Elizabeth Granahan

Please indicate past awards won/recognitions:
PGA Section Teacher of the Year, GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, Golf Digest Best in State, Other (Indicate specific awards in 3-a below)

Other awards won (if provided):
Golf Digest Top 100 Clubfitter

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 792
Female: 633
Junior: 158

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
80

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
Our goal with all of our programming is to create community among our student base. When they find camaraderie in a shared journey, they are likely to participate in more G2 golf and non-golf events. They then discover other shared interests.

1) This season, Supervised Practice became a complimentary addition to our lesson packages. Students are encouraged to bring friends to experience the difference between supervised practice versus a traditional clinic. I conduct practice two days per week and will add another day to accomodate the turnout. Naturally, this has created a positive cycle. Supervised Practice leads to improvement, leads to goals reached, leads to happier players, leads to more participation in all G2 golf and non golf related activities, leads to more lessons for students and their friends whom have become students.

2) March 2022 was our inaugural Spring Fling – North vs South Tournament. Now that we are located in North Carolina, we hosted a 4 day golf school for eight of our Philadelphia area students. The first evening, we hosted an Opening Cocktail Party. Each morning was instruction at the Academy and 18 holes of golf in the afternoon. Day 4 was an 18 hole Solheim Cup style, friendly competition against eight of our local students. With bragging rights on the line, the fun and goodwill exceeded our expectations. We capped off the week with a wonderful closing dinner. We were able to reconnect with our long time clients as well as introduce the two groups. Not only have they have since traveled to visit and play golf with one another, they are all planning to travel abroad with us in 2023! The 2023 North/South is on the schedule for April and with all of the interest, it will be bigger than 2022! ( see attached article)

3) We created a nine hole ladies league for students and non-students. I make a point to play with every woman in the league at least once. They enjoy the on course coaching which most have never experienced. The league runs for nine weeks so the commitment is manageable. In 2021 we had (2) nine week sessions. This year not only have we increased the league to (4) nine week sessions, we have increased the participation by 30% in each session. The growth has been steady and 25% of the players had not played the golf course prior to joining the league! So not only has the facility seen an uptick in fees, food and beverage on league days but they have returned with spouses and friends on non-league days.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
1) December 4th is our Holiday Open House and Lesson Sale. We welcome students and friends celebrating the season. We provide food, drinks bonfire, music, games and the opportunity to take advantage of our once a year lesson sale. We craft lesson packages that are not part of our regular programs. We offer all value added packages as not to diminish the value of the lesson experience.

2) We organized this event in an effort to be good partners to Meadowlands Golf Club as much as for our students. Although we drive revenue to the club with all that we do, this is an easy for the owners and GM to measure our impact.

The 2nd Annual Snowball Event will be December 16th. This is our winter celebration! Open to everyone. This has doubled in size since last season! This is an easy, two person scramble format with the best prize going to the team with the most festive, holiday outfits! Everyone receives a tee gift, boxed lunch and prizes for other categories awarded post golf. The club has been very happily surprised by the participation and growth year 1 to year 2.

3) We have added travel back into our schedule after a long Covid layoff. Next year will be travel to Vegas for two Pro Ams, Scotland, Switzerland, France and Wisconsin. This is a wonderful driver of lesson revenue as folks want to play their best!

4) We have signed a contract to host a National Luxury Women’s Only Pro Am Fall 2023. We have been working on this opportunity for many years and have found a facility excited to host us. The teams will consist of a Woman Golf Professional/Industry Executive as team captain and a team of 4 women amatuers. Our students are already on board and training for what will hopefully be an annual event. Again, another driver of lesson revenue.