Golf course properties in Northern Nevada are playing the long game as they invest in youth-oriented events and activities to lure the next generation to golf. Tom Brooks, owner and General Manager of Carson Valley GC, reports that it has taken three years of developing young players to begin yielding results for the Gardnerville, Nev., property.
Tom Brooks, the owner and General Manager of Carson Valley Golf Course in Gardnerville, Nev., has learned to take the long view when it comes to development of the next generation of golfers, the South Lake Tahoe (Calif.)-based Tahoe Daily Tribune reported.
Brooks, like other golf course managers in northern Nevada, continues to swallow hard and make the investments that the business requires if today’s kids will turn into tomorrow’s avid adult golfers, the Tribune reported.
“This is absolutely crucial,” says Brooks.
Courses in the region are paying close attention to the development of the next generation of potential customers. The Mountain Course at Incline Village in Lake Tahoe, Nev., for instance, launched Family Days last summer in an effort to introduce golf to youngsters in a non-threatening manner that allows kids and their parents to play together, the Tribune reported.
Children played the course for free with a paying adult and found kid-friendly features such as an eight-inch cup on each green for easier putting, the Tribune reported.
Charlie Kent, director of operations at the course owned by the Incline Village General Improvement District, said the short, par-58 course allowed families to play a quicker round of golf. Kent learned this summer that developing new players a slow process, the Tribune reported.
“It grew each week, but it’s something that we’re going to have to stick with over time,” Kent said.
Brooks, who got serious about player-development programs a decade ago, said three years of patient work was required before Carson Valley Golf Course began to see results, the Tribune reported.
“The short-term payback just wasn’t there,” Brooks said.
The property added family tees that shorten course, allowing kids to have fun while they learn the game with their parents. Discount prices draw families to play nine holes together after 5 p.m., the Tribune reported.
Summertime camps drew 500 youngsters a year from the nearby towns of Gardnerville and Minden during the peak pre-recession years, and have continued to draw 300 each summer after the financial crisis, the Tribune reported.
“We want them to get out on the course and really enjoy the game,” Brooks said.
Today, Brooks regularly sees one-time participants in the youth camps who are enjoying golf as young adults, the Tribune reported.
A multitude of initiatives around the region are designed to boost the demand side of the equation. Washoe Golf Course in Reno, Nev., for instance, scheduled monthly Family Day events through the summer at which kids played free when they tagged along with an adult, the Tribune reported.
Organizations such at The First Tee of Northern Nevada also provide assistance as the golf business seeks to create a new generation of players. The nonprofit provides low-cost golf lessons throughout the Reno, Tahoe and Carson City region. Participants also learn life skills, the Tribune reported.
But nonprofits and golf course operators alike first need to get the attention of young golfers and their parents, the Tribune reported.
“Golf is competing with so many other activities,” Kent said.
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