offering; utilization of the facility’s MacKenzie Putting Course; employment of paid volunteer “coaches” in beginner and intermediate-level instruction stages; and a broad array of rate structures and events designed to offer something for every age, skill and experience level.
“Our first pillar is, like Major League Baseball, having a ‘farm program,’ ” Woods explains. “We offer step-by-step instruction for both junior golfers and beginners, using a variety of ways to pull them out to our facility. We actually have a ‘Tots on the Tee’ program that starts at age 3, which has a little golf involved but is also about fun and exercise and basically creating a warm and fuzzy feeling regarding golf.”
Haggin Oaks has a wide variety of offerings for younger players, including a Junior Golf program that includes introduction to the game and initial playing instruction. It is supplemented with funds from a facility-sponsored charitable foundation dedicated to fostering junior participation.
Haggin Oaks also offers a “New to Golf” introductory program for adults that, among other strategies, has been publicized through a low-priced promotion to reach the 380,000 Groupon users in the greater Sacramento area.
One key element of the facility’s introductory programs is the use of “golf coaches” instead of the facility’s regular staff of golf professionals. Initially, the plan was to use Haggin Oaks staff professionals to teach the introductory courses, Woods says. But because relatively little revenue was being generated in those introductory sessions, and Haggin Oaks professionals are compensated somewhat differently than most others in the industry, the decision was made to seek out passionate amateur golfers who would be interested in helping others enjoy the game as they do.
Haggin Oaks pays these “golf coaches” the $9/hour minimum wage, and uses them exclusively in the New to Golf program. Some of the coaches also work with the Haggin Oaks staff pros on the Get Golf Ready programs—an approach that is particularly effective with women, Woods says, because the majority of the golf coaches are also women who can help put female newcomers at ease.
Full Commitments
The third pillar of Haggin Oaks’ player development strategy is that all of the facility’s golf pros have to be full-time employees. This helps to keep everyone working toward the same goals, Woods says.
“The independent-contractor model is completely broken, in our opinion,” he says. “We don’t want our pros out there on an island at the lesson tee, removed from everything else we’re doing.
“All of our employees are full-time employees with benefits, which is totally different than the way most others in the industry are doing it,” he adds. “It’s a core thing for us.”
Each Morton Golf pro submits a budget for the coming year projecting his or her personal goals in terms of lesson revenues, merchandise sales and other contributions to facility revenues. Management then focuses on helping them achieve those goals.
“We spend a lot of time with our golf instructors on ways for them to build and service their clientele,” says Woods. “We want their clients to be loyal to them, and to be loyal to Haggin Oaks. We spend a lot of time and money on customer relationship management.”
Seeing the Big Picture
The fourth pillar of the Haggin Oaks program is built around acknowledging the impact that the first three pillars have on the overall health and profitability of the facility.
“The whole player development program has a major impact on rounds, range ball revenue, food-and-beverage, and lesson revenue,” says Woods. “If you have a high turnover [in staff], it affects all of those areas.”
Golf Revenue and Activity at Haggin Oaks in One YearJuniors • Junior Golf Program Fees: $125,000 • Junior Private Lesson Fees: $30,000 (approximately 10% of total private lesson business) • Junior Play Cards (1,198 Sold): $23,960 • “Kids Golf Free” Annual Rounds: 5,015 • Junior Play Card & Youth On-Course Participation: 1,570 • Food-and-beverage, golf cart and range-ball sales all positively impacted through the junior golf programs, including $100,000+ in junior clubs and apparelAdults • Private lessons: $285,000 • Get Golf Ready (Women): 71 women @ $65 each • OK to Play League: 10 people @ $45 each • Get Golf Ready: 111 people, $10,900 • Get Golf Ready 2: 41 people, $4,000 • New 2 Golf: 783 people @ $34.85 each • Practice Makes Perfect (supervised practice membership): 250 people @ $65 each |
Haggin Oaks’ facilities have been designed, and are operated, to help realize every area’s full potential. The lighted driving range is open late year-round and 24 hours for the five warmest months of the year. During the summer, Woods reports, more range balls are sold after dark than during the daylight hours.
Additionally, the huge Haggin Oaks SuperStore is adjacent to the driving range and open for similar hours, dramatically expanding opportunities for merchandise sales and other ancillary revenue.
Haggin Oaks is also home to the 18-hole MacKenzie Putting Course. Located near the driving range, the course serves as an added attraction for corporate outings and, at $2 for either 9 or 18 holes, is accessible to virtually everyone. Players who buy a bucket of balls play free.
In 2013, Haggin Oaks also built a FootGolf layout on Arcade Creek, one of its two 18-hole championship courses. Over 13,000 rounds of the hybrid sport were played on the course in its first full year, and that total has continued to grow exponentially, Woods reports.
“Sixty percent of those players had never played golf before, and that really excites me,” Woods said. “It’s clearly a standalone game—but if you can get people out to the golf course who’d probably never come otherwise, maybe some will take up the game.”
Two-Way Feedback
After having done so much to conquer the physical challenge of getting new people out to Haggin Oaks, Woods and the rest of the Morton Golf team also make an extra effort to address the mental and emotional challenges involved in making the game a welcoming and enjoyable experience for players of all types and abilities.
Woods has personally taken on this challenge by actually asking customers what they like—and don’t like—about his facility.
“A couple of years ago, I started a women’s focus group,” he reports. “We have about 15 women in it now, and we meet once a month or so and talk about how to make golf more accessible.
“I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about things they’ve experienced, at our facility and others, and it’s really valuable for us because we’ve learned that we have to do some things differently,” he continues. “They’re encouraged to mention our employees by name, good or bad, so we can address [what they report]. Some said I was crazy to do that, but it’s been really valuable.”
On the course, Haggin Oaks is equally focused on making the game accessible to juniors and families by making time available in an affordable fashion. Recently, the course’s last hour of daylight has been offered for $5 to play and $9.99 to ride.
The offer is marketed as the best way for beginners to get course experience without the pressure to keep up pace of play, Woods reports, and it’s also an additional opportunity to sell a few extra buckets of range balls as players loosen up beforehand. Kids also play free with a paying adult at certain times of the day.
“It’s all part of the ‘farm system,’ and a big part of what we do,” says Woods.
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