Want different results in growing the game – Try a different story!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Andrew Wood is at it again.
The controversial leader of Legendary Marketing has some new ideas on growing the game, and I think they certainly have a lot of merits. How do we get the establishment to think differently? Andrew’s strength is marketing, and he has certainly proved he knows what he is talking about when it comes to that. Check out Andrew Woods’ ideas!
Golf Industry– Change The Story Change The Results!
May 2, 2015.
The golf industry’s existing organizations have failed to grow the game!
They are too big, too slow and far too political to do you any good in these times of rapid change. It’s time for a new approach. An approach where we as golf business owners and managers, professionals re-write the negative narrative that has been golf’s lot in the mainstream media for the last seven years.
It’s time to take control of our own dynasty!
The solution is remarkably simple and it’s the basis of all great marketing since time began.
Change the story, and you change the results!
Story is at the heart of all great brands, companies and organizations but for the last seven years the only story seen about golf was a negative one, of golf in decline.
The existing industry organizations did NOTHING to counter this story. Most simply stuck their heads in the sand and hope it all went away. What efforts there where, consisted mainly of short-term programs, feel good efforts for the press and hype!
There has not been a grass roots effort to help the golf industry help themselves!
Until now, enter The Golf Operator Association a new lean, focused and passionate advocate for the game. Their GROW THE GAME program is real, it’s been tested and it works, just cut and paste their proven content into your marketing machine and you are on your way to more players!
Can the solution really be as easy as that, after all the major associations have failed?
Well let me give you a simple yet time tested analogy of this theory.
How do you get billion or more Christians, Muslims or Hindus to go to worship in a hall and then donate vast sums of money to their particular brand of religion?
Easy….
First you tell them some powerful stories. Stories that connect with them emotionally, in a personal way and then you promise them a great benefit!
Forget who is right or wrong or your personal religious belief….
It’s the oldest marketing technique in the world, and it works!
What golf needs is to turn its’ congregation of 25 million players (in the USA alone and I am talking worldwide) into a massive team of evangelists for the game! Imagine hundreds perhaps thousands of people helping you promote your club or range or golf school through their friends, colleges and social networks?
Sound far-fetched?
Simple memes like this with a positive pro-golf message, many are not aware of, placed on social media spread like wide fire in the wind!
It is not, in fact in today’s social media frenzy all you need to do is give them the tools and they will do the rest for you! It’s actually never been easier if you have the right content, messages and story!
The Golf Operators Association has put together an astonishing collection of promotional material in its’ marketing tool kit that includes:
72 Professionally written articles on the amazing benefits of golf!
52 Memes (pictures with a caption) for social media use.
Dozens of addition social media images with a positive message
Ads, flyers and email templates that celebrate the game
The articles in Word format cover a wealth of emotional stories and benefits that can be quickly and easily customized for each facilities needs by simply adding a website link and phone number along with a call yo action. This include:
Why kids, women and seniors should play.
How golf promotes longevity, physical and mental health.
Why golf increases your salary and prospects for career success, especially if you are a woman.
The articles talk about the travel, friendships and social connections found through golf.
They drill down and discuss nature, feelings and even the smells that make golf special.
And many more topics …
Have you ever seen a golf club advertising this beneficial FACT because I haven’t!
Want different results in growing the game – Try a different story!
What are the Important Keys to Reversing Golf’s Decline?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Having member participation events like a putting contest at cocktail hour is a way to get the members out and enjoying the experience!
Andrew Wood of Legendary Marketing has always been outspoken about getting bigger participation in golf at every level of the game.
From junior golf to private country clubs, golf needs to be revived. And he thinks he has the answers to golf’s decline. On his LinkedIn page, Andrew gives us a unique insight into what he thinks needs to be done.
Promoting Junior Golf at the Club level is critical to sustaining growth in the game!
Back when I was in the karate business two decades ago I quickly cracked the code on how to attract new customers.
I simply changed the story I told. In my school martial arts was not about fighting, fitness or self-defense as every other school of the day was promoting. Instead my school was about personal development. Mentally and physically being the best you could be using martial arts as the vehicle. While others talked of sparring and katas. I talked of self-esteem and confidence particularly for children. It worked and it worked in a big way, I went form one school to an organization of over 400 in just seven years.
That was just the beginning, my personal development story attracted students in droves, but they didn’t stay.
The average lasting only 3 months. Before the kids moved on to little league, soccer or swimming. I figured out quickly that if I could just make every student stay another month I’d increase my income by 25%.
The answer was a simple one page letter reminding parents of the reasons they signed their kids up in the first place. The letter also talked about the value of persistence and seeing things through at least to their next belt!
The results where astonishing, my reminder of the focus, self esteem and improved self-discipline I provided to their children increased my retention and income not 25% as I had hoped but over 50%.
How does this relate to declining participation in golf?
7 Important Keys for Growing the Game – I really like #5!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Andrew Wood of Legendary Marketing is no stranger to controversy, and he recently stated that the Golf Course Owners Association should hire him as their CEO. Don’t hold your breath, Andrew!
But Andrew has some valid points in growing the game, and I think further discussion and immediate action on the follow-up is warranted.
Here are Andrew Woods 7 strategies for changing the game in America!
1. Focus 80% of the industry education efforts on sales and marketing.
Cut out the hundreds of wasted education hours on diversity training, leadership, customer service and motivation. Radical, I know but when a patient is sick, sometimes radical lifestyle changes are what’s needed. Not that I don’t think these are worthy topics just not nearly as worthy as sales and marketing. If you are one of the hundreds of people in the golf business who right now don’t think a business can survive with a great marketing program backed by poor leadership and lousy customer service a just think of Bank of America, Santander or the last time you tried to get a real person on the phone at Facebook, Sprint or Paypal. That ought to change your mind!
Unfortunately sales and marketing, not service, drives the vast majority of successful businesses!
I can provide members with hundreds of hours of FREE audio and video instruction on Sales and Marketing for immediate use!
2. Focus 80% of the game imitative on reactivating the 10 million white, middle-aged males who already have clubs and shoes in their garage.
Thus saving the costly process of equipping for the game! Yes, we still want juniors, women and minorities but we cannot afford for them to be the main focus when we have 10 million lapsed players who just need a nudge!
3. Immediately take an aggressive stance against third party tee vendors.
This is the elephant in the room and the NGCOA can’t seem to get out of its own way! This despite having studied the problem for nearly a year with no report in sight. So here is the issue resolved in 5 seconds.
Third party tee time vendors are BAD for golf course owners!
Now that wasn’t so hard was it?
Because all third party vendors care about is selling their trade tee times at whatever price they can get destroying the value of a round and breeding a market of Pavlovian discount hounds. Beyond that maybe you get some additional revenue but at what price?
The message should be loud and clear, build your own database because that is the main power these tee time vendors have. But I will go a step further…
4. Build, partner with, or buy a tee sheet and create a website portal for NGCOA members.
No trade, no barter, no rounds below an agreed upon percentage of rack rate!
Use this portal to build the world’s largest database of golfers for the explicit benefit of NGCOA members.
Data is power! Take back that power from third party vendors by building a bigger database and communicating with it in an engaging, educating and entraining way that enhances their golf lifestyle. Not just bombarding them with mindless discount offers!
5. Sell the world on the excellent benefits of golf.
I will immediately provide multiple articles on why golf is such a great game for distribution by every club in the NGCOA. If every club used the media they have at their disposal in the form of their website, blog, email list and Facebook our collective message would dwarf that Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and the Golf Channel combined!
7 Important Keys for Growing the Game – I really like #5!
6. Start an Ambassador Corps.
There are hundreds of thousands perhaps even millions of senior golfers with plenty of time on their hands who would like nothing more than to spread the joy of the game to younger people and beginners. Let’s tap into that market by creating a structured Ambassador program and then let’s provide the tools to help them do it. Along with some great prizes and bonuses for those who bring the most people to the game!
Sort of like the peace corps or big brother programs but for golf. There is strength in numbers and 50 seniors at each facility can bring a lot more results than saddling the poor PGA pro with the task among the 50 others he is supposed to do daily!
7. Use Speed as a strategy.
Really it’s in all the books on winning anything yet the golf industry takes months, nay years to make decisions. I would follow the Churchill doctrine who stamped on each document; ACTION THIS DAY!
It’s not just speed of action in running the NGCOA either. I would immediately distribute my strategies on how to speed up play. This more than anything is dragging the game down and it’s our own fault. My last club, a high-end private one suggested playing the course in 4.15 what a joke! 3.30 in a cart was easy but people play up or in this case down to expectations, Let’s talk 3.30 not 4 hours. If they can do it in Scotland walking, why can’t we do it in carts?
Let’s write more positive articles on golf – For the good of the game!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
As a business owner in the golf business, it has been frustrating to me when the press constantly writes negative articles about golf in general.
Yes, the economy has been challenging, but in these times, the golf courses, golf schools, instructors, mini-golf, and golf club companies have all reduced their prices to entice golfers to continue participating in this wonderful sport.
And guess what, most golfers have continued to play golf and take advantage of all these reduced prices. At one stage in 2009 and 2010, I was offering a 2 for 1 golf school package at the height of the recession. I was inundated with people taking advantage of such a great offer, and I was grateful to have customers teach and keep my bank manager happy.
One of the great marketing companies of the modern era is Legendary Marketing, run by Andrew Wood. His philosophy has always been the old adage, “When someone hands you a lemon, make lemonade!” I learned that lesson the hard way!
Here is Andrew Wood’s take on making the game a lot more marketable in your area.
Let’s write more positive articles on golf – For the good of the game!
Here’s How To Attract More People to The Game!
At the PGA show recently, I asked several people when the last time they read a positive story about golf in the media was?
None could come up with even one!
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last five years, you will know that almost every article in the newspaper or segment on television about golf has been overwhelmingly negative.
Local Course Closing Down After Fifty Years.
Participation in Golf Down 10%.
Golf Losing Its Players.
Local Course Being Sold to a Housing Developer.
Private Course Opens to Public to Generate More Business.
Local Club Dropping Membership Fees to Attract More Players in a Shrinking Market!
The message the media is delivering is simple:
“Golf is out of favor, and no one is playing the game anymore; therefore, you shouldn’t feel bad if you have quit or don’t want to start!”
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!
After leaving office, Winston Churchill was asked by a young reporter how he expected history to view him in light of his many failures. Churchill replied that he expected history to view him very favorably. The reporter asked why? Churchill, already several volumes into a definitive account of World War II, cheerfully replied,
“Because that’s the way I intend to write it.”
He went on to write 93 books and, surprisingly enough, was viewed very favorably in all. Indeed, there are constant opportunities for leaders at all levels to influence the way people think about them, their business, or their cause!
The golf industry, in general, has done a shockingly low job of managing their story in the media!
It used to be you would read articles in Forbes, In Magazine, airline magazines’ or the Times about the benefits of business golf regularly. When was the last time you saw one of those articles?
I monitor hundreds of newspapers and magazines, and I can tell you that I have seen just one article on business golf in the last five years! Has the value of doing business somehow diminished in the last few years?
Of course not. Golf is the “Ultimate Business Tool,” as documented in my recent article. It’s not just business golf that is missing from the media’s pages. Any form of positive report was last seen heading South in early 2008!
No one in the main-stream media is writing anything good!
No one that is until you!
You don’t have to be a national organization to generate public relations in your own town. Generate your own PR by sending your local media positive golf stories. You’d be surprised how easy it is to start a positive trend among people who read the right articles.
Start with Your Own Mini Media Company.
You can reach far more people than perhaps you realize through your own mini media company. In fact, add up the number of people you can achieve with your positive message through your:
Website
Blog
Email list
Facebook fans
YouTube subscribers
Linkedin groups
Twitter followers
Google plus
Your snail mail list
And whatever other media you may use.
Here’s the same post on a different page now. Imagine if we posted this positive story on every golf club, Facebook page in the country!
It might surprise to find just how big an audience you have for your PRO GOLF articles if you combine all the numbers. You cannot rely on anyone else to do this critically important task by mere chance. Continually educate your existing market and your potential market on the vast and incredible array of benefits resulting from golf participation.
Let’s write more positive articles on golf – For the good of the game!
Send Stories to Your Local Media.
You cannot afford to leave it to luck. You must solicit their help. Most in the publishing business, short on staff and resources, will be more than happy to take your well-written piece and run it for free. And don’t forget to submit your articles to other websites, blogs, and online outlets. They reprint a lot of material.
Send your stories to local newspapers, magazines, and websites with a short cover letter explaining that you tell the other side of the story that the mainstream media is missing!
Here are some examples.
If you like them, you can use them as a model for writing your own or license mine. If you choose to license them, you can quickly and easily edit these to benefit your own club by customizing the part where it refers to a club and sending them in to your local media, newspaper, magazines, TV, and radio. Add in your specific programs and results, and the local media will eat it up!
Like most people, if someone else does the work for them, they are more than happy to run with the results…
Did you know Golfers Live Longer than non-golfers?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Here is something I didn’t know, but I’m glad I found out. Golfers live longer!
A study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports is based on data from 300,000 Swedish golfers and shows that golf has beneficial health effects. Golfers have a lower death rate regardless of sex, age, and social group. Guess I’ll be playing golf for quite a while yet!
Here is Andrew Wood from Legendary Marketing and his take on the subject!
Golfers live longer and have more fun!
Did you know golfers live five years longer?
It’s certainly not something I have seen anyone else in the golf industry talking much about, but it’s a fact. Everyone in the industry should be shouting from the highest peaks, for there is way too much negative press about golf and not nearly enough about the games’ excellent mental and physical benefits.
People who play golf live longer, healthier lives. Five years longer on average, according to a recent study by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
Not that surprising, really…
Golf Keeps You In Shape.
Reebok’s study showed that golfers who walk and carry burn approximately 55 percent more calories than those who ride in a cart.
The number of calories varies by distance walked and also the metabolic rate of the golfer. But fitness experts estimate you’ll burn roughly 1,500 calories during a four-hour round. A round of golf is 10,000 steps or about a 5-mile walk. That’s 825 calories more than if you ride in a cart, which clocks in 675 calories. So no matter how good or bad your play, if you walk or ride, you can at least get some exercise and calorie burn out of your round!
The golf industry, especially in the USA, where many clubs depend on cart income, does a poor job of communicating this important aspect. Encouraging players to ride nine and walk nine by appealing to fitness may be a good start.
Golf Keeps You Mentally Active.
Golf is not just a physical game but a mental one as well. It calls for strategy, creativity, and problem-solving, all of which help keep your brain active, one of the key ingredients in fighting off the aging process.
Golf Helps Relieve Stress.
Does this guy look stressed to you?
The natural environment helps relieve stress while the social aspects allow you to make new friends easily. Says Professor Anders Ahlbom, “People play golf into old age, and there are also positive social and psychological aspects to the game that can be of help.”
The friendships created provide motivation to meet and go play! They increase self-esteem and happiness. Golf can help to lift depression and improve someone’s outlook on life. (Unless you start shanking it, which quickly drives you insane) All of these attributes help improve mental health by leaving golfers with a feeling of greater satisfaction.
Golfers Get More Sun and Feel Better.
While we all know the dangers of too much sun, the sun does provide one essential nutrient – vitamin D. The sun is one of the best ways to soak up vitamin D, something many lacks in their regular diet. Vitamin D can raise energy levels, improve attitude, aids calcium absorption, and generates cell growth. Overall, it’s a vitamin that just makes us feel good.
Golfers Sleep Better.
Studies show that people who engage in regular physical activity and have proper nutrition sleep with fewer interruptions and report sleeping soundly. Getting sound sleep helps a person’s health in several ways, and golfing is one activity that can help you obtain a better night’s sleep.
The Better You Play, The More You Benefit.
The study on golfers living longer, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, is based on data from 300,000 Swedish golfers and shows that golf has beneficial health effects. Golfers have a lower death rate regardless of sex, age, and social group.
Better call the pro and take some lessons because….
Lessons make you play better!
The lowest death rates were found in the group of players with the lowest handicap. Says Professor Ahlbom, “Maintaining a low handicap involves playing a lot, so this supports the idea that it is largely the game itself that is good for the health.”
Now you wouldn’t want to argue with your doctor, would you? So get off the couch and get out and golf. Your body, mind, insurance agent, and loved ones will all thank you!
10 Reasons to use Golf as a Powerful Business Tool!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
In today’s tough economy, every business deal is vital, every customer is important.
Retaining customers and getting new business is an art, and using golf to achieve those ends is more of a necessity now than it has ever been.
Anyone reading the mainstream media and their constant efforts to trumpet the demise of golf could be forgiven for thinking that golf as a business tool is a little passé. Sure participation is down, but 25 million players in the USA alone, is not exactly a small number. Then when you look at the number of top CEO’s, sports stars, movie stars and entrepreneurs who are avid golfers, those numbers are actually pretty impressive. An estimated 90% of Fortune 500 CEO’s play golf as have almost all of the US presidents since Ike. Better still, executives who play golf make an average of 17% more than those who don’t.
Yes, business golf is not just surviving it’s thriving and for the sake of your business or career here are ten reasons you’d better get in on the action!
Face Time:
Where else can you spend four quality hours with your company CEO or valued customers? With today’s busy schedules most of us are lucky if we can get five minutes! There is simply no other sport with the amount of quiet time between shots that allows for wide-ranging conversations and mutual interests to be discovered.
Serene Surroundings:
You can plan a client meeting in an office surrounded by water, nature and sand instead of four white walls. This instantly creates a more relaxed and friendly environment in which to do business without the normal distractions.
Business Intelligence:
You can learn more about a person in four hours golfing than a lifetime of meetings. Not just be what they say but by how they handle themselves on the course. Do they play by the rules and control their emotions? Or do they fudge and blow a fuse.
Friendships Forged:
An interest in golf alone can be enough to move your friendships several notches up the corporate ladder. Best of all, the friendships built around golf tend to last a lifetime so as people move around new opportunities will open up for you.
Open Doors on the Road:
When you travel, golf is a great way to open doors by letting prospects know you are in the area and up for a game. I have had many amazing relationships around the world by looking on LinkedIn and suggesting a game to someone in the area I am planning to visit.
Perfect Gifting:
When someone is a golfer it’s easy to give a small gift that makes an impact. A golf book, logoed hat or towel from St Andrews can quickly and cheaply enhance a relationship.
Game for Life:
It’s a sport that suits all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Thanks to the handicap system, people of widely different abilities can play together and still compete. So the 60 something CEO can still beat his 30 something prospect or employee. While the 30 something executive can look forward to decades of on-course meetings and deals. Try doing that on the squash court!
Advantage Women:
If you are a businesswoman, playing golf is an even greater advantage. Adrienne Wax, co-author of Even Par: How Golf helps Women Gain the Upper Hand In Business says “Outside the office, you can communicate differently with your higher-level peers and get to know one another in a way that the office can’t provide. Being able to talk golf in the office gives you a chance to bond with the bigwigs. If you can talk about golf, suddenly you have reasons to talk with the CEO.
Networking:
One of the great things about golf is you can just show up at a club and get a game. Depending on your business, you could be looking at three prospects each and every time you tee it up! Either way, golf is the ultimate networking environment for all kinds of professionals and services.
The 19th Hole:
After your round, the 19th holes provides the perfect setting to take your newly enhanced relationship to the next level or indeed go ahead and ask for the order!
So don’t wait any longer, get out of the office and head to the course, to boost your business today!
