Page 8 - Winter 2018 english

Ian Hutchinson
Ian is the editor and president of Golf News Now, an industry trade website. He is the 2017 recipient of the Lorne Rubenstein Award, presented by the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame for major contributions to golf in Ontario. Follow Ian’s blog at www.golfnewsnow.ca.
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Golf Business Canada
T
Diversity
members they can relate to and designing programs that t their needs is still tried and true.
and
What has changed signi cantly, particularly in large urban centres but increasingly in smaller communities, is the target market around many Canadian golf operations and each facility has a unique situation based on the population around them.
Inclusion
It Starts With Your Staff
It matters not the skin tone or religious beliefs of the people who handed you those bills, or used their credit cards at your golf operation. Nor does it matter their gender, ethnic background, orientation or what personal challenges they face. None of that is obvious when making the deposit into your business account.
The bottom line on that deposit slip is what counts and in order to keep that dollar gure increasing, the game plan is much the same as it has been in the past. The traditional formula of informing the community around you about your facility, making potential clients/members and their families feel welcome and comfortable, hiring courteous staff
AGING POPULATION
Whether golf’s image as an elite, white game is reality or perception, forward-thinking golf operators and associations are recognizing the opportunity to grow their businesses and participation in the game through new arrivals to Canada, made necessary by an aging population in which there are more seniors than children.
According to the 2016 Canadian census, there were 5.9 million people over the age of 65 living in Canada compared to 5.8 million children under the age of 14 and that trend is only expected to increase as baby boomers age.
With so many core golfers in the 50-and-over crowd and people living longer, they will have more time to play golf, but that is more of a short-term bene t before they begin to slow down and disappear from the fairways, requiring the industry to seek new markets in a country with such a low birth rate.
he next time you open your cash drawer or your wallet, take note of the various colours and denominations of the bills inside and consider how that money re ects the immediate community around you.