Steven David

Steven David on the business impact of creating self-guided practice stations:
We feel this helps with our members’ overall enjoyment of the game. They have guidance in their practice, rather than just hitting ball after ball with no purpose, which leads to success, and the members will want to spend more time at our club. This leads to an increase in instruction revenue, as the members want to work on their games and become better golfers. We’re also seeing increased revenue in the golf shop and in our restaurant.

Kerry Green is a PGA assistant professional and merchandiser at Crystal Tree Golf & Country Club in Orland Park, Ill.

Kerry Green on the business impact of setting up a junior course on the range:
We can have up to 25 kids on the range during each junior session. We charge approximately $125 for a six-week junior instruction series that includes a junior championship and banquet for all players and their parents. Our club members have grown accustomed to the fact that our range is closed for junior golf lessons on Thursday mornings for a few hours. The real impact this program has is on family golf. By giving new juniors a true golf experience, they develop a passion for the game that will stay with them until they can finally transition to the actual golf course. The mini-course promotes recreation and fun on the range for our junior golfers and gives the parents another activity that can be done as a family.

Greg Mason, the 2008 Iowa PGA Section Golf Professional of the Year, is a PGA Professional and owner of Legend Trail Golf Club in Parkersburg, Iowa.

Greg Mason on the importance of maintaining a complete marketing strategy:
Some of the most popular forms of marketing these days are social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. While we have a presence on these sites, we’ve made sure not to forget about some of the classic forms of advertising. One of the more effective ways of advertising that we have found is on television. Rather than just trying to reach people on Golf Channel, I try to reach families by getting the word out about our range on other channels. Our ads are family-driven, so we try to hit the kids who are watching cartoons, as well as moms who are watching bridal shows, in addition to dads. We still do a lot of newspaper advertising as well. Iowa is unique in that our newspaper in Parkersburg still has a large circulation, so we’ll use the paper to promote everything from our two-for-one range bucket special on Monday through Friday before 2 p.m. to golf lessons and our restaurant. We’re in the paper every week and at $18 a week, it’s a no-brainer. We also reach potential customers through direct mailings, placing ads in weekly coupon books and on the radio, and we’ve found that these methods of spreading the word about our facility have all been successful.

Greg Mason on the business impact of maintaining a complete marketing strategy:
When we started with our cable advertising, our range revenue increased 20 percent. We always have people coming in and telling us how they heard us on the radio or they saw us on TV. Once I started putting myself in the cable ads, I began getting recognized. In fact, one time while getting my hair cut, one of the hairdressers mentioned that she saw me in the ad and it eventually led to a group lesson with six female hairdressers. While there are several popular forms of marketing right now, don’t forget to stay in front of your customers in as many ways as possible.

Charlie King, the 2011 Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year, is the PGA director of instruction at Reynolds Golf Academy in Greensboro, Ga.

Charlie King on the importance of practicing competitive golf on the range:
I believe there are two different types of practice: technique and competitive. When a person is developing their game, nearly 100 percent of their practice will be technique. This is the typical skill-building practice of hitting stacks of balls over and over from a perfect lie to build habit. But this is not how golf is played. You don’t get to hit 20 9-irons in a row from a perfect lie when you’re on the course. This is where competitive practice becomes beneficial, which involves using your imagination to essentially play a round of golf on the range. When I’m with a student for a competitive practice and they step up to “hole one,” I outline what the shot will look like. For example, I’ll tell them the yardage from the tee to the hole, that there’s water on the left and out of bounds on the right. Once they make that shot, we’ll change clubs, bump the next ball so that they aren’t playing from a perfect lie, and visualize the next shot, whether it’s a pond to the left or a bunker behind the green. This creates accountability for their shots in practice. If their next shot is from an uneven lie, we have mounds built besides the practice tees so the students can work on uphill and downhill lies. We can even play from a practice bunker if necessary. By the time my students are about a 15 handicap, that’s when I will make 80 percent of practices about technique and 20 percent competitive. If golfers don’t transition to competitive practice, they’ll wonder why they are good range players but can’t transition to the course.

Charlie King on the business impact of practicing competitive golf on the range:
Golf instructors need to be ready for students who ascend through skill-building and are ready to take the next step as golfers. Introducing students to this type of competitive practice gives me a lot of credibility as an instructor. Many of my students haven’t heard of this before, and it shows that I understand the problems that can arise in golf, which builds loyalty. Also, once they’re able to see their weaknesses during competitive practice, they will return to me for more lessons to work on these areas of their game.

With a team of twelve staff members going back to the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January of this year, the Haggin Oaks Golf Super Shop team has decided to share the unique experience with their customer base in a whole new level for the second straight year. Armed with smart phones & i-Flip digital video cameras, the team will spend four days at the show updating a single live feed blog with all of the experiences that are witnessed and highlighting all of the new products that are coming out later in the spring. Last year’s live blog was followed closely by golfers across the country- but especially in Northern California when a Sacramento Bee article highlighted the social media initiative. Over 15,000 golfers ended up following the team’s every move back at the show.

The initiative is spearheaded by Morton Golf LLC Social Media Marketing Manager, Jennifer Morton. Morton utilizes a number of different social marketing platforms including:

The Golf In The City Blog: www.golfinthecityblog.com
• This is the “hub” of the consolidated activity
• One single blog post will be updated continuously with new posts as they are sent by the entire team. The blog will host pictures and video uploads with the newest information will appear at the top of the post.

The Haggin Oaks Twitter account: http://twitter.com/#!/hagginoaks
• Live tweets of information as they are presented via text, video, email or photos
• A unique hashtag whenever possible for those following the show on Twitter
o #PGASHOW

The Haggin Oaks website: http://www.hagginoaks.com/
• A scrolling news listing on the home page for “Live Coverage on the PGA Show in Orlando.”
• The site will also host an iFrame window from the blog that will give streaming content of the posts and news as the team sent it her way.

The Haggin Oaks Facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/hagginoaks
• One new daily post for the PGA show was made as the main post for the day – which will include an overview of the show or a few quick highlights from the day before.
• It will be updated with multiple posts with comments throughout the day to follow the team live on our blog and via twitter
• The general public can also use Facebook to ask the team questions about what they’d like to see or get any questions answered.

Managed by Morton Golf, the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex is located between Interstate 80 and Business 80 in Sacramento, 3645 Fulton Ave.

Contact:
Ken Morton, Jr.
916-871-2676
kmortonjr@hagginoaks.com

Bruce Fleming is the first assistant golf professional at Makefield Highlands Golf Club in Yardley, Pa.

Bruce Fleming on the importance of developing a frequent user program:
In April 2011, we developed our own version of a frequent driving range user card. This is not a typical range pass that gives golfers unlimited usage of the range. Instead, this card allows golfers to purchase buckets of balls in bulk in order to receive deeper discounts. A typical bucket of balls at Makefield Highlands costs 5 dollars, but with the frequent user card, customers can get them for as low as half price, depending on the number pre-purchased. Once the card is purchased, the golfer takes their card to the range and swipes it, similar to a credit card, and a bucket is subtracted from the golfer’s balance. This streamlined procedure allows the customer access to the driving range without having to come into the golf shop to purchase range balls every time they visit, until it’s time to recharge the card. Also, there is no expiration, so customers don’t have to use the buckets within a specific time frame. The system was easy to install, as the company that provided the hardware also downloaded the software package to our computer systems and had everything up and running in about an hour.

Bruce Fleming on the business impact of developing a frequent user program:
This program has been a huge success for our range. Since April, we’ve sold between 2,000-3,000 cards. Even with no lights or cover on our range, we generated over $175,000 in range revenue last year alone, and the revenue is guaranteed up front. This program has also driven business to other areas of our facility. When golfers use the range more, they want to play golf more and tend to spend more on merchandise as well as frequenting our food & beverage department. As far as we’re concerned here at Makefield Highlands, this is one of the best ways to drive business to our range.