Golfing News & Tools

The state of Florida is the home of golf resorts. When you want to go golfing in Florida on vacation, chances are that you are going to end up staying at one of the popular golf resorts in the area such as TPC Sawgrass, Champions Gate, Sandestin or PGA National Resort and Spa. All 4 of these places are amazing, and honestly, I really can’t say anything bad about TPC Sawgrass.Who can really say anything bad about that resort anyway?

The problem with these 4 resorts is that they are catering to the same individual all of the time, high class golfers making 0,000 plus a year. They don’t allow the real people such as you and I the time of day to come and play at their course, or stay at their resort. Can I blame them… no not really? People are not worried about the economy and this so called recession, so they are paying the money to stay and play there and they are taking advantage of it just like any good business would do.

Now things have changed in the golf resort world, especially in Florida. When the economy started to slow down, the amount of golf being played, and the amount of people staying at Florida golf resorts also started to slow down as well. The 4 popular golf resorts I mentioned above probably haven’t changed their ways yet, but I can guarantee you that they haven’t changes their ways and are probably losing large amounts of money because they haven’t adjusted to this new economy.

In reality, what did this economy do to the golf world? How has it changed the golf world? Will it ever get better? To tell you the truth, I don’t have a truthful answer I can give you because a lot of golf resorts and golf clubs are not being honest with themselves or other professionals in our industry. The economy has started to slow down play in all areas across the country. The economy has made golfers start to play at cheaper courses, or look for special offers that are occurring at particular resorts. No longer can resorts rely on “regular” customers because a lot of those regulars have ditched their home course in search of the best deal.
What can they do about this very major problem before it gets to bad? It is very simple; in fact it is really a no brainer. They need to come up with a shocking promotion that drives traffic to their resort. Need an example? I thought you might want to an example of one.

Juliette Falls is a new golf resorts in Florida in Dunnellon. It is only about an hour away from both Tampa and Orlando and is roughly 15 minutes way from Ocala. It’s a very isolated place in Florida. Juliette Falls has a beautiful course and the nice golf homes are jaw dropping. So what does a Florida private community do when the economy slows and homes stop selling? They came up with a strategic marketing plan that involved a promotion supplement their lost income. Juliette Falls made the decision to start selling special packages that allow you to stay in a stunning million dollar golf homes, play a round of golf on their amazing course full of waterfalls, and enjoy all of the resorts facilities for 9 a night. How could a person who loved to play golf refuse an offer like this, I know I couldn’t do it. What this does is create a new stream of money using assets that they have and are not in use. If they sell only 2 stays for every night of that year, that’s 5,000 a year in pure profits! It also could supply a steady stream of potential home buyers! Why aren’t all the other golf resorts thinking like this?

Golf Resorts need to start thinking outside of the box. In this horrifying economy it may be one of the only ways to keep a positive flow of income if you not a “distinguished” golf resort!

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Golf courses across the country are closing down and going out of business across the United States at an alarming rate. Florida, the state with more golf clubs than any other state, is seeing this more and moreas time goes on. A lot of these “failing” golf communities are blaming the economy, and some are even blaming the current state of the golf world in general; but I see things differently, they should be pointing the finger at themselves.

The golf industry is behind the times in almost every core aspect of running a business in this day and age. Most golf courses still have a website that provides no information, it does not collect any data from people visiting it, and looks like something that my 12 year old daughter could create in a few hours. These golf clubs need to embrace technology and develop a website that both promotes AND generates business. There are a handful of golf marketing businesses that specifically create websites to help generate more business for golf resorts, why aren’t more clubs taking advantage of them?

Another way the golf industry is behind the times is plainly marketing in general. Look at how much clubs are promoting themselves. Are they even promoting themselves? The average golf courses do the following things which they call “marketing”.

• They place a black and white ad in the local newspaper showing how they just discounted the price. This only gets them into discount wars with their competition which only causes them to lose even MORE money. They should instead be finding things that they are good at and promoting their business on those subjects so it drives more people to the course to take advantage of the things that they do better then all of the other competing courses in the area.
• They place an ad in the yellow pages and local phone book that unfortunately looks like every other ad within the book and it draws no attention to the club. Honestly, with the invention of search engines such as Google and the amount of people who use the internet these days, how many people do you think still use the phone book to find information when they could just power up their computer and type in a search term? The answer is falling closer and closer to zero every year! These clubs that are spending thousands of dollars a year on this single ad could be directing that extra money towards something more beneficial such as a website or direct mail campaign like I mentioned above
• They place an ad in the local penny saver.Once again, something that is proven to be ineffective in this day and time. Instead they should be looking into fusion marketing techniques and working with other businesses to promote their golf course. They could easily go to the local Cadillac dealer and give away a free round of golf with every car purchase. Not only will the dealership easily accept this offer, but it will get new people, with MONEY, at the course and they will easily make up the lost green fee revenue by the new players paying for a cart fee or eating after the round at the club house. They will even convert a certain quantity of these players into returning players, which will help increase the residual income of the club. Think about that for a second, if they charge a round, and the new players plays 10 times a year, they just made an extra 0 off green fees alone. If you get 20 new players a year from the car dealership that’s an extra ,000 a year from a simple green fee promotion with a car dealership!

Another way golf courses are slowly killing themselves is with real estate. A lot of golf communities that were doing well in the early 2000’s are now drowning in a sea of debt because of unsold lots, unsold homes, and not enough members. What can they do to fix this problem? Let’s look at what Juliette Falls, which is a Florida Golf Resort, in Dunnellon did. They first got a first-rate website from a company named Legendary Marketing. They built their website into something that looks great and promotes exactly what they do. Well guess what, the economy tanked and now they have over 40 homes that are in the price range of 0,000 to more than a million and no one was buying them. How do they turn this around? They came up with an astonishing promotion that’s how! At Juliette Falls you can stay in a Amazing Golf Home worth over a million dollars, play a round of golf, enjoy the onsite spa and eat at a fancy restaurant for $199 a night. If they sell only one night for every day of the year, that is over ,000 in additional revenue for the resort AND they get new prospects and leads at the course every single day which they can use to promote to in the future! Why aren’t all the golf communities thinking this way?

As you can see, the golf industry is slowing killing itself by being behind the times in technology, marketing, real estate and a host of other things that will be addressed in a future article. If you are a member of a golf course, or even better part of the members committee, stand up and bring attention to the actions your golf course is taking. Tell your club they need to break the mold of what they have been doing because it is not working. Make them think outside the comfort zone! Make your golf management company become accountable for the actions the club takes! It may be the only thing that they can do to save your golf course!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Golf clubs across the country are closing down and going out of business across the United States of America at an scary rate. Florida, the state with more golf clubs than any other state, is seeing this more and more. A lot of these failing golf communities are blaming the economy, and some are even blaming the current state of the golf world in general; but I see things differently, they should be pointing the finger at themselves.

The golf industry is behind the times in almost every core aspect of running a business in this day and age. Most golf clubs still have a website that looks like something that my 12 year old son could create. These golf clubs need to embrace technology and develop a website that both promotes AND generates business. There are a handful of golf marketing businesses that specifically create websites to help generate more business for golf clubs, why aren’t more clubs taking advantage of them?

Another way the golf industry is behind the times is basically marketing in general. Look at how much effort golf course are putting into promoting themselves. Are they even putting any effort into promoting their golf club? The average golf resorts do the following things which they call “marketing”.

They place a black and white ad in the county newspaper showing how they just lowered the price of play. This only gets them into discount wars with their competition which only causes them to lose even MORE money. They should instead be finding things that they are good at and promoting their business on those subjects so it drives more people to the course to take advantage of the things they do best.

They place a boring ad in the yellow pages and local phone book. Honestly, with the invention of Google search and the amount of people who use the internet these days, how many people still use the phone book to find information? The answer is that phone book usage is dropping by 10% almost every year because of new technology! These clubs that are spending thousands of dollars a year on this single ad could be directing that extra money towards something more beneficial such as a website or direct mail campaign like I mentioned above.

They place an ad in the local penny saver.Once again, something that is proven to be ineffective in this day and time. Instead they should be looking into fusion marketing techniques and working with other local businesses to promote their club. They could easily go to the local Chevy dealer and give away a free round of golf with every car purchase. Not only will the dealership easily accept this offer, but it will get new people, with MONEY, at the course and they will easily make up the lost green fee revenue by the new players paying for a cart fee or eating after the round at the club house. They will even convert some of these players into regulars. Think about that for a second, if they charge forty dollars a round, and the new players plays on average ten times a year, they just made an extra four hundred dollars off green fees alone. If you get 20 new players a year from the car dealership that’s an extra $8,000 a year from a simple green fee promotion with a car dealership!

Another way golf resorts are slowly killing themselves is with real estate. A lot of golf communities that were doing great in the early 2000s are now drowning in a sea of debt because of unsold lots, unsold homes, and not enough members. What can they do to fix this problem? Lets look at what Juliette Falls, which is a Gated Florida Golf Community, in Dunnellon did. They first got a first-class website from a company named Legendary Marketing. They built their website into something that looks very good and promotes exactly what they do. Well guess what, the economy dropped off and now they have over forty homes that are in the price range of $500,000 to more than a million and no one was buying them. How do they turn this around? They came up with an astounding promotion that’s how! At Juliette Falls you can stay in a Nice Golf Home worth over a million dollars, play a round of golf, enjoy the onsite spa and eat at a fancy restaurant for $199 a night. If they sell only one night for every day of the year, that’s over $70,000 in additional revenue for the resort AND they get new prospects and leads at the course every single day which they can use to promote to in the future! Why aren’t all the golf communities thinking this way?

As you can see, the golf industry is slowing killing itself by being behind the times in technology, marketing, real estate and a host of other things that will be addressed in a future article. If you are a member of a golf course, or even better part of the members committee, stand up and bring attention to the actions your golf course is taking. Tell your club they need to break the mold of what they have been doing. Make them think outside the comfort zone! Make your golf resort management company become accountable for the actions the club takes! It may be the only thing that they can do to save your golf course!

Roy Williams is a former course manager and has worked for various golf courses across the United States. He now spends his time reviewing Golf Resorts in Florida and Golf Homes in Florida for various websites in the southern USA region.

Popularity: 1% [?]