The same demanding standards that make golf so addictive to some also make it extremely unappetizing to others. The throngs of new recruits attracted by Tiger Woods’ emergence a decade ago are slowly thinning out, as they experience the same frustration that has always driven away new players.

Progressive courses try to keep the pump primed with innovative programs that provide instruction aimed at discouraged duffers, while others use similar programs to attract new players. Clubs suffering from decreased rounds and dwindling memberships can learn from their examples.

In the hyper-competitive golf market of Los Angeles County, Angeles National Golf Club hoped that building an exceptional practice facility would help differentiateit from the masses. But an unexpected, and pleasant, side effect has been a marked increase in the number of new players it has attracted to the game.

Much of the success at Angeles can be attributed to Director of Instruction Ron Del Barrio. The feisty veteran has taught a Who’s Who of Hollywood celebs, from Stallone and Costner to Will Smith and even Eddie Van Halen. What attracts these A-listers, along with a slew of other students? Del Barrio’s no nonsense approach to the game.

“This isn’t rocket science,” he says. “My ultimate goal as a teacher is to make the game fun and easy for players.” In doing so, he encourages open communication between instructor and student. “I want my students to ask as many questions as possible,” he says, referring to this as “letting the student do the teaching.”

As Director of Golf, Del Barrio has the advantage of shaping the course’s teaching philosophy. His methodology starts with a radical departure from the approach taken at many courses. “I’m sick of seeing instructors who string clients along just to milk revenue out of them,” he says. “I’m more interested in having them improve as fast as possible.”

Del Barrio has assembled a team of six instructors who focus on particular areas of swing fundamentals. “The human body isn’t a perfect machine, so there is no ‘perfect swing’,” he asserts.

Instead, Del Barrio has his employees use every available tool, from their natural instincts to $5000 swing-analysis software, to analyze and offer feedback in a “cause and effect” cycle that has proven effective.

“Word’s out about what we’re doing at the club,” he says. “Our teachers are seeing more and more referrals.”

Those teachers, by the way, are recruited through a traditional job search—but only get hired after playing a round with their future boss.

“If they don’t beat or come close to me, I don’t hire them,” Del Barrio says bluntly.

That is no small feat, as Del Barrio holds the course record of 62 at the Nicklaus-designed Angeles National. So his final “interview” ensures that clients at the Sunland, Calif.-based course will have access to the best teachers around. Judging from the growth Del Barrio and his club have seen, that has clearly been a major draw.

Winning Over Women

Women who are new to golf aren’t as easy to entice. But they’re coming back again, and courses like Ocean Hammock Resort in Palm Coast, Fla. are capitalizing by offering instructional clinics tailored exclusively for ladies of the links.

Of course, it helps when your head golf pro is a former LPGA player, like Ocean Hammock’s Mary Hafeman. After her promising tour career was cut short by a car accident, she turned her love of golf to introducing new players—especially women—to the game.

Former LPGA player Mary Hafeman customizes lessons to each of her students’ needs, and has a 98 percent retention rate to show for it.

Hafeman’s progressive approach looks at making golf more accessible to even the greenest rookie. “Rather than just sitting on the range and hitting balls all day, I try to teach students all aspects of the game,” she says. This involves everything from showing them how to book a tee time, to hitting a pitch shot.And she puts a premium on teaching out on the course, rather than the range.

“That’s where they will fall in love with the game,” she says.

About half of Hafeman’s clients are retirees who move to Ocean Hammock for the sun and beach. “Most had never golfed,” she explains. “But with a Top 100 golf course so close to them, they just naturally gravitated to the sport.”

Listening to her customer’s requests, Hafeman designed group lesson clinics, since “women tend to be more social and enjoy the group dynamic more than men.”

The clinics start slowly, with Hafeman and the ladies working on fundamentals and playing a few holes. The group’s members then build up proficiency and fitness until they are ready (and excited) about playing 18.

“Often their husbands see how much fun they are having, and ask for a similar program,” Hafeman notes.

The main difference between teaching men and women, the University of Florida alum believes, involves the main goal of the lesson.

“Women are more concerned with the look of their swing, while most men could care less how it looks, as long as they score low,” says Hafeman.

So she customizes lesson plans to cater to these differences—and the 98 percent retention rate that she boasts for returning students speaks volumes to her across the-board success.

Tee is for Tots

Of course, growing the game also means clubs have to make a significant effort to attract young players. They make up the next generation of customers, and getting them hooked early can forge a lucrative lifetime bond.

The World Golf Foundation has done its part with the wildly successful First Tee Program, and now resort groups and individual clubs are getting in on the fun. Marriott Golf, for example, has launched a “Kids Golf-4-Free” program this year that offers free greens fees and lessons to children under 15 who are accompanied by a paying adult. The initiative is currently available at 36 of Marriott’s resorts worldwide, from Costa Rica to California.

The new program stemmed from a Family Golf Festival that was held for two or three weekends every year at one of Marriott’s Atlanta properties, reports Marriott Golf ’s Vice President of Operations, Claye Atcheson. That event, which provided free lessons and golf-themed games for families, was hugely successful and spurred a portfolio-wide focus by Marriott to open up the game to more families.

“We see [these programs] as a way to give families the complete resort experience and enjoy all of our amenities,” Atcheson notes. Plus, he adds, “Resort golf can be expensive. This is a way to make it more palatabl
e for families.”

As for the advantages that kids’ programs can garner for Marriott, Atcheson cites loyalty as one key advantage.

“We hope these kids enjoy their experience so much that they continue to play the game,” he says. “If they continue to play it at a Marriott course—all the better.”

There’s also the benefit of how golf can keep families on resort properties for more of their vacations. The lure of free golf for kids lessens the attraction of other activities that could take families off-site.

“There is a real business upside to the Kids Golf-For-Free program,” Atcheson acknowledges. “The longer our guests stay on the grounds, the more incremental revenue we see.”

Marriott also seeks to grow the game and encourage families to golf together through its Faldo Golf Institute, a state-of-the-art facility in Orlando that offers extensive family clinics and boasts an exceptional nine-hole course specially designed for beginners.According to architect Ron Garl, the par-32 course is “designed to make golfers use every club in the bag,” but lacks the forced-carries and hazards that can intimidate new players.

Other Marriott clubs offer junior tees placed strategically on fairways, to give young golfers a chance to experience the thrill of playing without interfering with the pace of play.

“It lets kids play alongside their parents without feeling like a nuisance,” explains Atcheson, who says the setup is so popular, Marriott is considering adding it to more courses.

Closing the Gender Gap

The National Golf Course Owners Association of America (NGCOA) has taken efforts to attract young golfers one step further, by reaching out specifically to junior girls. With the numbers showing that only 17 percent of America’s three million junior golfers were girls, the NGCOA’s Director of Player Development, Anne Lindrup, set out to close the gender gap.

“The number of junior girls playing golf has more than doubled in the last few years, but the numbers still pale in comparison to junior boys,” Lindrup says.

Drawing inspiration from the popular “Take Your Daughter to Work” initiative, the Charleston, N.C.-based organization worked with member courses to set up a “Take Your Daughter to the Course” promotion seven years ago.

“I thought it was inspiring to show girls how much opportunity is out there for them,” Lindrup explains. “Since my mind focuses on golf, it seemed like a natural extension.”

Now, more than 1,000 courses across the country are offering free green fees and clinics to 64,000 young girls who sign up with their fathers, mothers or anyone else interested in introducing them to the game. Conceding that the program’s name is a bit misleading, Lindrup points to its slogan: “Share your favorite sport with your favorite girl.”

“We want to introduce all girls, not just daughters, to the game, and hope the promotion encourages this,” she says.

PGA Tour Pro Brad Faxon has at least four good reasons to support the “Take Your Daughter to the Course” program—his daughters (from left) Emily, Charlotte Dorothea, Melanie and Sophie Lee.

With more women continuing to ascend in the business world, Lindrup adds, it has become more important to get girls involved in golf at an earlier age. “Many women find out later in life how important golf is in business, and express regret at not picking it up earlier,” she says.

Lindrup also expects the current teenage invasion on the LPGA tour to further spike the participation of young girls. “Michelle Wie is a real role model who is going to do wonders for the sport,” she says. “She carries herself well, her swing is beautiful and, let’s face it, so is she.”

Like Atcheson, Lindrup also lauds the family values aspects of the game.

“I’m seeing more families use the game to spend quality time together,” she says. “Unlike a night at the movies where you spend two hours in the dark, golf gets everyone outside, inspires conversation, and involves a level of exercise.”

The PGA Tour’s Brad Faxon must agree, as he volunteered to be the spokesperson for the “Take Your Daughter to the Course” program.” With four girls of his own, Faxon “has seen for himself how much of a bonding experience the game can be,” Lindrup comments.

A Beacon for Beginners

The NGCOA actively administers other programs conceived to grow the game. Most of them focus on making the game more accessible to beginners.

“Newcomers can be made to feel very unwelcome at some clubs,” Lindrup notes.

To this end, her organization developed a certification program that accredits “beginner-friendly” courses, using “criteria that look at things like access to loaner clubs, whether or not they have programs and tee times specifically for new players, and also how difficult the course actually is to play.” Courses that apply for and receive this certification are listed on the association’s website (www.NGCOA.org).

“We’ve seen many of the courses use the ‘beginner friendly’ accreditation in their marketing,” Lindrup says.

For all the new-fangled digital swing analysis and high-tech gadgetry designed to make the game “easier,” though, nothing yet compares to one-on-one instruction with a real-life club or resort professional. Qualified instruction can make the game infinitely more enjoyable, and is often the difference between a new player staying with the game or selling his or her clubs on eBay.

The hard part is getting people to take lessons. But clubs that think outside the box and use innovative ways to entice existing players into instruction, or grow the game from the ground up by focusing on juniors, will set the table for a successful future.

They’ll realize other benefits beyond the actual lesson revenue, too. Increased membership, burgeoning food and beverage revenues, and a new influx of lifetime players are all positive lessons to be learned from clubs that have taken a strategic approach to golf instruction. C&RB

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