Tag: henry delozier

Covering Isn’t Just For Music

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The inimitable Elvis Presley’s version of Hound Dog sold 10 million copies and holds the 19th spot on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Best Songs of All Time. But the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll can’t claim Hound Dog entirely as his own. Elvis was covering a version recorded three years earlier by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter.

Elvis has been accused of stealing or culturally appropriating Hound Dog. But the truth is that covering was even more popular in his day than now. The more important takeaway is that we should always be paying attention to the past, learning from others and developing our own plans for success. There are three distinct plans that club leaders should have within easy reach at all times.

Strategic Plan

A strategic plan should clarify two aspects of purpose: what we are and what do we intend to accomplish. An effective strategic plan builds on the knowledge of past experience and market understanding to describe the club’s goals and objectives.

All businesses benefit greatly from the discipline and clarity provided by sound strategy. Although many golf facilities lack formalized strategy, those that actively use their strategic plans hold a distinct competitive advantage. According to research completed by Global Golf Advisors, 73 percent of clubs that rely on a strategic plan to guide their operations outperform their competition.

Marketing Communications Plan

Most golf courses and private clubs do business in markets that are extremely oversupplied. Further, many of these facilities lack a current and actionable understanding of the people who are their customers, members and prospects. In highly competitive and crowded markets, the advantage goes to those who know whom they are looking for, where to find them and how to communicate with them effectively.

Effective and purposeful communication plans are target specific. Knowing how to communicate with your baby boomer audience is different than reaching millennials, for example. The best communications plans utilize multiple media and reinforce messaging on a disciplined schedule.

Most people find time only for trusted information sources. Thus, golf courses and private clubs have the advantage in most cases of being “known” to their active market segments. What tactics are working best?

  • Robust and engaging websites are the platform for any communications plan today. They must be inviting, engaging and functional.
  • Print communications – newsletters and postcards, for example – are sticky with many golfers, especially those over 50, and should not be disregarded even in a digital age.
  • Engaging social media help create conversations within your community of members and prospects.
  • Video that shows images of people enjoying the golf course and clubhouse activities help tell the club’s stories in authentic ways.
  • Person-to-person contact from key staff members remains a difference-maker. There is no substitute for a personal invitation.

Staffing Plan

Access to affordable labor is one of the most important operational challenges at most golf clubs. With labor costs now exceeding 55 percent of most clubs’ operational expenses, thoughtful planning is essential. Borrowing ideas from the past enables managers to create meaningful relationships with employees and keep them committed to their jobs. What’s more, clubs that encourage their best employees to recruit friends and relatives have an advantage in attracting top talent.

A reliable staffing plan identifies the utilization flow of the facility to ensure that the club is properly staffed at all times. The plan must calculate labor and payroll burden costs to enable dependable budget projections. The best staffing plans show the position title and description, number of employees required, allotted compensation and benefits, and options for flexing staff size and positions as conditions change.

Big Mama Thornton inspired Elvis to lay claim as the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Who’s your inspiration, and what’s your plan for success?

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

Inspired by the Masters

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There are superintendents who say they dread the first full week of April each year because they know their members are glued to their televisions watching the Masters and wondering why their course isn’t also perfect.

If they needed someone to blame for the condition known as Masters envy, they could look no further than Jim James, the senior director for club and hospitality operations at the Augusta National Golf Club. If they did, they would see someone whose commitment to excellence goes far beyond flora and course conditions.

“We simply try every single day to be the absolute best we can at everything thing we do,” says James, who has been on the job at Augusta National since 1995. “We look at every single day as an opportunity to improve. When we find we are not the best, we are relentless and incredibly focused to make sure that we improve.”

Of course, there also are those superintendents who watch the tournament and find inspiration and challenge amidst the azaleas, dogwoods and meticulously groomed grounds.

It is the attention to detail that inspires Jon Jennings, the superintendent at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, host of last year’s U.S. Open. “My takeaway each visit is that no matter how inconsequential a detail, they are extremely important for the overall success of the Masters,” he says. “Upon returning home, I try to instill that level of quality with our staff and have them visualize that everything we do in course preparation is important in the grand scheme of things from a player-experience perspective.”

The Masters provides professionals with instructive and insightful examples that guide innovation, brand management and continuous improvement.

Keith Wood, director of greens and grounds at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte N.C., is no stranger to big-time golf, having hosted the 2017 PGA Championship. But he recognizes something special when he sees it.

“I learned early on that if there was a week or two to have my greens as good as they could be, I needed to peak around the Masters,” Wood says. “There is nothing better than getting compliments on how your course is playing while everyone is buzzing from the excitement of a great Masters tournament.”

Wood, who is preparing Quail Hollow for the 2021 President’s Cup, says the Masters’ grounds and agronomy team set the bar for tournament golf each season. “I am in awe of the horticulture and the health and beauty of the landscaping they do,” he says. “All shrubs and trees on the property are perfectly placed and maintained. They do a wonderful job of embracing the heritage of being a plant nursery and then take it to the next level with world-class horticulture skills.”

Carlos Arraya, director of grounds and agronomy at historic Bellerive Country Club near St. Louis, finds motivation in the history of the club that has played host to some of golf’s most memorable tournaments.

“The Masters inspires me to communicate and focus on Bellerive’s great traditions and championship history,” says Arraya, who prepared Bellerive for the 2018 PGA Championship. “Even though the Masters is one-of-a-kind, every course has its character and own story.”

The attention to detail and the steady progress on new solutions – from technology to labor deployment – serve as guidance for Arraya’s planning purposes. “The takeaway that resonates in my mind every year while watching the tournament is that a vision accompanied by a strategic plan can produce golfing excellence for the players and patrons,” he says.

While some may dread Masters week for the envy it produces, the great ones welcome golf’s first major as a learning experience. They know that even though they don’t have Augusta National’s budget or staff (more than 2,000 during tournament week), they can make their own commitment to excellence, looking at each day as an opportunity to improve.

This article was written and published by Golf Course Industry Magazine by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier.

Staying Sharp

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In his business leadership bestseller, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey talks about the need to balance productivity and effectiveness in order to maximize potential.  The most successful leaders maintain their personal equilibrium, Covey says, by staying sharp through an ongoing process of personal change and improvement.  He likens the lifelong journey to “sharpening the saw,” which he says needs to happen across four dimensions: physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional.

Staying sharp is a disciplined process that takes shape over a period of time.  For anyone who wants to develop a plan for self-improvement, increasing motivation and creativity will be critical.  Here are some ideas that may help:

  • Rest your mind.  Diverting one’s attention from the problems of the day and, especially, work-related problems, invigorates the mind for expanded innovation and problem-solving.  A rested mind improves your memory and your mood.  A rested mind also empowers self-knowledge for those already skilled in their jobs.  Self-knowledge helps us be receptive to talking about other people’s problems, needs and expectations.  Improving self-knowledge helps managers learn from their mistakes and deal effectively with criticism and feedback.
  • Manage your time.  Leaders skilled in time management use their time effectively and efficiently, which allows them to focus efforts on priorities.  They are less likely to be overwhelmed by the wide assortment of challenges and demands in their jobs.  Effective time managers can address a broader range of activities and delegate with greater clarity because they recognize a start and stop to discussions, tasks and problems.

On the other hand, managers who are unskilled in time management are disorganized and wasteful of time and other important resources.  They tend to drift from problem to problem, leaving co-workers confused about priorities.  The resulting inefficiency only seems to grow with time.

  • Pursue work/life balance.  In a servant-leadership capacity, balance is sometimes fleeting because we’re always putting the needs of others before our own.  Nevertheless, pursuing balance between the professional and the personal is critical to effectiveness in each.  This balance is a direct result of taking time to sharpen the saw; it prevents leaders from becoming one-dimensional and fully capable.

Normally one is considered to be out-of-balance when he or she overdoes one at the harmful expense of the other.  At one end, workaholics seem to find never-ending demands for working while those lacking balance place greater emphasis on on-the-job fun and activities at the expense of effective professional conduct.  A clear signal of being out of whack is the inability to address priorities on either side of the balance point.

Bringing harmony to your four-dimensional needs – physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional – helps managers be more productive and fulfilled in their lives.  Covey says it’s often a matter of working smarter rather than working harder.  Here are a handful of activities to consider while sharpening your own saw:

  • Invest time and energy into learning.  Learn a new language or how to play a new instrument.  It is difficult to worry about problems at work when your mind is at work learning.
  • Read about the lives of great leaders and the challenges they overcame to reach their potential.  We’re inspired by the trials and perseverance of others, which have a way of making our challenges a little less daunting.
  • Travel to a new city, region or country.  Travel provides a literal and figurative escape that often clears our minds and brings new perspectives to problems and challenges.

Finding balance not only takes time to sharpen our saws, it also takes a plan.  We can all learn from one of the great woodcutters in history, Abraham Lincoln, who said, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”

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

Change Shows No Sign of Slowing

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If your time to you is worth saving
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
– The Times They Are A Changin’, Bob Dylan

The songwriter, poet and social observer Bob Dylan warned us about change.  Back in 1964, he said it was a-coming.  Forty-five years later, we are reminded of his prescience.

In private clubs, change has arrived in full force and shows no signs of slowing.  As a new year reveals itself, private club leaders should be alert to change in five key areas affecting their operations.

1.  Economy – A surging economy has helped a number of clubs in North America add members in the last two years. But many experts are forecasting a softer economy in 2019.  According to the Conference Board’s November 2018 report, “Higher interest rates, and the intention of the Federal Reserve to keep raising them into 2019, will create a more challenging environment for business next year.”  That means membership recruitment and retention are still top priorities at most clubs.

Global Golf Advisors estimates that less than seven percent of the 4,400 private clubs in North America are full and working from a waiting list for admission.  Anticipating that the economy may soften, private club leaders must intensify their efforts to recruit new members while giving focused attention to retaining existing ones.

Often the solution is not a price change, but something more creative, such as ones that make the club more personal and relevant to today’s lifestyles.

What are the right moves for your club?  The answers start with knowing your members as well as your prospects and knowing what they value most in a club relationship.  If you don’t know how they define value, ask them.

2.  Delay no longer a strategy – In the heat of the recession, many businesses, including many private clubs, decided to forego capital improvements until times got better. Times got better, but many continued to delay investment.

Now many clubs are playing catch-up on deferred capital improvements. In the process, they’re discovering that new members are attracted to standards of quality that match their personal lifestyles.

That means that improvements to club facilities, programs and staff must reflect a long-term commitment to sustained quality.  Most members want their clubs to be better five years from now and club leaders are obliged to fulfill that expectation.

Club leaders do well to establish a broad standard of excellence for the club.  This is where clubs can truly be “unique,” as everyone like to profess.  The standard of excellence dictates the qualities of fit and finish for the facilities, the style and level of services and the types of recreational programs offered members.

3.  Brand takes on added significance – Private clubs are brands, and just as a particular soft drink, computer or automobile stands for something in consumers’ eyes, so does your club stand for something in the eyes of your members and prospects. Club leaders must develop an intentional branding strategy that sustains the promises on which the club has built its reputation, including course conditions, levels of service and culture.

 For brand planning in a private club, several keys apply:

  • Confirm the club’s potential tax-exempt status to ensure conformity with the U.S. Tax Code;
  • Develop and implement a proactive communications plan that reinforces primary brand pillars, and
  • Remember that the club’s brand is reflected in everything it does . . . and fails to do. Everything communicates.

When making any key decisions about the future of the club, make sure you’re staying true to your brand promise.

4.  Security and privacy concerns are increasing.  In a world rife with cyber threats, private clubs are highly vulnerable targets.  People of means gathered in one easy-to-access vault of names, addresses and possibly financial information constitute an attractive target for those ill-intentioned among us.

Members place their trust in their club to safeguard their privacy.  Break that bond and the consequences could be irreparable.  Club leaders must contract with companies expert in securing their club’s sizeable data storehouse and secure this information.  This threat will expand in 2019 at clubs that are unprepared

5.  Access and affordability of labor is changing clubs. Most clubs surveyed by GGA report increasing direct and indirect labor costs.  Many clubs are outsourcing work through contract-labor arrangements.  Some clubs are securing overseas workers for seasonal needs.  All clubs are evaluating steps to reduce the reliance on accessible labor for routine club services.

In some clubs, self-service is taking hold.  In progressive clubs, new solutions including F&B orders entered on tablets, are reducing head-count.  Some clubs are exploring making the golf halfway house and the tennis and pool snack shacks honor-system facilities, where losses are likely to be less than the labor costs to secure them.

On the flip side of Dylan’s ballad that promised change was a song titled “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance.”  A new year gives us revived opportunities – one more chance – to get ahead of change.  We better start swimmin’.

This piece was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for BoardRoom Magazine.

Clubs Should Be Selling Memories

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Today’s fast paced tech savvy society is often called The Experience Economy, which references the ever-rising expectations of customers coupled with the desire for memorable experiences rather than physical possessions (See “Managing Expectations” PCA September, 2018).

The Experience Economy is forcing clubs to prioritize creating unparalleled experiences for their members over simply providing great service, quality amenities or good membership value.

According to Henry DeLozier of Global Golf Advisors, “The memory itself becomes the product and in private clubs today, members relish an unforgettable experience far more than a bargain.”

Different from the past, members now relate membership value to the club’s ability to deliver memorable experiences to their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Experiences in this context are preplanned activities or events that are packed full of emotional, memorable, shareable impressions that are difficult for others to duplicate. “The key to this entire concept is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” DeLozier explained.

Club executives and operators must shift their focus from simply ensuring enjoyable experiences (dining at the club, great round of golf, good tennis lesson, etc.) to building opportunities for members to establish stories. When members (and their families) become part of a holistic experience, they become part of a story and that is when a positive and lasting memory is formed.

The sky is the limit as each club has endless opportunities to create experiences that speak directly to member perceptions of value.

“Club leaders will find the greatest success in innovative ideas, unforgettable experiences and fresh new concepts that are unique to their club and community,” DeLozier concluded.

This article was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for the Private Club Advisor.

Protecting Against Project Mythology

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Anyone taking on projects great or small during 2019 might consider a lesson from Phidias, the Greek sculptor, painter and architect.  Phidias is best known for his statue of Zeus, the king of the ancient gods.  However, it was his creation of the statues on the frieze of the Parthenon, the temple of the gods in Athens, from which we can draw an important lesson on project planning and management.

Phidias’s bill for his work on the heroic-scale statues was initially declined.  The bursar of Athens said that the statues should have been created in a front-only perspective, instead of Phidias’s 360-degree perspective, because the statues would be placed well above eye level and citizens would see only the front view.  Phidias replied, “The gods will know.” And his bill was paid.

Every project you plan and execute this year, whether a new swimming pool, the replacement of sand bunkers or a clubhouse remodel, will face 360-degree scrutiny.  Many will evaluate the quality of your work. Here are five important steps to help your efforts stand the test of time:

  1. Plan from start to finish. Lay out the process to be used, the materials required and who will be responsible for a successful outcome.  Organize your project team to ensure that each team member understands where he or she will pitch in and be held accountable.  See that your action plan is thorough.  Comprehensive planning anticipates the end result and establishes standards of expectations.  Ensure that the finished quality of your work is excellent.  Quality is remembered long after cost is forgotten.  Plan the post-completion “unveiling” of your results as carefully as you plan the first meeting.
  2. Set realistic schedules. Avoid over-promising and being unnecessarily conservative.  Creating a critical path of the actions required to complete the project is an important key.  Scheduling also requires a complete plan.  Many projects – and the credibility of those responsible for them – are undermined by incomplete or poor scheduling.  Establish a broad understanding of when you will execute in-process measurements and evaluations.  The things that are measured get managed. Get to work and finish ahead of schedule.
  3. Budget thoroughly. The two greatest points on which to brag about a finished project are “complete” and “under budget.”  Ensure that the budget is inclusive of all expenses, including labor, materials and post-project clean-up and finishing work.  Check and double-check unit count, whether pounds, square acres or individual item costs.  Confirm the accuracy of your costs-per-unit measurements.  These two checkpoints – unit-count and unit-pricing – protect the downside of important projects.
  4. Communicate constantly. See that all stakeholders are kept informed of progress and problems – especially the latter.  Because so many people feel invested in key projects, and think their voices should be heard, create a communications plan that includes video updates as well as written reminders and status reports.  Reduce the likelihood that stakeholders are uninformed of progress.  Likewise, update those responsible for completing the project by making sure they receive regular and routine project updates.  It is nice to know that everyone on the team is keeping up their time-sensitive tasks and sharing in the accountability.  Remember that members and regular customers like to be included with project updates.
  5. Celebrate generously. Pass around the credit and share the successful completion of the project.  See that there is plenty of credit to go around.  Recognize those who authorized your work on the project.  Name those who did the work.  Make and distribute photographs of the finished project and those who celebrated with you.  Use follow-up storytelling to identify those who are enjoying the results of the project.  Be inclusive of all who are affected by the project.

You may think that the work you did to complete a project successfully is sometimes ignored or forgotten.  In fact, in these times of tight budgets and 360-degree evaluation, very little is overlooked by management or membership.  Remember the lesson of Phidias: the quality of your work will endure and even if some people do not appreciate your contributions, the gods certainly will.

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

What’s Important to Know About Recruiting Millennials to Join the Club?

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Occam’s Razor is the work of a Franciscan friar and theologian, William of Ockham, who reasoned that itis better to keep things simple when attempting to understand complicated ideas.  This is good advice for club directors and managers when trying to plan ahead.

The confusion begins in answering, “What do they want?” As club leaders’ eyes have turned from generation X to the millennial generation, a good source for answers can be found from Kris Hart, the co-founder and CEO of Nextgen Golf, whose motto is “Live Life.  Play Golf.”

Hart emphasizes two basic needs that clubs meet for millennials: flexibility and community.

“Millennials are often on the move and need flexibility for when they can play.  More importantly, having flexible membership costs and initiation fees are an important factor for millennials when joining a club,” says Hart.  “Some may not stay in one city for a long time, paying up-front costs are less attractive.”

According to Hart, millennials need to be part of something.  “Clubs that have younger members and a good community around the club are attractive.  Millennials rely heavily on recommendations from family and friends and want to hang out with people like them.”

Now the largest market segment in America, the millennial generation has high expectations, in general.  “Millennials expect to be treated the same as a full adult member and do not want to be restricted or looked down upon as a young adult member.” Hart advises.

And first impressions are important! According to Hart, “Technology expectations are continuing to increase.  The club’s digital presence and online reputation has become much more meaningful given millennials can go right to google and research everything about a club in a matter of seconds.”

Health and wellness are imperative for this generation.  Clubs that have gyms, fitness classes and embrace the health and wellness movement will be better prepared for this generation.

Millennials are getting married and having kids later in life than previous generations.  As Millennials continue to age, family-focused clubs are increasingly more important, Hart stresses.

Keep it simple if your club wants to attract millennial members.

This piece was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for the National Club Association’s Club Director quarterly magazine.  

Board Self-Assessment: 5 Steps to Evaluate Your Performance

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Effective boards set goals and work to achieve them.  The best, top-performing boards execute an annual self-assessment of their performance.  This is the time of year to evaluate how your board performed in 2018.  To conduct a proper self-assessment each board should take the following five steps.

The self-assessment is a simple performance evaluation survey which requests answers ranging from “strongly disagree “to “strongly agree” with three levels of moderation in between (“disagree, neutral, and agree”).  This evaluation will yield the performance evaluation as a measure of results from one to five.

More detailed guidance for board self-assessment can be found in the NCA’s Board Toolkit (available to all members as a benefit of membership).

Step One – Evaluate Board Structure

This section of the assessment explores how well the board does its business.  Questions address issues of board organization, committee engagement and performance, and resources such as time allocation and staff support.

Questions in this step include the following:

  • The board has the right number of members.
  • The board has the right number of meetings.
  • There is adequate time in board meetings to address matters of importance.
  • Board meetings efficiently use time and human resources.
  • The board has adequate indemnification and D&O insurance coverage.
  • Board committees are constructive to effective club governance.
  • Committees have the right number of members.
  • Committee reports are timely submitted and require the proper amount of board review.
  • Committee assignments and charters reflect the best advice of the board.
  • Committee performance is right for the club’s current needs.

Step Two – Evaluate Board Information

The following types of questions validate the quality and use of information going to the board:

  • The club’s Board Policy Manual adequately communicates the duties and expectations of individual board members.
  • The board benefits from adequate pre-read time, information and materials to enable it to be effective.
  • Information provided the board is fully vetted and applicable to current and emerging conditions at the club.
  • Presentations by officers and staff are accurate and unbiased.
  • The board has adequate access to internal and external advisors (e.g., auditor, legal and risk management) to make informed decisions.

Step Three – Evaluate Board Dynamics

The following questions assess the dynamics or growth and changes exhibited by the board:

  1. The board addresses the right issues for the club.
  2. The board does what is right.
  3. The board clearly and timely communicates goals, objectives and results tithe members.
  4. The board properly balances its guidance and supervision of the general manager.
  5. The board promotes a culture of accountability at all levels of club governance.

Step Four – Individual Self-Assessment

Every board member must be accountable for his or her own work as a servant leader.  Questions that help to evaluate individual board member performance include:

  1. Engages in the board’s work.
  2. Understands the club’s strategy and strategic issues.
  3. Evaluates and fully understands club budgets.
  4. Understands and closely monitors the club’s financial performance.
  5. Respects the confidentiality of the board room in all matters.

Step Five – Board Communications

Members expect to know what the board is doing and what matters are being addressed.  Poor communication is one of the most frequently stated points of member dissatisfaction with club boards.

Communicate the board’s self-assessment and a composite assessment to the entire club membership.  Show the questions that were asked and the performance ratings that the board assigned to its own performance (not the individual scores).  Candid and genuine self-assessment of the board’s performance will build trust at the club.

Self-assessment is a form of the personal accountability that members expect of their leaders.  Communicating the results openly and honestly will make the club stronger and more capable of meeting the next generation of challenges.

This piece was authored by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for the National Club Association’s Club Director quarterly magazine.  

Will Millennials Save Golf?

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A few years ago, Time magazine published an exhaustive look at millennials titled “The Me, Me, Me Generation.”  The story took some shots at a generation characterized as “lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents,” but concluded that the world’s 80 million 18- to 34-year-olds will “save us all.”

Global Golf Advisors has done extensive research into what makes millennials tick – especially from a golf perspective – aimed at answering this question: “Will they also save golf?”

Their numbers portend their potential.  Millennials are responsible for the majority of purchases of everything from groceries to automobiles.  They’re also beginning to settle down, with careers, homes and kids of their own.  As they do, their global spending power is estimated in excess of $600 billion a year.

There are about 6.4 million millennial golfers, according to the National Golf Foundation.  That’s more than any golf cohort, other than 6.8 million Gen Xers, whose birth years are generally considered 1965 to 1984.  By contrast, there are 5.4 million baby boomers, once thought to be golf’s saviors, but now on the back nine of their golfing careers.  Here’s what else we know about millennials:

  • They are the first generation of tech natives. They practically teethed on their PCs, tablets and smartphones.  They love their phones, but hate talking on them.
  • They crave new experiences, even more than material goods.
  • They need to feel like what they’re doing is important.
  • They aren’t as willing as former generations to sacrifice their personal life to advance their careers.
  • They’re heavily influenced by product reviews, Q&A’s and photos posted by other consumers.

But what will it take to turn their potential into our reality?  Global Golf Advisors teamed up with Nextgengolf to survey millennial golfers across the U.S. Here’s what we learned:

The No. 1 reason millennials play golf is to hang out with friends.  That’s closely followed by enjoying being outdoors and athletic competition.  Interesting, business-related reasons, such as growing their network, were last on their list.  They just want to have fun.

The millennials in the survey who play at daily fee courses are frugal.  Slightly more than 80 percent want to spend $50 or less on a round of golf.  Sixty percent typically spend between $25 and $50.

Three-quarters of millennials will consider joining a private club in the future.  Twelve percent are already a private club member.  Nearly half of participating millennials plan on joining a private club within the next three to 10 years.

Factors influencing their decision to join a club also show the importance of the social side of the club experience.  The most important factor that influences a membership decision is a recommendation.  Eighty-three percent of survey respondents said encouragement from a friend, colleague or family member might cause them to join a club.  These are folks who are accustomed to reading reviews and acting on the recommendation of others.  The second most influential factor was a positive experience while attending a tournament or special event at the club.

For most, though, golf is not enough of a draw to join a club.  You must remember: millennials are social animals.  Many are involved in as many as 10 recreational activities.  That’s why a workout center, for example, is a valuable investment for clubs and golf facilities that want to increase their appeal to millennials.

Millennials like options and flexibility, and that characteristic was borne out in the portion of the survey focusing on entrance fees and dues.  Forty-one percent of millennials would prefer to pay more annually than pay an entrance fee to join a private club.  Approximately half said they would prefer an annual fee of $3,000 or less to belong to a club.

The challenge for clubs?  To create an environment that not only appeals to the new wave, but also one where members of all generations can co-exist.

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

Selling Experiences

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Does your club tap into the value of members’ experiences?  Engaging with the experience economy is the fastest-growing method of marketing services, and it will shape the futures of many clubs.

American Express now promotes hard-to-get tickets for special shows and performances. Red Bull promotes a super-terrestrial “Stratos Jump” to call attention to a life lived “on the edge”. Lean Cuisine promotes its “#WeighThis” campaign by asking potential customers to describe what they really wanted to weigh – as in, what really matters to you?

In the modern world, experiences are proving to be more engaging and inspiring than the long-standing product-features-and-benefits approach to marketing.

In their 1999 book, The Experience Economy, B. Joseph Pine II and James Gilmore offered an early glimpse of a then-current trend emerging… the swelling value of “experiences” over commoditized goods and services. Pine and Gilmore argued that people will place higher value on an experience than a simple transactional relationship.

Now, two decades hence, the experience economy is in full bloom, pushing top-performing clubs to create memorable “experiences” for their members. The memory itself becomes the product, and in private clubs today, members relish an unforgettable experience far more than a bargain.

What is the difference between an “experience” and a normal day at the club?

The term “Experience Economy” was first used in a 1998 article by Pine and Gilmore, describing it as the next economy following the agrarian economy, the industrial economy, and most recently, the service economy. The Experience Economy, as Pine and Gilmore described it, builds on concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

For affluent and accomplished people able to join a private club of almost any description, it is memorable experiences that deliver value to their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

“Experiences” in this context are pre-planned activities and events that are packed full of emotional, memorable, shareable impressions that are difficult for the uninitiated to duplicate. In their earliest uses in private clubs, these events were typically staged around dining and drinking entertainment events. Now, the sky is literally the limit in some clubs.

Experiential value is greater than fair-market value.

Pine gave the example of a birthday cake made faithfully each year by his mother who took her hard-earned cash to the grocery store for the eggs, sugar, flour and other cake ingredients. “Happy Birthday Joey” the cake declared, at an all-in cost of less than $2. However, when Joe’s mother eventually began to work outside of the home, she purchased cakes each year from the bakery for as much as $10.

Pine then fast-forwarded to another example from his own generation of parenting, during which he took his daughter and several of her friends to the American Girl store to buy dolls for each of the girls with all of the American Girl accoutrements – books, extra outfits, and a pre-packaged birthday party – all for roughly $300 per child. This experience prompted Pine’s question, “Do you want to be in the grocery business or the American Girl business?”

Club leaders face the same choice of selling either the parts of a happy event or the sum of the parts at a substantially higher amount.

What are examples of successful “experiences” in private clubs?

Clubs within clubs are often the basis for experiential opportunities in private clubs. The golfers schedule golf trips to Scotland, Ireland, and beyond. The wine club organizes travel to Napa, Sonoma, or the Finger Lakes region. Artistic members enjoy road-trips to Broadway, Hollywood and the touring shows across the country. Spirits and cigars are another point of interest for many club members.

Most clubs and club managers have introduced such programs already and wonder “what is next?” The next generation of interesting club experiences will come at the edges – both generationally and by interest segment. Following are three experiences to add new enthusiasm for your club:

Out of the mouths of babes – Most clubs offer decorating parties for children of the club by providing the necessary ingredients, like the gingerbread house and candies to adorn it. Using a simple handheld iPhone, clubs can record each child describing his or her gingerbread house and explaining why grandmothers and grandfathers will like certain parts of their festive creation.

Think bigger! Most clubs host parties and activities punctuated by music and a live band. Few clubs book cover bands “featuring” the Beatles, Rolling Stones, or the Beach Boys. Normally the bands are more expensive and – in most cases – worth it. Make the events at the club memorable.

The key is to book music that originated in the college-age years of the club’s members. So, if the average age of the club members is 60 deduct 20 years (to account for their average college age) and book music from 40 years ago. That means late ‘70s and early ‘80s is the music that will bring smiles to your members. Music makes most people happy and their happy music even more so.

Lifelong Learning – The value of new and interesting experiences is substantial among affluent and accomplished people who, generally speaking, make up most club members. Such people have the time and opportunity to learn throughout their lives, and private clubs can become a source of such learning experiences.

As aging Baby Boomers across the globe confront the trials of mental health, there is growing emphasis placed upon keeping one’s mind active, fit, and fresh. Private clubs are ideal settings to provide new opportunities for learning new lessons – whether a new language, a musical instrument, or the cultural history of a foreign land.

Pine and Gilmore were correct that the total value of an experience is far greater than its parts. The value of the experience economy is immense in private clubs, and so is the opportunity for those who have not yet engaged with it. There are plenty of options and alternatives that have already been proven in other clubs. The greatest success, however, will be found in innovative new ideas and unforgettable experiences.

This article was penned by GGA Principal and Partner Henry DeLozier. 

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