Andy Miller, the 2020 Philadelphia PGA Section Teacher of the Year, Three-Time Section Youth Player Development Award Winner and 2020 GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, is the PGA Director of Instruction at LedgeRock Golf Club in Mohnton, Pennsylvania.

Andy Miller on the importance of making your range a hub of member activity:

The LedgeRock Learning Center is located on our practice range and offers heated indoor practice bays that open directly onto the range. It is a hub of activity that includes private and group instruction, practice sessions and various social gatherings. With meeting space indoors and a spacious patio outdoors that overlooks the range, more and more members have come to gather here, over more traditional areas of the club. The building offers meeting rooms with technical and presentation systems, and is Wi-Fi enabled for everyone’s convenience. Members will relax, have a snack or set up their “home office”, especially now with so many individuals working “from home”. When it comes to golf, members can practice year-round – we have indoor putting and chipping green and the best teaching technology on the market, so members can hone their skills even during our cold Pennsylvania winters. Members love to come down to hit balls on the range, relax with a refreshment and hit more golf balls. We have utilized this space in the past for special events like men’s league gatherings, when we’ll light the grill and firepit, women’s golf schools, where we welcomed a mixologist who taught them how to mix drinks, and it’s a hotspot for our junior programming and a welcoming environment for all members.

Andy Miller on the business impact of making your range a hub of member activity:

The atmosphere we’ve created at The Learning Center adds a multitude of reasons for members to come to the club every day. This not only adds to their member experience and aids in member retention but can provide increased revenue for our food and beverage services. It also puts our instruction programs in focus. Programming benefits from the atmosphere on the range, as we usually facilitate several winter programs and fitness sessions where we host TPI instructors and guest speakers to share their expertise with our members. However, with the pandemic still with us, everything we’re doing on the range this winter is on an individual basis. We hope to resume all that great group engagement in 2021, but only time will tell what is prudent this year. Our members comfort and health are our highest priority of course. When considering what keeps members happy and excited about their member experience, the uniqueness that our Learning Center building offers is an asset in our efforts to ensure complete member satisfaction.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email andy@ledgerockgolf.com