Ken Klisz is the PGA Director of Instruction and Driving Range Manager at the Tustin Ranch Golf Club, in Tustin, California. He was the 2006 PGA Southern California Section Clubfitter of the Year.
Ken Klisz on the importance of offering special discounts and promotions tied in to your frequent customer value cards:
Maximizing driving range usage during off peak times is important. We strive to attract golfers during less busy periods like midweek and evenings. To entice them to come out and to bring the whole family, we off value cards. The frequent customer cards offer vast discounts from our daily rates of mini ($7 for 25 balls), small ($10 for 45 balls), medium ($13 for 75 balls), and large ($16 for 100 balls) buckets. The value cards allow a golfer to put a specified value on a card for use as they see fit. A White card, for instance, has a $50 value, but costs only $45, a 10 percent savings. At the other end of the spectrum, a Platinum card has a $700 value and costs only $415, a 41 percent savings. We have four other cards in between offering discounts between 20 percent and 36 percent. We also have a 6-month pass for $700 and 12-month pass for $1,200. These cards allow up to 100 range balls every day. During the weeks of the four major PGA championships, we add even more value to the cards. Golfers get an additional 20 percent added onto cards purchased during major weeks. We don’t discount the price of the card; we just add value to it. During these weeks, golfers get a card valued at $60 for the same $45 mentioned earlier, while the platinum card would now have a value of $840. That cost is still only $415, less than half the value the golfer is getting.
Ken Klisz on the business impact of offering special discounts and promotions tied in to your frequent customer value cards:
Offering value cards benefits our facility, as well as the golfers who use our driving range. Customers get the obvious value built into their value cards at discounted prices, with additional discounts during major championship weeks. On average we sell about 40 value cards per month. These cards provide bulk income to our golf facility and ensure buyers of the value cards are long-term customers. During major championship weeks, when discounts are even greater, we sell more than 60 value cards in one week. Value cards and the major championship week promotion boost range revenues greatly. Over the past five years, range revenues have increased by 15 percent annually, mostly due to the value cards. We also encourage range usage by offering special Memorial Weekend discounts to military veterans, police officers, and fire personnel. In addition, on the last Monday of every month we offer twilight rates to club members all day. Finally, on Thursday evenings from spring to late fall, we offer a combination deal that provides range balls and dinner, grilled personally on the range by our chef. We strive to maximize range usage every day through special promotions, value cards, and effective advertising and communication.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email kklisz@tustinranchgolf.com
