Robert Hennefer, the Philadelphia Section’s 2017 Golf Professional of the Year, 2015 Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities and 2012 Player Development Award winner, is PGA Director of Golf Recreation & Open Space Indian Spring GC/Township of Evesham in Marlton, New Jersey.
Robert Hennefer on the importance of designating a day in season for clubfitting:
Titleist comes to our driving range every Thursday for a 12-week period during the season, sets up their Trackman and has every club and shaft available for free fittings. The Titleist rep fits our customers and emails us a report and we make the sale. We started this as a six-week program in the fall of 2016 (from August through September) in conjunction with the launch of Titleist’s new driver. In the spring of 2017, we expanded it to 12 weeks – from April through the second week of June. Each Thursday, there was room for six appointments, so for that 12-week period, 72 customers were fit. At least one out of every six would purchase all of the clubs, with a third of the customers purchasing at least one club. Each customer signs up online for a scheduled appointment and the tech rep knows the name and time of each customers.
Robert Hennefer on the business impact of designating a day in season for clubfitting:
Our hard goods sales have increased dramatically because of Titleist Thursdays.We have seen an increase in traffic from customers who may not belong to or play at our facility. These customers also return to use our driving range because they had a positive experience. Titleist Thursdays have helped us attract new customers to our golf shop because we offer a friendly, complimentary club fitting service, and we have attracted new customers to our driving range through this offering. Driving range sales have increased on Thursdays in particular because before and after the fitting, the customers will purchase an additional bucket of range balls. Golf shop sales for hard goods have also increased, as the majority of our sales are the result of these fittings.
