Faster, shorter, easier, “funner”…ideas to break down long-standing barriers and build inviting new paths to more enjoyment of, and participation in, the game are starting to flow freely—and bring real results.
By Joe Barks, Editor
A s a middle-school guidance counselor, Alan Ford has a pretty keen sense of which types of kids will gravitate to which types of activities. But even Ford admits he’s been a bit surprised by the broad-ranging appeal of a new golf club activity recently introduced at his school, EJ Hayes Middle School in Lexington, Ky.
The golf club at EJ Hayes is not run by the school’s athletic department, like soccer or basketball. It’s an after-school activity, like glee club or chess club, but it’s not held at the school—it requires going to practice twice a week for a six-week period at Greenbrier Golf & Country Club in Lexington, and there’s a not-insignificant cost involved, too ($175).
But Ford, who serves as the school’s staff sponsor of the golf club, says none of those factors proved to be an impediment when the activity was first introduced last fall, and he expects to have an even easier time getting signups for this spring’s season, which begins April 16.
Club & Resort Business is presenting installments of a special five-part series, “The 21st Century Club,” throughout 2013, to take an in-depth look at how the recession and changing member/guest demographics have reshaped the club business, and to outline paths that properties of all types, and in all industry segments, must be prepared to take to ensure success in the decades to come.
This issue presents Part 2 on Growing Golf, to look at how the business’ most progressive thinkers are finding ways to shatter the now-too-often-accepted notion that golf rounds, and participation, can only at best stay flat.
Part 1, “Rethinking Club Governance,” appeared in the January 2013 issue, to look at how club properties are now rethinking fundamental structural and governance issues relating to the makeup of their Boards, committees and management, and at the growing importance of creating and following strategic plans to position themselves for sustained market leadership in whatever segment they choose to compete.
Remaining installments in the 21st Century Club series will include:
Part 3 (July 2013): Membership—Which of the many recent attempts to create new membership categories, and to establish new concepts and “deals” for initiation fees and dues, have proved to have real and lasting merit and impact. Also, which demographic segments for finding tomorrow’s club members have the most potential—and which groups won’t be worth pursuing.
Part 4 (October 2013): Grounds and Facilities—How the trend to make club properties more operationally efficient and sustainable, inside and out, stands to affect not only how they are managed, but also how their amenities mix may be reshaped and reprioritized.
Part 5 (December 2013): Management—The attributes that are now seen as essential for professional success in club management’s new world order.
“If they aren’t already signed up to host a Junior League team, every club manager in the country should be asking their head professional why they aren’t participating.”
—Kelly Williams, PGA
Club Manager, Greenbrier Golf & Country Club
“The numbers aren’t overwhelming, it’s 20 to 25 kids each season,” Ford says. “But we’ve had great support for the idea, and what’s really interesting is how it’s attracted kids of all types and ability levels. For a good portion of them, this is the only [after-school] thing they do; but we also have a good portion who play other sports and decided to do this in an offseason, or maybe even to replace another sport they were playing.”
For Greenbrier G&CC’s Club Manager, Kelly Williams, PGA, the numbers themselves do have a nice impact—and not just from the participation fees that go to the club. Williams, recently recognized as the Kentucky PGA Section’s Golf Professional of the Year, sought out Ford to form a relationship with EJ Hayes after hearing of the PGA’s Junior League Golf concept, which was introduced in 2011 as golf’s answer to Little League baseball and other team-play options for youths 13 and under.
At Greenbrier G&CC, Kelly Williams (right) is getting as much as he’s giving from his club’s new partnership with a local middle school.
At Greenbrier G&CC, Kelly Williams (right) is getting as much as he’s giving from his club’s new partnership with a local middle school.
The Junior League setup arranges team-vs.-team competition in structured leagues of middle schools that have partnered with clubs, both private and public, in a region. The leagues use a scramble format instead of stroke play, to emphasize socialization and introduce the game in a less-stressful fashion.
The numbers that have looked best of all to Williams are “one or two,” which he puts as the number of kids participating on the Hayes club team who are members’ children, or, for that matter, have ever been exposed to a golf or country club before. That’s brought Greenbrier a nice new market for lessons, driving range fees, pro shop sales and even a few new memberships, Williams says.
But what’s looked best of all to Williams is seeing kids wearing their EJ Hayes Panthers golf shirts and hats around town. “This is a school club, not a team, so anyone can participate; there are no tryouts or cuts,” he says. “But among the kids involved, there’s still a ton of pride in being part of it.
“This is what golf has needed as an answer to organized youth sports for a long time, and I truly believe it’s the future of our industry,” Williams says. “Every club manager in the country should be asking their head professional why they aren’t participating, if they aren’t already signed up to host a team.”
Born of Desperation
The PGA Junior League is just one of many promising new ideas for expanding the reach of golf that have been spawned recently from the industry’s collective awakening, after staring at more than a decade of stagnant growth, to the fact that new ways must be found to break down long-standing barriers to participation in the game.
The momentum for finding ways to show that golf doesn’t have to be too slow, too hard or too stodgy has been accelerated by support from some of the game’s most respected names for concepts that even just five years ago would have been quickly dismissed or shouted down. So it has come to be that Jack Nicklaus can endorse shorter courses, bigger cups and golf in public parks with “nerf”-style equipment.
Bandon Dunes is giving new concepts like “Speedgolf” prominent exposure and credibility.
Or that the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore., embraced by golf traditionalists and purists as the game’s new mecca, can get national television exposure for “Speedgolf,” an X Games-like combination of fitness and golf skill (scoring is based on the lowest possible combination of strokes and time).
Growing Golf: Ideas That Work
“The Shorty Course”—At Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, Menlo Park, Calif., General Manager Rick Sussman, CCM, reports that a “Shorty Course” concept has “expanded our members’ options for on-course play.” The course was set up by surveying the front nine of the Sharon Heights course, to identify and locate easy-access tee spots, with pars established by the club’s pros.
“The Shorty Course has been well-received by all members, and by beginners and juniors, especially—they are more relaxed and less intimidated when the pressure of the long drive is removed,” says Sussman.
“Knowing they can play nine holes within two hours, and keep a score, is appealing [to many golfers],” he adds. “Members can practice for a tournament, bring their kids out for a family round, or work on approach shots and putts. Older members, or those recuperating from injury or surgery, also benefit from The Shorty Course and its scoring sheets for tracking their progress.
“While The Shorty Course is not for the ‘hard-core golfer,’ it’s a great option for many,” Sussman says.
Bandon Dunes (whose owner, Mike Keiser, has also been a leading proponent and developer of short-course options) has also introduced a competition where contestants can carry only three clubs, total. (“Many players have discussed putting with a three-wood,” promotion for the Three-Club Championship states. “Imagination will be the key.”)
The renewed drive to come up with something—anything—new, rather than perpetuate the perception that nothing can, or should, be done about slow play or other long-standing turnoffs that impede the growth of the game, has even prompted “old school” golf course architects like Bill Amick to sketch out new concepts that would make Donald Ross or Alister MacKenzie jump out of their plus-fours
The management staffs at many individual clubs are also working harder to find inspiration for changing the same old ways of doing things (see the boxes on Growing Golf: Ideas That Work throughout this article).
All of these approaches are not only getting attention, but showing real results. And the ones that seem to offer the most promise for attracting the most new golfers over the longest period are the new programs designed to get more kids into the game—especially kids who’ve never been to a golf or country club before.
The Teams Take Off
The PGA has contracted with LEJ Sports Group, an Atlanta-based sports agency that specializes in operating and administering “national grassroots youth sports programs,” to set up the Junior League as a turnkey option for golf and country clubs. Keith Johnson of LEJ reports that the program is “definitely growing” and in a “very fluid” stage of development.
After a pilot season in selected markets in 2011, last year saw 29 leagues with 123 teams formed, Johnson says, and this year he expects to see over 100 leagues involving 500 clubs, representing a reach into 33 states and 30 PGA sections. Participation has been evenly divided among public and private courses that are hosting teams, he notes.
“Last year was our first year for a national rollout, with exposure at the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup,” says Johnson. “We even had a national Junior League Championship, at Cog Hill outside Chicago. And after this year’s PGA Show, our phones were ringing off the hook.”
The pitch that Greenbrier G&CC makes, in partnership with EJ Hayes, for getting involved with the club team starts by saying that the school and the club “are interested in making golf part of an active lifestyle for middle-school students.
“Golf is a game that can be enjoyed for a lifetime and has all the benefits of friendship and being outdoors,” the club signup form states. “Our mission is to create a fun and welcoming environment for kids to learn the game of golf and the life skills it teaches, through instruction with PGA professionals and positive on-course experiences.”
The form makes it clear that the club is “open to all boys and girls, regardless of skill level,” and that golf clubs will be provided for those who do not have their own set. As a further incentive, Greenbrier offers to provide those who finish the season with a certificate for a complimentary round for each club member and a parent/guardian (the promotion makes it clear this is a $100 value).
So far, Williams reports, about one-quarter of the team have been girls, and overall the ability levels have been divided equally between “a third who’ve had some exposure to the
Now in its 16th year, the growth of The First Tee program continues to lay a solid base that promises to yield bumper crops of new golfers in future generations. Earlier this year, San Francisco Schools Superintendent Richard Carranza took part in a ceremony marking the program’s 10th year in that city, over which time it’s grown to now involve 48 schools and 8,000 students, with teachers trained by club pros to incorporate golf into gym class curriculums.
game, a third who have a pretty good idea of what they’re doing, and a third who are truly beginners.”
Williams’ biggest initial concern when getting involved with the program, he says, was that kids would become easily bored and non-engaged, especially when they were sitting out of a match (like Little League, Junior League rules mandate minimum playing time for each team member).
But that fear was alleviated, Williams says, “when I saw one of our best players who wasn’t in a match lying on the ground, helping one of our weakest players line up a putt. They’re all completely into it, and it’s all because of the social aspect that comes from the team format.”
Even better, he adds, the parents of many players have been equally enthusiastic. “You can just tell when they volunteer to drive carts, or you see them walking along the 1st fairway to watch, that they’re thinking, ‘This is a lot better than standing on the sidelines at a soccer field,’ ” Williams says.
In Wake Forest, N.C., The Heritage Club just finished its second season hosting a PGA Junior League team. General Manager John Spiess, PGA, who writes “The Club Connection” blog for clubandresortbusiness.com, posted an entry last year that lamented how “twenty years ago, it was not uncommon to see many junior golfers spending their entire summer at the golf course. But since that time, soccer has taken most of the kids from the golf course.”
Spiess went on to express hope that the Junior League concept, based on his club’s first year of experience, could start to swing the pendulum back toward golf as a favored youth activity.
“We are very excited that this new league may create increased interest and awareness for the game,” he wrote at the time. “It allows our industry to compete head-on against the soccer and little leagues that capture our potential junior golfers. The PGA is to be commended for stepping outside the box to try and interest new golfers into the game.”
Growing Golf: Ideas That Work
“The Hangover Open”—Members would never golf on New Year’s Day at Seven Springs Golf and Country Club, New Port Richey, Fla. But then the club staff had a brainstorm: Why not just make a round of golf an extension of the previous night’s festivities? Thus was born “The Hangover Open,” a scramble format that brought out 90 golfers, many still with their New Year’s Eve attire and favors, who were paired up with team captains from among the club’s GM, golf pros, superintendent and other staff members. “Members loved this concept of keeping the New Year’s Eve party going,” reports Seven Springs’ Wendi McAnn. “They are still talking about it, and can’t wait until next year!”
After a second season, Spiess’ excitement level and optimism has spiked even higher. “A couple of our kids did really well and actually were invited to play on the team that represented [the Raleigh area] in a regional competition at TPC Sugarloaf in Atlanta,” Spiess said in an update. “They and their families traveled to Atlanta last August and had a blast.
“This year we hope to field 16 teams in the Raleigh area, and The Heritage Club will have two of those teams,” Spiess added. “We already have more kids signed up to play than we have available spots on our two teams.
“In my mind, the most important comment I heard last year came from one of the kids at practice one day,” Spiess said. “The 12-year-old youth said to me ‘Coach, my mother told me that I had soccer practice at the same time as golf practice today, and I told her that I wanted to come to golf practice!’
“That comment is testimony to how we can grow the game, one youth at a time!” Spiess enthused.
Well Teed Up
The rapid growth of the PGA Junior League also promises to serve as a good complement, by providing the missing team component, to the golf industry’s more established youth initiative, The First Tee.
Founded in 1997, The First Tee quickly grew into the leading vehicle for introducing golf to youth through both in-school and after-school programs, while at the same time promoting the values and character-building attributes represented by the game. The organization has now reached 7.6 million participants and engaged 12,000 volunteers, including many from within the club industry. The First Tee National School Program is now offered in 5,300 elementary schools, which now promises to provide a strong base for raising awareness among future Junior League participants before they move to middle school (the PGA is a founding partner of The First Tee, along with many other leading golf organizations).
The First Tee has also gained some significant momentum of its own this year, most notably with the announcement in February at the Golf Industry Show that John Deere would become a Trustee of the organization and donate $1 million to it over five years.
Of the many benefits that stand to come from this, perhaps the most significant, from a growth-of-the-game standpoint, will be how the funds will in part be used to create and launch a golf maintenance career-oriented youth development program, in conjunction with the PGA TOUR. Deere’s donation will be used by local chapters of The First Tee to partner with the TOUR’s Tournament Player Courses (TPC), to provide the opportunity for high school-aged participants to learn about topics in agronomy and golf course maintenance careers. As a planned extension, participants will also have the chance to maintain a TPC golf course during a tournament week, including the John Deere Classic held at TPC Deere Run in Deere’s headquarters city of Moline, Ill.
Super Influence
AS CLUBS PUT OUT an all-hands-on-deck call for suggestions and strategies on how to grow their golf business, some of the most productive and on-point ideas are coming from the professionals with the most intimate knowledge, drawn from what they hear and see on the course every day, of what makes golfers decide to come back for more—or stay away for good.
Increasingly, golf course superintendents are exerting their influence in helping properties make the most of their golf course—not only for those who want to play the game, but for an expanded list of other valuable purposes as well.
“The days of the superintendent being grass growers and mowers are long gone,” says Jeff Bollig of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) “They are golf course managers, and they have good ideas.”
Bollig notes that Pat Finlen, CGCS, the GCSAA’s newly elected President, was recently promoted by The Olympic Club in San Francisco from Director of Golf Course Maintenance to Director of Golf, as the latest example of how many superintendents are earning wider-ranging responsibilities.
Superintendents have shown themselves to be particularly valuable to large-scale municipal operations that are under the gun to be as cost-efficient in their operations, and effective in their marketing, as possible, Bollig notes. Examples of especially influential managers on the public side, he says, include
James Ward, CGCS, Director of Golf Course Operations
Superintendents are in the best position to create, and preserve, appealing properties that can do double-duty not only as great golf courses but also attract non-golfers to use and enjoy the surroundings.
for the City of Los Angeles, Brian Zimmerman of the Cleveland (Ohio) Metroparks System, and Dennis Lyon, CGCS, who recently retired from the City of Aurora, Colo. “Lyon had more than 40 years experience growing Aurora golf from one to seven courses, and is considered the ‘godfather’ of municipal golf in Colorado,” Bollig says.
In addition to what superintendents can do to help maximize the appeal of golf courses themselves, especially as interest grows in developing new short courses and more realistic practice areas, their ever-growing expertise in environmental stewardship and landscaping is proving to be extremely valuable as management discovers the value of creating other uses for a property. These include trails for walking or running, wildlife refuges (see pg. 58) and special-event settings that can help drive banquet business.
All of this stands to strengthen the course superintendent profession’s growing influence on the industry’s growth and add to the contributions superintendents are now making to help draw new potential golfers to club properties—including those who might not even be inclined to give the game a try (see box, opposite page).
“At The First Tee, we rely on strong partners like John Deere Golf to help us carry out our ambitious efforts to reach 10 million additional young people between 2011 and 2017,” said Joe Louis Barrow, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of The First Tee, when announcing Deere’s donation. “We’re thankful that [Deere’s contribution] will help us develop a program to teach our participants about turf care and what it means to be a leader in the golf industry.”
Another recent First Tee-related development that spoke to how the organization continues to raise its profile and extend its reach came with the announcement that Tommy Gaither, formerly a Division I head men’s basketball coach at Charleston Southern and Morehead State universities, had been named Program Director and Director of Development for the First Tee of the Grand Strand, in the golf-rich Myrtle Beach, S.C., area.
Growing Golf: Ideas That Work
Golf 101—Blackhawk Country Club in Madison, Wis.,established an introduction to golf program designed for non-golfing spouses of golfing members. The program was taught by Head Golf Professional Rick Witt and General Manager Paul Anthony, CCM, CCE. “It involved classroom and on-course instruction in a very non-threatening environment, and was offered at no cost to all members,” Anthony reports. “We provided a free textbook, Golf Naked, and upon completing the three-week program, participants got a certificate saying ‘I Belong’ [on the golf course], and a free round of golf and dinner for two.
Primarily, new members took advantage of the offer, Anthony reports. “The first year was a success, with the program introducing six new golfers into the club and helping their families see more value in their membership,” he says. “We have had enough interest to expand the program into two classes of three weeks each.”
“We’re very lucky to get Tommy,” said the director of the youth golf foundation that oversees the Grand Strand program, as well as three others in southeastern North Carolina. “He’s quite a leader, so that’s a big deal.”
In his new role, Gaither, who worked in administration for schools in Georgetown County, S.C., after leaving coaching, will continue the relationships that The First Tee of the Grand Strand has developed with a number of area clubs to host and instruct area students, including Wedgefield Plantation Golf Club, the Tradition Club and Conway Country Club.
The organization’s primary fundraiser for this year, a 32-team invitational golf tournament, will be held in July at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, with a pre-tournament dinner the night before at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
Other tournaments and competitions sponsored by the organization are scheduled for St. James Plantation in North Carolina and Wedgefield Plantation GC, as well as the organization’s own facility, The Golf Club at Cinghiale Creek.
Leaving Room for the Ladies
Women’s golf also continues to be an area of strong, and successful, focus for many individual clubs, and management firms, that seek to grow rounds from both existing and new players.
At Blackhawk Country Club in Madison, Wis., General Manager Paul Anthony, CCM, CCE, recently reported on the success of a new “Nine, Wine and Dine” approach that more than doubled participation in the club’s ladies’ nine-hole golfing group.
“By moving the ladies’ nine-hole group from Tuesday mornings to Tuesday evenings, we not only freed up more regular play, but were also able to create a fun, non-competitive group that has become the most social group in the club,” Anthony said. “Meanwhile, we were also able to move junior golf from our busiest day, Friday, to Tuesday mornings, freeing up Friday for regular play.”
A key to making the move successful, Anthony said, was enlisting “a few very outgoing lady members to be ‘cheerleaders.’
“They came up with the name ‘Nine, Wine and Dine,’ ” he said. “We developed a logo and provided shirts and visors. The ladies sold the program themselves, and the group grew from less than 30 to over 60.
“Everyone—ladies, juniors and men—love the new program and hours, and the ladies in our nine-hole group are the best cheerleaders for all club events,” Anthony added.
Management firms have also shown particular inventiveness, and responsiveness, in their marketing efforts geared to women. OB Sports wasted little time trying to ride the success of Danica Patrick, after she won the pole position for the Daytona 500, by sending out a “Congrats Danica” e-mail blast showing photos of Patrick with her race car and a woman blasting out a sand trap . The message: “If she can do this…you can do this.”
Eagle Golf, meanwhile, has extended its program that allows two women to play at its courses for the price of one to June 30; the program was originally slated to stop at the end of March. Eagle has been positioning the promotion as an opportunity for female golfers to bring a friend or try the game for the first time at a discounted rate.
“We’ve had a good response at our courses since starting this in February,” said Eagle Golf CEO Joe Munsch. “However, due to inclement weather, we’ve not been able to see the full impact of this program.
“We recognize the importance of women in growing the game of golf,” Munsch added, “and really believe this is a great way to get more women out onto the course.”
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