Article contributed by Ryan Gallagher, 20 Lemons LLC
Not often do golfers from New Jersey or Pennsylvania get a chance to play on critically acclaimed courses like those in Pebble Beach, CA or Augusta, GA. It is even less likely that the average player will get to swing with legendary golfers like Phil Mickelson or the Dalai Lama.
The experience of traversing a world-famous golfing green with professional athletes (or spiritual Buddhist leaders) sounds like something any avid golfer would love. However, local golf courses are just finding out that most golfers want nothing more than a beautiful course, great hospitality services, and a friendly community on the fairway. In 2019, both private country clubs and public courses have had to pivot their course offerings and update their communication strategies to match the most recent trends for players in the golf industry.
“People are using golf courses differently nowadays and membership is also affected by that. We’re dealing now with customers whose experience is very important to them—they’re experiential buyers,” said Kristen George, Director of Membership & Marketing at Lookaway Golf Club in Buckingham, PA. “As a golf-centric course, we offer an amazing golf experience. On the other hand we need to offer a social experience.”
Whether the golf course is private (for members only, like Lookaway) or the course is public, the clients who come to the location are not only looking for a pristine course, but also a great bar, a restaurant with delicious food, an event space with fun happenings, and then some.
“We have started to see a turn in new clientele,” explained John Williams, owner of Heirloom Events and Food & Beverage Operator at Mountain View Golf Course in Ewing, NJ. “They’ll come in for golf, learn about what we’re doing, then we’ll see them a lot thereafter. They’ll come in for lunch, for drinks after work; they come in and attend our happy hours and live music. I feel that the experience has transcended golf at our location.”
Customers of private and public golf courses have needs that seem to be advancing—they want it all. However, this may not be due to customers being picky or over-demanding. Instead, this is likely due to the changing demographics of the customer.
More than ever before, more people from a variety of backgrounds are interested in golf. In 2018, total golf participation climbed to 33.5 million people, according to the National Golf Foundation. This spike in interest is in part due to growth in participation from women golfers, non-white golfers, and golfers under the age of 35.
The evolution in golf course customer demographics has caused courses like Mountain View and Lookaway to respond by being totally self-sufficient. With an increasingly diverse customer base, courses both private and public must come to the table with an even more diverse list of services.
“Our members don’t always know their schedules going into the week and our open tee times give them an opportunity to hop on the course quick. Members need more flexibility in golf play than in previous generations,” explained George. Lookaway is able to do so “because we limit membership. We only do about 14,000 rounds of golf each year whereas other clubs average 35,000 rounds per year.”
Lookaway must offer major flexibility for members and a pristine, private course to serve as a retreat for someone seeking peace and quiet. At the same time, Lookaway’s members expect the course management to bring the party when they are searching for events.
“And yes, we have events where there’s a lot of people. Yesterday, we had [St. Louis Blues’ Head Coach Craig Berube] here with the Stanley Cup,” said George. “Some of our more popular events are our Bacon and Bourbon dinner, Casino Night is coming up, we do different barbecues throughout the year, also a raw bar and sushi dinner.”
Williams from Mountain View confirms that the act of playing golf and maintenance of the course is still just as important to a course’s community. However, hospitality services have reached a level of importance nearly equal to the game.
“Mountain View’s customers are now more discerning and they know what they want more than ever before,” noted Williams. After observing the customer base, “the mantra we live by is that we are a public course with private club amenities. The Clubhouse is a restaurant that happens to be on a golf course, not a golf course with a restaurant. In many regards, we act as if we are separate from the course when it comes to eating and dining. However, we cater to the golf course and the golfers.”
Additionally, both representatives from private and public courses agree that word-of-mouth has remained the most significant form of marketing that a golf course can hope for. However, each course is also coupling the procurement of positive word-of-mouth reviews with thoughtful, new marketing techniques.
“Digital is the way that everyone has gone, which did not really exist before—at least in the golf club scene. But, I see that it has to be a two-pronged approach. We now have to market to the younger segments—the 25-40 year old age group. But, you cannot abandon traditional, four-wall marketing,” said Williams.
On one hand, Mountain View has employed a great loyalty program called the Player’s Card—something a marketing whiz would file under “traditional outreach.” The program allows for direct to customer communication, gives the player a reason to hang at the Clubhouse, and makes the golfer’s experience more memorable.
“When a customer books a round of golf at the Pro Shop, we give you the Player’s Card which entitles you to a free beer and a discount on lunch,” explained Williams.
On the other hand, Williams and Mountain View have been able to stimulate their most effective marketing tool (word-of-mouth) by building and investing into their digital marketing program.
“We do a great job of collecting customers’ social media data, their email addresses, and continually keeping in touch,” said Williams. “It’s about letting them know what we’re up to, letting them know what’s coming up next, and letting them know that we’d like to see them again. From there, people will re-share, forward, and post about what we’ve got going on, which we’ve found to be pretty effective.”
Lookaway and Mountain View are two courses in the PA and NJ region who are truly stepping up to meet new requests from customers of both private and public golf courses. When courses strive for perfection in greens keeping, employ management who are empathetic toward customer needs, offer top notch hospitality services, and take their marketing plan seriously, the end result is not a slam dunk. “It’s in the hole!”
Ryan Gallagher is the Marketing Coordinator at 20 Lemons LLC, a full-service marketing company. Gallagher and the marketing company’s founder, Noelle Stary advise a wide variety of clients across NJ, NY, & PA who work in industries like Hospitality, Professional Services, Health & Fitness, Coworking, and more. With a background in Journalism and experience with 20 Lemons, Gallagher’s focus is writing marketing content, blogs, articles, and news for the 20 Lemons and her clients. For more information, visit their website.
