Tag: children

Practice Areas and the Pandemic

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If you’re thinking about adding or enhancing a practice area at your course, here are some things to keep in mind. This article was authored by Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry magazine.

Searching for a silver lining to a pandemic is mostly a fool’s errand. But many golf courses fortunate enough to stay open during the last five months have found something for which to be thankful: Thousands of golfers and would-be golfers are discovering (and rediscovering) a love for the game.

In many places, their affection is being stoked by short-game practice areas that are introducing new players to golf and giving more experienced players a place to hone their games, all the while boosting incremental revenues.

Bradley Klein, a veteran golf travel, history and architecture journalist and Golf Course Industry columnist, observes that the role of short-game practice areas is evolving. “Time constraints were the initial impetus, but that’s changed of late.” He says the trend is toward “more fun, family-friendly” areas that also provide practice opportunities for serious golfers. “They also constitute efficient use of land.”

What’s more, in this era of social distancing, short game areas are a safe space for youngsters to learn the game while socializing and exercising, according to Jan Bel Jan, president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. She believes the trend will continue to gain momentum. “Short game improvement areas provide benefits to seasoned golfers, promote a welcoming introduction to golf for adult beginners and help courses remain competitive with other area facilities,” she says.

Pinehurst Resort injected new credibility for areas dedicated to the short game and demonstrated its revenue potential when it opened The Cradle — nine holes, all par threes, measuring 789 yards and covering 10 acres — in September 2017. In the last three years, The Cradle has hosted more than 100,000 rounds while becoming one of Pinehurst’s most popular courses.

If you’re thinking about adding or enhancing a practice area at your course, here are some things to keep in mind.

Know your customer.

New practice, training and game-improvement facilities require planning, which starts with understanding the type of player you want to attract. What skill levels will you prioritize? What will be the hours of operation? How will you price access? Member surveys and information exchange sessions with golfers will help you better understand your target audience’s needs and expectations.

Don’t get sloppy.

“Serious design, with interesting greens contours and variety of tee shots” are keys to effective planning, Klein says. “It has to be run like a real golf course and not like a sloppy afterthought.”

Make it fun.

Jim Wyffels, director of operations at Spirit Hollow Golf Club in Burlington, Iowa, is an innovative thinker when it comes to making golf fun. Spirit Hollow’s Shankopotamus Golf Academy, which features TopTracer technologies, was designed with two goals in mind, Wyffels says. “The first was to create an additional amenity for our stay-and-play guests in the evening and during inclement weather. The second was to create a new revenue stream in the evening and during winter months that would target our local market. Our plan was to create a fun, game-like family atmosphere where all age groups and skill levels, including non-golfers, could be entertained.”

Keep your superintendent in the loop.

How will the golf course superintendent maintain the short-game area? Engage the superintendent to ensure design characteristics that can be efficiently and cost-effectively maintained. Concerns such as adequate turning radii, slopes that can be consistently cut and safely navigated by staff, and shapes that match existing terrain on the adjacent golf course are planning priorities. Bel Jan advises planners to be mindful of optimizing drainage, building putting surfaces to established standards and minimizing shade impacts to enable turf recovery.

COVID-19 really has no upside; it has wreaked havoc in unprecedented ways. But if a crisis of its proportions has encouraged more people to take to the course, and prompted golf managers and leaders to think more innovatively about amenities like short courses and practice areas, then it has left something of value in its wake.

Spread the Goodness of Golf

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Hardy Greaves, the boy who learned about life through golf in the 2000 movie The Legend of Bagger Vance, had an early appreciation for the game.

“You really love this game, don’t you,” local golfing legend Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) asks Hardy.

“It’s the greatest game there is,” Hardy (J. Michael Moncrief) shoots back.

“You really think so?”

“Ask anybody. It’s fun. It’s hard and you stand out there on that green, green grass, and it’s just you and the ball and there ain’t nobody to beat up on but yourself,” Hardy says, adding for proof the example of a club member whose incurable golf swing has broken his toe three times, but who keeps coming back for more. “It’s the only game I know that you can call a penalty on yourself, if you’re honest, which most people are. There just ain’t no other game like it.”

Tens of millions of golfers have a similar love affair with a simple game. But not enough of us take the time to say so and explain to others why we feel as we do, how golf teaches valuable lessons, and why it’s important to our local communities and planet. And that’s a shame because the game and business to which so many devote so much of their time needs our voices and our support.

Beyond the dedicated work being performed by superintendents, golf professionals and managers, and beyond the enthusiastic embrace of the more than 24 million Americans, golfers need to remember that golf and golf courses add so much to lives which are great and small, influential and not, privileged and not. Golf courses serve as critically important open spaces and environmentally safe havens. They also provide water retention and flood-control solutions for many communities. And by employing so many people, they bring economic vitality.

Here are three ways to support golf and expand its impact for generations to come:

1. Promote the game and the virtues it brings to life.

Steadfastness. Work ethic. Capability for facing adversity. Jubilation shared with others. The game is a tireless teacher to those who will learn. It is often a superintendent or golf professional who wields the influence that encourages beginners and engages longtime golfers. Their job descriptions should include a role as storyteller, reliving great moments from their time around the game. Talk to your co-workers and staff members and make sure they know historical and environmental characteristics of your course and the wildlife that your golfers might spot during a round.

2. Make your course a learning laboratory.

Conduct field days when you and your staff provide seminars and discussion groups regarding best practices for irrigation, fertility, water consumption and arboreal care. Make your teaching efforts more than “how to repair a ball mark” and let golfers enjoy the wonders of course care and upkeep And don’t limit your time and knowledge to your adult golfers. Invite local youth to learn about the course and the efforts you’re making toward sustainability. Help them understand that the world would be a better place if more people were as diligent as superintendents in matters of pesticide use, water-taking practices and land conservation.

3. Take golf to heart.

Golf is a heartfelt endeavor. Those attracted to it share an uncommon devotion to the game itself. Golf is a healthy game, as well. Fresh air and a practically unmatched opportunity to get steps in for the day, not to mention beautiful landscapes, sunrises and sunsets, along with special moments with friends and family.

Edwin Roald, a member of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, cites seven important health benefits of golf participation: heart health, brain stimulation, weight loss, stress reduction, increased longevity, low frequency of sport-induced injury, and a good night’s sleep.

The smart millennials at NextGenGolf call out five factors arising from golf participation: good for your body, good for your mind, helps to make new friends and business connections, ability to play the game into old age, and the opportunity to experience and protect nature.

There are so many reasons to make golf more a part of your life and to spread the good word. Young Hardy Greaves sure knew what he was talking about.

This article with authored by Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry magazine.  Henry also made his Beyond the Page debut to talk about the goodness — the greatness — of golf in a conversation with Golf Course Industry managing editor Matt LaWell. Listen to the podcast below and visit the GCI website to subscribe to the Beyond the Page podcast.

 

The Family Opinion

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Member surveys are not as clear cut as simply gauging satisfaction or opinion of members. GGA’s Andrew Milne explains how, by reaching out to include spouses or family in club surveys, you can gain invaluable insights on how your club is viewed in the context of modern family life.

Renewing a club membership used to be a straightforward matter. The member receives dues notification, pays a subscription, and club life continues. But as much as club managers may want that to be the case, increasingly, it simply is not.

The perfect storm of increased time, family and economic pressures for members means leisure outings are more heavily scrutinized and, occasionally, result in the end of membership and/or the club’s prominence in an individual’s day-to-day life.

Rather than having these decisions debated behind closed doors, with no prior knowledge that they even exist, clubs do have a vital tool at their disposal, in extending a bespoke member survey to spouses and family members.

Branching out

GGA spouse and family member surveys were introduced nearly a decade ago and what we have learned during that time unambiguously supports their role in helping club leaders develop a product and service that is relevant to the whole family.

Among the headline findings collated from across North America, we found:

  1. Clubs typically underestimate utilization by spouses and families. The introduction of spouse and family surveys helped clubs better understand utilization patterns in order to:
    • Realize greater operational efficiencies
    • Develop better informed events calendars
    • Target specific groups of spouses and families with relevant information
  1. Significant variances in capital project support. Spousal and family member support can vary up to +/- 15% when compared to primary member support. Combine this with their increased involvement in the membership purchase decision, and the importance of building a plan which appeals to all comes into sharp focus.
  2. Restrictions to access are a key concern. When contemplating any membership alterations which involve increased time and/or amenity restrictions, input from all member categories will help to arrive at more reasonable, rational and accepted changes and mitigate any negative impact to satisfaction levels.

A club for the entire family

Identifying the importance of both spouses and families is one thing, making changes to the club operation to increase their satisfaction levels (alongside those of primary members) is another.

Do the benefits outweigh the time and resource investment?

If it’s about an underlying connection, then yes. More interaction with spouses and family members will inevitably put the club more front-and-center in their minds, and help clarify its attributes and future role among these individuals.

There are more reasons to engage this audience too:

  • It improves buy-in for future decisions (as supported by survey findings). For example, if family members indicate their dissatisfaction with the current junior leagues at the club and provide insight on how they wish to see them improve, they are more likely to participate after the club implements an updated junior league program.
  • Spouses and family members will feel valued, and appreciate their opinions are being solicited, captured, and considered with care.
  • With the increasing influence of spouses and families on lifestyle and recreation choices, engaging them can help shape the future relevance and strategy for the club and drive overall membership sales.
  • A key challenge for clubs around the world is finding and engaging young prospects to grow the membership pipeline within the club. Collecting feedback from family members can identify the key drivers for this demographic and help position the club to best appeal to this group.

Moving out of the comfort zone

It may seem counter-intuitive to develop a future vision for your club formed from the views of those who may appear not to spend a great deal of time there.

However, across the world we are witnessing clubs making moves towards developing amenities and services which appeal to the entire family and encourage them to spend more time there. These are the clubs already profiting from family and spousal survey insights, building out the core of their membership to now include spouses and family members, and simultaneously becoming a more appealing destination to prospects.

Taking the first steps are difficult, but by seeking a wider base of opinions you might be surprised by what you learn and the future opportunities that arise.

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