Matt Starr, the winner of the 2011 Southern Ohio PGA Section President’s Plaque, is the PGA head professional at Meadow Links & Golf Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Matt Starr on the importance of hosting free club evaluations:
For the past 15 years, Meadow Links & Golf Academy has offered free club evaluations to our customers once per month during the golfing season. Based on a first come, first served basis, customers are welcome to visit our PGA Professional staff and have their current clubs evaluated. During the evaluation, we first check to see if any repair is needed to their clubs such as grip or shaft replacement. We also bring out the lie board to gauge if their clubs are properly fit to their swing. If their lie or loft is off slightly, we have a lie-loft machine ready for use. If the customers are interested, we will make recommendations for a full clubfitting to dial them in with properly fit equipment.

Matt Starr on the business impact of hosting free club evaluations:
Offering free club evaluations has been a real hit at our facility. We typically receive roughly 10 visitors per session and usually schedule a few full-paid clubfittings as a result. In addition, approximately 50 percent of the people we evaluate end up purchasing custom equipment from our golf shop. Because we heavily promote these club evaluations, 40 percent of our customers are new, while the remaining are loyal returning customers that come in for a tune-up.