Page 21 - GBC winter 2016 Eng

or professional commitments, costs, and what I call rigid time blocks. Now remember the word fence, as that will also be key.
With these changes, the average age of these new brand partners is the millennial generation or generation Y. As a result, we remain a very youthful facility and are getting younger. This age segment was a key focus. A nice spin off was a self-filled junior program.
People consume more from a trust of your goods and services available to them than price. If they deem your offerings of good value, they will become partners to your brand. We are all consumers. We pick favourites (restaurants, pubs and grocery stores) because we trust the product and feel we get good value for money. Being involved at a golf facility should have the same social economic following, and that is our focus. Fit today’s culture and adapt to the future before it happens.
INNOVATIVE IDEAS
The 4Fun Course
We have built a course within the course. We have 4 additional sets of tees playing from 2204, 3192, 3742 to 4451 yards. This course has a regulation scorecard with the corresponding regulation par, average yardages for each the par 3, 4 and 5’s and even an option for personal goals.
We intentionally did not call this playing area the junior tees. We are trying to be unilateral in the user who could be new to the game, middle aged or gracefully aging and dare we add gender to the conversation, as that in my view is high risk. All golfers can play here. The focus of 4Fun Tees is to have the user play golf relevant to his or her ability, level the playing field and play the game as intended – played to a regulation 4 1/4 - inch cup.
Did we hurt the game by creating a score and time friendly activity with hopes of one day turning a non-traditional experience into a traditional one? I will bet we win with this more than we lose.
The Tee Sheet
To further address time issues, we have also developed a custom tee sheet with fractional round increments of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 holes along with full 18 hole rounds. Before you shake your head and grab a glass of wine or otherwise, we’ve heard Jack Nicklaus say golf should be a 12-hole game, and Mr. Nicklaus you have my full attention on that statement.
While we combine each offering to equal 18 holes, and allow pay as you play, we are seeing these non- traditional options increase month over month and +9% on play after 5 pm during the week and we don’t offer twilight, we offer convenience. While we monitor this with our GPS system, many course operators have natural intervals that can be utilized without a GPS system. Go find these and use them to create an intro to golf or a golf mentorship program.
No True Memberships?
Before we talk golf, even ski hills are charging fees by the hour - in my view a brilliant move that has seen new growth in skiing. Gyms and grocery stores are now 24/7, based on time and convenience. I even have friends playing in a rec hockey league in the (very early) mornings. Why can’t golf be more mobile?
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