Tag: Golf

Folding Multiple Plans Into One

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There’s an old saying about plans – more specifically about the lack of a plan: “Without a plan, any path will get you there.” We wholeheartedly agree with that adage, but acknowledge a flip side that raises a question that many diligent planners confront: How to effectively integrate multiple plans into one comprehensive and cohesive plan that guides your overall operation?

The analogy that comes to mind is the challenge facing airlines with thousands of passengers on any given day, each trying to get to his or her destination. The airline has flight plans for hundreds of aircraft and tries to mesh all of those planes and flights into a fairly seamless plan to get you where you want to go. Most days it works, but not without a lot of coordination.

There are three stumbling blocks that derail effective planning efforts: 1) lack of coordination among stakeholders and contributors, 2) poor scheduling and time management for due diligence and preparing materials, and 3) confused or confusing desired results. These three project killers diminish the quality of the overall plan and undermine the credibility of the planning team.

For golf course and facility leaders, the challenge is considering the information gathered through market analysis, financial evaluation and board input alongside the plans of superintendents and those managing food and beverage, membership and financial operations. And then bringing all the information, insights, recommendations and plans together to support the club’s or facility’s objectives. For managers of each of these functions, the same challenges exist, if only on a smaller scale.

If you’re currently in your planning cycle, and charged with pulling discrete plans and input together so the end product doesn’t feel disjointed, consider these five steps:

1. Sync every plan to the vision.

No matter which area of the club or facility the plan is focused on, it should clearly map to the overall vision – the club or facility’s long-term, forward-looking aspiration, what we like to think of as an organization’s North Star. You should be able to see this in the plan’s objectives and priorities. With multiple workflows, the project leader must maintain an overall understanding of the project and ensure all plans are headed for the same airport, even if they’re taking different runways.

2. Outline specific steps along the way.

Define project milestones, the steps that will help you get there at a predetermined time and those responsible. Schedule regular check-in meetings to make sure all pilots have their planes headed in the same direction. It’s much easier to make mid-course corrections than to wait until all planes have landed and plans submitted.

3. Designate one holding place for project inputs and research.

See that all team members participating in the project planning process have transparent access to information and a full understanding of progress. Lacking a central repository of project information, important pieces of information can be misplaced, overlooked or lost. This also helps projects from getting siloed and managers feeling isolated.

4. Prioritize workflow.

On expansive projects or ones that involve multiple contributors, establish which components are most critical to the overall project plan. This step enables effective planners to allocate time, financial and human resources. Sequential planning guides the team in accomplishing mission-critical tasks and components.

5. Maximize productivity through careful scheduling.

If a golf course superintendent is preparing an agronomic plan, for example, it is important to make sure each assistant and technical expert is scheduled to deliver information in a timely manner. Stagger the timelines, monitor the cross-disciplinary dependencies, and eliminate duplications and redundant production.

Most managers have broad responsibilities and must combine resources to produce comprehensive and workable plans. Developing a disciplined process for research, input and development is the key to successfully landing all of your plans and making sure they support the same vision and goals.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for Golf Course Industry Magazine. 

Using Technology to Your Operational Advantage

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In what ways are clubs realizing operational gains through new technology solutions? GGA’s Martin Tzankov outlines the solutions helping clubs to reduce costs and enhance the playing experience.

Golf and innovation do not always go hand in hand. Attempts to bolt new age technology into a traditional game and well-established club structures have often produced mixed results.

However, this doesn’t prevent club leaders constantly being inundated with new platforms, systems and applications, each with the promise of revolutionizing club operations or the member experience.

To help bring a meaningful commercial focus to this conversation, the following are some new technologies that are taking seed and proving their worth in providing actionable business intelligence, operational gains, and cost savings.

Keeping members moving

As much as we want to allow members to move around the course at their own pace, maximizing their enjoyment and social opportunity, there will often be certain individuals who create discontent through slow play.

While you may, at least anecdotally, know who these individuals are, there is often an absence of cold, hard proof.

This is where GPS-technology comes in. It’s now possible to track individual member movements around the golf course and monitor how long it takes them to play an average round. Armed with this intelligence, club leaders can address this issue and make significant inroads to solving problems around pace of play.

Clearly, there’s a balance and sensitivity to be struck when tackling this topic, and individual circumstances and other variables come into play. For this reason, you may wish to only address individuals who are repeat offenders at peak times of play – in other words, those who impede the experience for other members and guests. In any case, the data you obtain from the GPS-technology will play a fundamental role in overcoming this all too common problem.

Cutting down maintenance

There’s another side to GPS-technology; one which has the potential to unlock major cost savings. By tracking the movements of players, you can quickly establish a picture of where the common ‘pinch points’ or bottle necks lie on the course, areas where players tend to hit and lose balls, or particular hazards they find difficult to overcome.

This data will allow you to work with your superintendent more closely and proactively; looking at the root causes of the problems players face and, indeed, don’t face when navigating the course.

While there are design and maintenance tactics which can help mitigate lengthy ball searches in notorious areas, the real cost savings come from the areas where players tend not to venture…

By determining where these areas lie on the golf course through player tracking data, you can take the decision to reduce inputs and turf management in the knowledge this will not impact the playing experience. The benefits of increased maintenance efficiency to the Club are extensive. Financially, the Club will realize substantial cost savings from a reduction in chemical inputs and by doing so improve the long-term ecosystem of the course environment. From a labor perspective, reducing the managed area of the golf course will free up the workforce to increase its focus on other areas of the course and development projects. Whatever timeline you attach to these changes, the tangible long-term benefits are there and waiting to be realized.

Real-time security and data

A wave of clubs can be found upping their game when it comes to security. We have witnessed clubs installing technology such as retina scanning, geofencing, or keycards and access fobs to know who is at the club and when.

While security is the fundamental motivation behind such a move, the data this presents to clubs can prove invaluable in learning more about member engagement. Yes, there is a time commitment involved in analyzing and extracting some real value from this information, but if it can help you learn more about how some members’ engagement has tailed off, or which facilities or events they are engaging with over others, you can develop tactics to re-engage these members and boost their satisfaction levels.

Take events as an example. You may have a successful, thriving events program but find that a combination of POS and member data reveals that these are only really popular among elder members, while younger members are largely absent. We already know that the injection of younger members into these events is viewed favorably by elder members, and increased socialization will encourage a greater sense of attachment to the Club. So, it makes sense to conduct analysis into younger members’ attitudes, wants and needs from an events program so you can build on its success and make it more inclusive too.

A final thought

When it comes to implementing new technology, my message is this: be open to change. Your club may have established processes or ways of doing things, and it can be uncomfortable when technology threatens to change those. This will result in some clubs shying away when, actually, those that prosper will be accepting of the fact that change is inevitable. Not only that, they will see the opportunity change can bring.

For advice on introducing new technology to your Club, connect with Martin Tzankov.

Strategic Intelligence at Work

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Guest author – Lonnie Lister, General Manager, Portland Golf Club

Lonnie Lister attended the University of Arizona for a degree in music education.  He worked on the wait staff at private clubs during his college summers and found that he was drawn more to club management than to a music career. Prior to joining PGC as its GM in January 2017, Lonnie was the GM at Skyline Country Club in Tucson, AZ where he spent 23 years working in various areas of the Club. Lonnie is active in CMAA and has served on the board of the Greater Southwest Chapter.

Portland Golf Club has a rich history, but like other private clubs it faces ongoing challenges.

The city of Portland has grown tremendously over the last decade, leading to dramatic shifts in both the market and demographics.

While this growth brings opportunity, it also brings about change.  For us that change impacts a number of areas – specifically around membership recruitment and retention; staff hiring and retention, and being able to control operating costs without compromising the service we provide to members.

With this in mind, the board of Portland Golf Club voted last year to adopt GGA’s Strategic Intelligence (“SI”) platform, which features several components: a Market Scan, a Member Survey, and an assessment of the Club’s “Operational Vital Signs” which compares our performance to clubs of similar stature both within our market and in other markets.

Selective targeting

The initial Market Scan, which revealed potential member households within a two to five-mile radius of the Club, was fascinating.  We learned that within a five-mile radius of Portland Golf Club there are more than double the number of golfing households than is typical for private clubs nationally.  That was a welcome surprise.

Though our Club is still very selective, the Market Scan revealed that there was much more potential for outreach than we’d been aware of before.

As membership recruitment and retention was our number one issue, what we learned inspired us to send a “welcome letter” from the Club to home buyers in our prime market neighborhoods.  This was not a recruitment package, but rather a gently informational welcome note – letting people who might be new to Portland know that this wonderful club exists nearby.

Taking the time to listen

As a club manager, one can often find themselves guilty of favoring (or at least focusing on) one ‘R’ over the other – namely, recruitment over retention.

But retention can fuel recruitment.

A Member Survey can inform what changes are necessary based on the actual needs that current members identify, which is vastly more effective.  And the satisfaction and sense of positivity this can create reverberates beyond the four walls of the clubhouse.

What was critical for us was surveying our membership in a way that was specific to the Club, not just a broad-brush approach.  This meant we could directly address concerns of our membership and maximize the effectiveness and insights of the survey.  Already this has delivered responses that are candid and honest, and provided a robust foundation to inform strategic decisions.

Reassuring the Board

The SI platform has also been incredibly helpful in reassuring the Board that the Club is operating efficiently.

We can see in the Operational Vital Signs report that in almost every measure Portland Golf Club is performing well.  Where we find anomalies, we can take a closer look to understand what these are, and we can then decide if they are something we need to act upon or factor into our strategic decisions.

One such anomaly we found at Portland Golf Club was that most golfers prefer to walk, explaining why our cart revenue is below national benchmarks.  This is not a trend we see changing, so rather than acquire more carts or attempt to upsell them at every opportunity, we decided to focus our efforts in other, more fertile areas for business development.

Going deeper

There’s no doubt Portland Golf Club has embarked on a journey which places strategic intelligence at the forefront of the decisions we make.

Now we are in the second year of our SI subscription and have engaged in a Market Analysis to take a deeper look into what we learned from the original Market Scan.

As analysis looks at trends, rather than simply a snapshot of the market, this will allow us to plan better in what is clearly a fast-changing region.

Portland’s metro region now numbers more than 2.4 million people.  Almost 50% of the adult population has a college degree, and in Portland Golf Club’s primary market areas that percentage is even higher.

Armed with this knowledge, we can embark on our membership recruitment and retention activity with a clear sense of who our prospective customers are and where they are situated in relation to the Club.

Empowering the manager

Given my history working in a number of different roles in the club environment, I have always felt very comfortable on the operational side of the business.  However, the three most important issues we face at Portland Golf Club are all byproducts of local market growth outside of our Club’s operations.

Strategic research is providing us with data and insights we need to address each of these issues and is helping the Club in both the short and long-term.

This journey is changing the way I think and the way our team strategizes.  It provides me with more data than I have ever had available to me at other clubs and is full of relevant information that we depend on daily.  Our management team and committees routinely refer to the intelligence reports, our budgeting process benefits from the availability of current data to support assumptions, and our Board meetings are more productive and efficient.

I now feel that there is a greater connection between the service we deliver on the ground to the level and breadth of service prospective members are looking for – because we are armed with the data and knowledge to have confidence to be more aware of market needs.

Moving forward

So, where do we go from here?  Whereas before we were a Club reacting to changes and adjusting plans for the following year, now we are a club looking 2, 3, 4, even 10 years into the future.

For a time, it felt as though the city of Portland’s growth was getting away from us.  Now, we are ready for how it will develop and who will move here, giving us the ability to refine the value proposition that this Club offers them both now and well into the future.

Learn more about Strategic Intelligence here. 

New Study Reveals The Truth About Millennial Golfers

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• 75% of avid Millennial golfers will consider joining a private club in the future
• Age 33 is the ‘sweet spot’ when avid Millennials are most likely to join a club
• Flexibility, customization and non-golfer amenities among key solutions for clubs

Three-quarters of avid Millennial golfers will consider joining a private club in the future – with age 33 being the most likely age to join – but they are less minded to pay entrance fees, preferring flexible pay-for-use membership options.

These are the findings of a newly updated study, ‘The Truth About Millennial Golfers,’ published by GGA in collaboration with Millennial golfer organization Nextgengolf.

The survey of 2,275 active, avid golfers aged primarily 18-25 across the United States found that nearly half (48%) would consider joining a private club in the next 3-10 years.

The most influential factors in the decision to join a private club are recommendations from friends, family or colleagues (83%), a positive experience attending a tournament or wedding at the club (64%) and attending a reception or cocktail party to promote membership (25%).

However, the cost of membership combined with a fear of commitment and lack of utilization are among the most significant barriers to join a private club, the survey found.

Of those surveyed, 43% said they would prefer to pay more annually rather than an entrance fee, with 51% saying they would prefer a flexible membership combining a low social fee granting them full access to the club with golf on a pay-per-use basis.

The report highlights how private clubs can adapt and develop their offering to meet the needs of the next generation of members. Specifically, avid Millennial golfers see socializing and non-golf amenities such as fitness (71%), access for the entire family (65%) and a pool (62%) as important influencing factors in their decisions to join a private club.

Launching the report at the CMAA 91st World Conference in San Francisco, GGA Senior Manager Michael Gregory said: “To date there has been relatively little research into this group of golfers, yet they are the next generation of private club members and clubs need to factor this into today’s strategic planning and decision making.

“While it is reassuring that 75% of avid Millennial golfers are prepared to consider private club membership in the future, the reality is that they have different wants, needs and expectations. Clubs need to think about greater flexibility and customization in membership, targeting Millennials earlier when aspirations to join a club are higher and before family commitments kick in, plus the need for socializing and non-golf amenities.

“Otherwise, over the next ten years, private clubs vying for this target market will feel greater pressure to lower entrance fees and replace this cost with an annual capital fee.”

Matt Weinberger, COO and Co-Founder of Nextgengolf, said: “Our mission is to support, enable and provide opportunities for college students and golfers in their 20’s and 30’s – keeping them in the game and making golf more relevant.

“We hope this research provides valuable insights about Millennial golfers, the challenges they face and the opportunities for private clubs to help support the long-term sustainability of the game and the industry as a whole.”

The Truth About Millennial Golfers is available to download free of charge HERE.

Press Release – 9th March 2018.

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