Maxx Marketing News

Golf Course Best Practices Study

The following is part of a research project done by Alberta Economic Development in 2004. Additional information on the various groups and their specific details will follow soon. Please watch this section for more information.

Alberta has one of the highest adult golf participation rates in the world, with an
estimated 30% of adult Albertans playing at least 10 rounds of golf per year. The game
has sustained steady growth over the past 20 years, and to satisfy consumer demand,
there has been a boom in the construction and development of new golf courses and
resorts in the province, which mirrors a similar construction growth throughout North
America and worldwide. As the industry has matured, and growth in the total number of
players has begun to level out, it is incumbent upon owners and managers of existing golf
properties to maximize the effectiveness of their marketing strategies.

There has been a discernable trend over the past number of years for golf courses within
close geographical areas to form marketing consortia so that they can achieve maximum
leverage for their advertising and marketing budgets. These may be groups of golf
courses owned and operated by the same parent company or they may be independently
owned facilities. Some groups may receive significant contributions from governments
for their marketing; others may receive nothing. Some consortia have developed
partnerships with accommodation providers to offer full service Play and Stay packages
while other groups focus their marketing efforts solely on the golf courses themselves.

But all the groups in this study have one thing in common. They have pooled their
resources and are marketing their golf courses as a group rather than on a stand-alone
basis. This study has examined ten different groups around North America and overseas
with the objective of taking a more in-depth look at each group and their success and
failures based on a number of criteria.

The consortia studied are the following:

1. The Audubon Golf Trail – Louisiana
2. The Flathead Valley Golf Association – Montana
3. Pinehurst, North Carolina
4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
5. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail – Alabama
6. The Bear Trace Golf Trail – Tennessee
7. Canada’s Desert Links – southern British Columbia
8. The Kootenay Rockies area – southeastern British Columbia
9. The Country of Ireland
10. The Mesquite, Nevada and St. George, Utah area

The initial proposal to AED had suggested a somewhat different list that included groups
on Vancouver Island, Phoenix and New Zealand. The final list has been amended
slightly for a variety of reasons, either for the group’s unwillingness to share information
about their marketing practices, or the fact that after a detailed investigation it was
learned that there were not really any identifiable groups of golf courses within the area
that were in fact pooling resources to do collective marketing. These three locations were
replaced by groups in Montana, B.C., and Tennessee that were more than willing to share
information and whose makeup and structure was consistent with the other groups in the
study.

Each of the above named groups or destinations have a separate report that follows. We
have provided a brief background and history of how the group was established and some
of the rationale for their founding and growth. We have looked at how each group gets
their funding, with special emphasis on the participation of local, state or national
governments. There in an examination of direct and indirect benefits to the community
or area in terms of population growth, business development and support infrastructure
that can be closely tied to the golf industry.

We have looked at their media plans and the types of advertising that they have found to
be successful, and some of the methods that have been found lacking. Effective use of the
Internet is paramount to the success of any business in the 21st century and we have
examined how these consortia use the web.

We have looked at the relationships with local chambers of commerce and convention and visitors authorities to assess the impact the consortium may have had on their ability to attract business investment and conventions.

We have also tried to extract some of the best ideas and success factors from each group’s efforts and experiences.

Some of the groups are just in their infancy while others are well established entities with
track records going back several decades. Budgets for the groups ranged from low 6-
figures to over $8Million per year. Some consortia represented less than a half dozen
courses; others had over 100 members. But there were several clearly identifiable best
practices that were consistent among the most successful of the groups that I would
recommend be adopted by any golf consortium in Alberta wanting to achieve maximum
success in building their business.

1. Have a good website.
The website is probably going to be the first contact a potential new customer will
have with the group. Interesting graphics, strong visuals and a clean, crisp look
will get and hold the visitor’s attention. Sites for Canada’s Desert Links, the
Audubon Golf Trail, and the Kootenay Rockies for example were in my opinion
above average in delivering their initial message about location, the look and feel
of their member courses, and were well laid out.

2. Have more than golf to offer.
The quality and overall value of the golf experience is of course very important in
the buying decision of anyone researching where to spend time and money on a
golf vacation. But developing good relationships with other local tourist
attractions and leveraging the total experience available in their area has been
critical to the success of many of the consortia. The Audubon Golf Trail talks
about the food, culture and southern hospitality in Louisiana. Pinehurst has
trademarked their brand as the Home of American Golf to reinforce their long
history and traditions. The Mesquite area features their nightlife and gaming to
round out their total package. There are always the golf enthusiasts who want
nothing more than “golf till you drop”, but many others seek off hours activities,
fine dining and sights that help round out the entire vacation experience.

3. Make the booking process seamless.
Having either a toll-free number or the ability to book golf and accommodations
with one phone call or online inquiry is very important. The Bear Trace, Robert
Trent Jones Golf Trail, and the Flathead Valley Golf Assn all had their toll-free
phone numbers and/or online tee time link prominently displayed on their
literature and their website. Some groups buried their contact information deep in
the site or did not even offer packaging or a call to action initiative.

4. Be willing to adapt your marketing.
The RTJ Trail at first were encouraging visitors to see as many of their member
courses as possible and this encouraged travel throughout the state. But they
found that they could best control their guests’ entire trail experience by getting
into the accommodation business and have begun to build on-site hotels and
conference centers. The Audubon GT people have very closely tracked the
response rates from various media buys, and have as a result pulled back from TV
spots and gone more into direct mail pieces for success. The Myrtle Beach CVB
is seeking to open new markets in the Midwest by proactively lobbying airlines to
start more direct flights into their airport. Pinehurst has discovered that more
visitors are willing to drive further distances in the post 9/11 environment rather
than get on airplanes and they are advertising their relatively easy access by
highway to a much wider audience.

5. Create a brand
Successful consortia have capitalized on something unique or different either
geographically or culturally in their area. For example, Ireland lures visitors with
the mystique and old world charm of centuries worth of history. The Canada’s
Desert Links group leverages their climate and desert-like setting right here in
Canada. Myrtle Beach markets themselves as the world’s #1 golf destination with
their intense concentration and variety of courses. 

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