very carefully and we paid careful attention to our programming when Wall
Street began to crumble as the 2008
season was coming to a close,” says Derek
Sprague, PGA general manager at Malone (N.Y.) Golf Club, and District
1
Director. “We took several actions to
make sure we had revenue coming in
throughout the 2009 golf season. First,
we made sure all the i’s were dotted and
t’s crossed on our contracts for corporate outings and tournaments in 2009.
We made sure our outings were spread
out so we had guaranteed income every
month.
“Relationships are more important
than ever in this economy. You have to
do business with partners who are willing to work with you and recognize
you’re going to be a longtime customer.”
Bill Hughes, PGA Master Professional
and general manager at the TPC Saw-grass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., says
golf facilities must remain aggressive
and proactive in a tough economy. He
notes that PGA Tour Properties saw
signs of the economic downturn more
than 18 months ago and began taking
steps to prepare for leaner, meaner budgets. Hughes and PGA Tour Properties
also quickly identified the revenue producers in their network of golf holdings
and invited those individuals who
weren’t dedicated to excellence to pursue their careers elsewhere.
“We took some proactive actions a
year or two ago, recognizing that everything in life goes in cycles,” reveals
Hughes. “The PGA Tour sold its assets
that were not effective and productive.
We had a great year in 2008 because we
started our cost-cutting and efficiency
programs in 2008. Staff development
was a big buzzword. We had to make
some tough decisions on staff members,
but the strong survived. Those who
wanted to adjust with us and become
more efficient were retained. Those
who wanted to sit back and wait for the
economy to improve were let go.
“Labor dollars are the single largest
line of expense for most facilities. Wage
freezes and reductions may be necessary.
You have to tell your employees that
they need to choose if they want to stay.
If they wish to stay, they need to make
themselves more valuable by directly
contributing to revenue-producing programs.”
Hughes’ final advice for survival in
this challenging economy?
“I say be smart, be aggressive, be cost
efficient, and go to war,” says Hughes.
“Those who aren’t being special and sep-
BEST PRACTICES
presented by American Express
Increase Shop
Revenue Through
Retail Teamwork
Blane Merritt is
the PGA General
Manager at TPC
Southwind in
Memphis, Tenn.
Attara. “We benefit because many of the other businesses including our local beer
Golf 101 School students over the years have distributor, two charity groups and our local
continued to take lessons and play at the Republican club.”
course. The chamber benefits by having Attara reports that the aforementioned
more participants and future players for the two programs have generated $12,000 in
following year’s event. In a time when most revenues with 170 people participating, not
outing sizes are shrinking, we have been able including additional rounds of golf and visits
to continue to grow our level of to Eagle Ridge by those introduced to the
participation.” club through these programs.
Attara also offers a “Nine and Dine” The Link Up 2 Golf program at Eagle
program in an outing format, which appeals Ridge Golf Club has been another successful
to smaller groups and businesses that find it revenue producer. Attara runs the program
hard to justify the expense of an outing and through a local community college, which
the time away from work. “Our local hospital publishes the program and sends
has found this to be a great program for the information to all homes in the Ocean
doctors, who join us for an County area. The program, which
afternoon nine and dine followed will be revamped in 2009 to
by our Land & Sea Buffet,” says involve the Get Golf Ready
Attara. “The administrators love curriculum, is offered as a five-day
the program because they can get program with classes on Tuesdays
the doctors together during some and Thursdays for three weeks.
down time without it causing The sixth meeting on the last
scheduling problems for the Thursday is a graduation round of
hospital. It also encourages more golf, where students play a five-
participation by new golfers who hole scramble with teachers
Mike Attara, PGA
are less likely to sign up for an 18- available to assist them.
hole event. We love it because we are filling The Link Up 2 Golf program generated
up our course on a Wednesday afternoon $17,250 in revenue last year and, more
with a 4 p.m. modified nine-hole shotgun important, saw 72 of the 138 players in the
and increasing our food and beverage and class return to Eagle Ridge to play additional
merchandise sales for the day. rounds of golf.
“In 2008, we expanded the program to
To increase sales, our entire
golf staff worked closely
together and drafted a specific
plan to that takes advantage of
the relationships we have with
our customers. As part of the
plan, we conducted several
demo days with key
manufacturers. Our head
professional also took the lead
in educating the entire golf
staff on the details need to sell
more hard good so we could
work better as a retail team.
We also purchased a launch
monitor to help advise
members on the equipment
they should be playing. Our
membership responded well to
our initiatives and we posted
record sales as a result.
Apart from the obvious
benefit of increased revenue,
the team retailing approach
has produced benefits we
never expected. All employees
now feel like they are part of a
team with specific goals and
are qualified to address any
merchandising issues on the
spot, and the members feel
they are receiving superior
service.
For information on how partnering
with American Express has benefits
for PGA Professionals, log on to
americanexpress.com/golf
Proud Official Patron of
The PGA of America
