Golf Course Marketing 2013

As I travelled to thousands of golf courses throughout the world I met a lot of great industry people. I love talking to them and listening to their stories about their lives growing up in the golf industry. I heard stories about how their grandfathers took cow pastures and turned them into beautiful golf courses and how they still run things the way they did twenty, thirty, and even, fifty years ago. I’ve heard success stories of how kids started out as caddies and worked hard all of their lives and eventually was able to buy their own golf course. Stories of kids who grew up in the country clubs and said they too would own their own golf property and saw their dreams come true. Soon I started putting two and two together and came up with a revelation of sorts.

All of these people were very knowledgeable about the operations of a golf facility. They were proud to tell me they know their industry and how it should run because they worked for so and so golf course or for such and such management company. They attended this golf school or they learned from their father and he learned from his father. I applaud these people for learning so much from their forefathers and mentors but when it comes to golf course marketing you must have fresh new ideas because whether you like it or not, golfing consumer’s psychographics change every few years and drastically change every decade and completely change every generation.

The challenge with this antiquated system is how long, and for how many decades, can you continue to run your golf property the same way without getting the desired result before you realize you must make some changes and adjustments to the way you do (and perceive) things? I love tradition and I love most things old school too; but when it comes to golf course marketing you can’t do the same things you have always done and continue to get the same results. Times have changed; golfers have way too many golf facilities to choose from and it is them who are in control right now. We have to face this fact. A golfer can find a round of golf in his/her community for just about any price point they desire. And with technology the way it is today it doesn’t take them long to jump on their computer and find a “deal”.

Give your golf marketing a fighting chance by bringing it up-to-date and you won’t have to give golf away to increase rounds in 2013.