Rob Clark, the 2003 Dixie PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for Private Facilities, is the PGA director of golf at The Ledges of Huntsville (Ala.), and is the honorary president of the Dixie PGA Section.

Rob Clark on the importance of giving demo days a family twist:
In recent years, I’d seen attendance at our demo days dwindle. After talking with Eric Eshleman, the PGA director of golf at Country Club of Birmingham (Ala.), I decided to follow his lead and add U.S. Kids Golf to the vendors at our demo days. One of the biggest reasons members gave for not coming to demo days was that the dads were all too busy doing kid stuff like soccer and other sports. What Eric found, as did I, was that by adding junior golf clubs to demo days, we got the kids involved, which gave the parents an excuse to participate without feeling guilty.

Rob Clark on the business impact of giving demo days a family twist:
The first time we had U.S. Kids Golf for a demo day was last spring. Not only did we see a strong bounce back in attendance, but we also recorded a jump in sales. We sold eight sets of U.S. Kids Golf clubs, but we also saw overall equipment sales rise 25 percent from $16,000 to $20,000 over the previous year. I believe having junior golf clubs as part of our demo day also contributed to a strong year for our junior programs, as we added a second summer golf camp and saw our junior club championship field increase from eight competitors to 40.

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