Page 48 - GBC winter 2016 Eng

Delegates of the 2015 Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show exchanged proven rev- enue boosting or expense manage- ment ideas from their facility at The 2015 Great Idea Debate.
Armed with their best ideas from the past season, each group selected their best idea and presented it on stage to Donald Tru-dope, who was
looking for his next Vice President. The successful candidate was judged by all the delegates in attendance, based on the most creative and innovative proven idea.
Presented by Kubota Canada, the Great Idea Debate is one of the most highly regarded and beneficial com- ponents of the annual Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show.
The 1st place winner was given an opportunity to choose the Kubota tractor, mower, or utility vehicle of their choice. The selected Kubota vehicle was delivered to the winning club for one full season.
Generous gift baskets were provided by Kubota to the other top ideas, previously presented in Golf Business Canada magazine.
The top ideas have been presented in previous issues of Golf Business Canada magazine.
1st Place Idea
Dog Friendly Golf
Chris McNicol, Woodside Golf Course, Airdrie, AB
Dogs on the golf course? Why not? Woodside Golf Course bet on “Puppies and Putting” being a good mix in 2015 and the gamble has paid off! With over 600 pet rounds in this small weekly window, Sundays from 4:00pm- 7:00pm, the question we are now asking is should we be expanding the window of opportunity for players to play with their pets?
GOLFER’S BEST FRIEND
There are roughly 5.9 million dogs in Canada, so odds are that many of the players that visit your facility also own a dog that needs to be exercised. Giving players the opportunity to golf and walk their dog saves them time and removes the guilt of leaving their best friend locked up at home all day.
Our program started as a way to engage the entire management team and all dog owners in a common cause. We wanted to support and raise awareness for some of the great dog rescue organizations in our community and as a result we decided we would host a fundraising golf tournament for them.
This very successful venture also allowed us the opportunity to see what protocols we needed to create to effectively manage a dog friendly golf course. There are simple rules that we drafted in order to ensure that the guest experience was maintained for both dog lovers and our regular golfing cliental.
Left to right:
• Cari Lynn Reid, 3rd Place Winner
• James Cronk, aka Donald Tru-dope,
Host of the Great Idea Debate
• Brian Schaal, 4th Place Winner
• Chris McNicol, 1st Place Winner
• Jill Kleovoulos, Marketing Specialist-
Residential Products & Online Media
at Kubota Corporation
• Eric Kirkpatrick, 2nd Place Winner
presented by
48 Golf Business Canada