John C. Rudolph, a PGA Certified Professional, is the PGA head professional at Fieldstone Golf Club in Greenville, Del.

John C. Rudolph on the importance of growing your junior program with novelty golf ball giveaways:
Every time a junior golfer enters the shop, especially one that the golf shop staff is not familiar with, we make an effort to introduce ourselves to the junior and welcome them to the shop. We ask them questions to try to get to know them and see if they are interested in playing golf. Most of the time the parents or grandparents who are accompanying them are golfers themselves and hopeful that their juniors will pick up the game and show an interest at a young age. After welcoming and getting to know the juniors, the golf shop staff then asks them if they would like to have a golf ball, regardless if they are interested yet in golf. We keep a nice stock of novelty golf balls on hand, charged off through junior expenses, in the office of the golf shop. These balls are colored and decorated with other sports themes and neat designs. Some of the balls are designed as basketballs, tennis balls or soccer balls, and others just have neat designs such as stars and stripes, tie-dye and even animals. The kids are so surprised to be given something just for coming into the golf shop, and we always get big smiles from them. The balls are really a great item for the kids, as is any prize that has some color and creativity involved in it.

John C. Rudolph on the business impact of growing your junior program with novelty golf ball giveaways:
Many of the children that come into the golf shop may have never even played golf before, as our membership consists of a number of young families. Almost every junior that we have given a novelty ball to has ended up signing up for at least one or multiple junior programs here at Fieldstone. Our junior program has grown more than 300 percent in the past three years, and our summer golf camps currently have a wait list months before the events are set to take place. We even had to add a third camp this year to make sure everyone could participate. We have added approximately 10 juniors into our program directly from this initiative. Taking an interest in all children at your club, whether currently golfers or not, goes a long way toward developing a strong junior golf program.