Golf Business Monitor

Ireland's stumbling golf tourism marketing - part 1

According to United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) the expected rebound of international tourism (arrivals, receipts, expenditure) is measurable. This recovery started according to UNWTO in Q4 of 2009. However this positive change will be seen mainly in South-East Asia, South Asia, North-East Asia and in the Middle East.  In Western Europe there will only +3% growth/change in comparison to the same period of the year (H1).

But what is happening in Ireland? The Irish economy is in recession since 2008 and it will stay there also this year, although the forecasted drop back will be much smaller than in 2009 ( -7.6%) "only" -0.5%. Some analysts say that the Irish budget deficit can reach this year to 20%. If this figures are not dashing than here come some KPMG research data: in 2009 in GB & Ireland region the number of round played decreased by 3% + operational costs increased at 43% of the golf courses they surveyed. The CEO of Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) Jerry Kilby says in the last 18 months there is a declining trend among young generations in golf club membership and the less frequency of play by casual golfers.

In light of these dire facts Fáilte Ireland (National Tourism Development Authority of Ireland) launched a massive image campaign (in spring 2010; including print media, online media and radio) to boost golf tourism and to show Ireland as an attractive golf playing country. Nice bunch of people from different organizations came together (Carr Golf, Killeen House Hotel, Helen's Bay G.C., Killarney G&F Club, NITB, Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland) in March 2010. They looked for ideas how to position Ireland Golf to win, attract more golf tourists over such countries like Spain, Portugal, Turkey and South Africa (...always the sun....do you remember this song?) and give potential golf tourists reasons to prefer  playing golf in Ireland. Hmm..well, really challenging job I must admit.

The golf weather is not in favour of Ireland (but it is not so pleasant to play in hot weather (30 Celsius +) either. The accessibility of Ireland is not so easy (only by air and sea). What is their communication strategy of their image campaign? They claim  Golf Ireland's  USP (unique sales proposition) is "Inspiring Golf & Genuine Engagement on & off the Golf course". Their insight (I have not found any reference to any kind of market research) what golf tourists are expecting from Ireland is "an authentic golf challenge with stimulating shared experiences &moments" (like from any other golf tourism destination country). I put in italic the phrase shared experiences, because it says to me that they started to grasp that social media is really important in tourism communication. The brand personality Golf Ireland was defined as friendly, welcoming, unassuming, infectious. Are they serious? Is Ireland the only golf country that can claim these values?? I am not sure. The bottom line was: tagline = Time to Play. They think it is  unique to Ireland (LOL).

In their presentation I could not find answers to my following questions (based on P.O.S.T. method):

1. People: Who they want to reach? Why should we target them? What is the number of potential golf tourists?
2. Objectives: what do you want get out of this campaign? what would you consider as a successful campaign? More number of rounds on golf courses or booked rooms on golf courses and hotels? etc.
3. Strategy: how we will reach our objectives??
4. Tools: What technology should we use? What tools would make sense to help carry out out our strategy and reach our objectives?

Since the target audience was not defined and these unknown people media habit is unknown it is questionable the usage of print media and radio. To utilize Irish tradition of storytelling is a great idea (I guess every nation has such tradition, but never mind) as we are collecting information and ideas via social media. It was great to read that Golf Ireland wants to utilize such social media channels as YouTube, Flickr, Facebook. But how about golf social networking sites such as TheGolfSpace.com, MyCrazycaddie.com, iGolf.to, Golf-finder.net, Golfbuzz.com or GolfSn.com (there are many many more)? They also missed some well-known tourism social media portals such as Tripadvisor.com, Gusto.com, Wayn.com and MyTripBook.com...

From the very same document it does not turn out how they would:

• Define social media channels + who are the ideal social media channels?
• develop content for social media?
• participate in dialogs?
• foster advocacy?
• solicit call to action? etc.

In my next post I will give you answers how Golf Ireland could maximize Facebook. Till then here is Golf Ireland's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Golf-Ireland-Time-to-Play/103509856365026?v=wall&ref=ts). So far they have only 20 fans/"LIKE":

First e-learning program for golf course managers

Not so long time ago I wrote about golf course workers' salaries and benefits. From the study of Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) and Colt Mackenzie McNair turned out that 50% of those who are possessing senior  roles in European golf courses have no adequate education since they came from different industries. Now as more and more golf course managers are realizing that something has be changed and probably we reached the level of urgency (see theory of John Kotter), I was happy to read about an e-learning program for golf course managers initiated by European Golf Course Owners Association and Club Managers Association of Europe (+Hotelschool The Hague Performance Management BV). This 6-weeks long training covers the following areas:

• Strategic marketing for clubs (incl. market research, writing marketing plan etc.)
• Membership models and options, products and services for customer groups, strategies for attracting visitors
• Communications techniques for clubs, including internal and external
• Customer service standards, expectations and delivery
• F&B concepts and strategies, for in-house F&B teams and clubs with out-sourced catering contractors
• Managing F&B operations

I think 6 weeks is not enough to grasp the essence of each area. It should be at least 1-2 years program. From there press release (of course it was not social media optimized but rather in style of web 1.0) it is not clear whether which size of golf courses' management they are targeting. For whom it will provide the highest ROI. As part of Communication techniques they will teach new media. I guess it is going to be social media or even search engine marketing. To consider social media as "new media" is a joke and give such big attention to newsletters instead of to search engine marketing and mobile marketing is really sad

TaylorMade is reinventing POS communication

TaylorMade recently came up with a witty solution to engage sauntering potential customers by placing touch screen TVs in golf pro shops. It is a great help to those who do not know how to buy and what are the differences between golf clubs. As far as I know in 40 US stores were installed these touch screen TVs.

The idea came from a small digital agency called Hello Design. From there website we cannot know whether they utilized the touch screen TV to collect personal data for future communication or bluetooth technology to reach those who are passing by these stores...It is a good start...

Anyway, all my respect to Taylor Made and Hello Design!!

TaylorMade Touch Screen from Hello Design on Vimeo.

Who are the Hickory Golfers?

I have just ordered via Amazon.com, Bernard Darwin's book: Bernard Darwin on Golf. To this point it would not be interesting, if it does not turn out that the  author of the book was member of the Society of Hickory Golfers. But what should we know about Hickory Golf? The name refers to the playing of golf with hickory shafted golf clubs. There are two main divisions of play, pre-1935 and pre-1900. The pre-1900 group (open & reserve divisions) play with the old Gutta-Percha golf ball, or its equivalent, and golf clubs are limited to those produced before that 1900 or authorized reproductions.

If you want to read more about this:

• http://www.hickorygolfers.com
• www.hickorygolf.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory_Golf

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/5093361/Chinese-businessman-buys-7000-golf-clubs.html

Belton Woods Golf Club is struggling on Facebook

Last weekend I read about a very bold and brave action of De Vere Hotels, Resorts & Venues (owner of Belton Woods Golf Club) by coming up with a flexible golf club membership model to stop the declining number of golf club membership. The essence of this model (the name of this model is The De Vere Club) is the following:

a golf player can join for ₤295 and then use the points purchased to enjoy 16 different De Vere golf courses at 11 venues. The points can be topped up at any time.A round will cost 6-7 points on average, so that’s plenty of golf covered by your golf club membership. To connect more people (I guess this is their motive) they created 4 months ago a brand page on Facebook for Belton Woods Golf Club.

To create a brand page or fan page on Facebook is not a big thing, rather what kind of content you provide to your "fans". And here I find many mistakes:

• no connection between Belton Woods brand page to De Vere official website
• missing important TABs like: Video/YouTube, Flickr, discussion, Reviews, Twitter. Just help those would like to make revenues from similar brand page: http://www.facebook.com/youtubetab;http://www.facebook.com/twittertab; http://www.facebook.com/blogtab.
• introduction is lacking about the golf course (ownership, whether I can use De Vere golf club membership card or not etc.)

A less high-class golf course, Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course made a better brand page on Facebook, by adding "reservation TAB, review and video TABs.

New golf club membership policy recquired

Once again there was an interesting article in Golf Monthly (June, 2010). The article talked about the challenges of golf courses how to retain golf club members and halt the negative trend. There was a survey in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland about golf club membership trends between 2005-2009.

Wales suffered the most by losing almost 12.46% (from 69,764 to 61,070) of his golf club members, while Ireland loss was "only" 3.75%. I think in the current economic climate "pay-n-play" model is the most reasonable payment method. Less money is more secure than nothing. New comers will not necessarily would like to stick to one golf club for the sake of golf community.

There is no place to be surprised when many golf courses are still rigid and not willing to change his golf course membership pricing policy. At the very same time they do not come up with lucrative solutions to retain golf club members. Beside my harsh critics I can show a very positive one as well. From Oregon Golf Association, Eric Yaillen (Director of Marketing & Communication) turned to me after reading my post about  co-branded card  program for golf club members as part of a loyalty program. There are many options that are still open to stop the negative trend (e.g. affiliate marketing, loyalty card program etc.) .

Golf shaft opitimization by Titleist and Mizuno

Just like online content, golf shafts are also becoming more personalized and optimized to our needs. Within a year two well-known golf equipment manufacturers Titleist and Mizuno came up with golf shaft optimizers. Chris McGinley, vice president of marketing worldwide for Titleist golf clubs says "The key to maximizing a player's ability to get fit properly......It allows us to improve a player's strengths while we identify and address weaknesses." (from Global Golf Post, June 14, 2010) I will not buy this marketing bla-bla!! It is the minimum that the golf clubs and golf shafts are optimized to my golf play. It is also a mutual interest that our golf shafts are optimized. If you have success in your golf play you will play more, but if you have too many double bogeys or even worse you will start to look for a new hobby. :( Not to mention if you want to increase your share of wallet at your customers golf shaft optimization could be a good start and solution. To increase your share of wallet, the first thing you should do is to find out what factors influence purchasing behaviors among your customer base. I am not sure that most of us is ready to pay for golf shaft optimization 4,100 USD (2 day session at Titleist).

Unfortunately, we still have to wait a little, when golf shaft optimization will be a free service like air-conditioner is free feature in you car. At this moment only Titleist provides such services in Europe (UK/England, Ireland, Scotland).

Here is Mizuno's shaft optimizer software in action:

Golf Salary & Benefits Study 2010

After a big break I am back. I hope you forgive me for such delay. Recently I came across with Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE)and and executive recruitment specialist, Colt Mackenzie McNair's new findings about golf salaries and benefits study (2010). The survey focused on Golf Clubs and Resorts.

Here are the main findings of the study:

• A degree-level education or professional qualification was not a prerequisite of a senior role and only 50% had either of these. It seems to me that time stopped in the golf industry in the last 60-70 years or we are not in such a bad condition if we can afford such luxury. By reading Colt Mackenzie McNair's job positions I had different impression...
• Salaries reflected the caliber and experience of the respondents. 40% of the respondents said their earnings excessed 60,000 Euros annually. Both in UK and Ireland the bonus schemes were almost the  same and it was not unusual to have bonuses above 10,000 Euros.  In these countries the  basic salary was much lower unlike in Germany or in Scandinavia. The question and challenge of every employer to find the right ratio of  basic salary and bonuses. Do we consider the market situations and economic climate? Or whether the employee will be able to earn satisfyingly?
• Amongst other employees, Golf Course Managers (green-keepers) earned the highest salaries, with a third paid in excess of 50,000 Euros per annual. 
• Cca. 60% of Club House Managers/F&B Managers/Stewards and Membership Managers/Administrators earned less than 30,000 Euros annual.
• On average, over 90% of golf clubs perceived a need for training staff. Scandinavian golf courses received much more trainings than their British partners. This finding proves me that there are managers who do not recognize the importance of on-the-job trainings (also as part of a motivation system).Do you know that it is cheaper to retain qualified employees than find somebody to replace them? 
• Nearly 75% of the golf clubs (who participated in the survey) had a gross annual revenue under 2 million Euros. The situation is even worse in the US, where golf course revenues (median) fell by 5.1%. 
• Surprisingly 2009 was stronger than 2008 for many golf clubs in Europe from membership and visitors fee. At the same time in the US it fell by 4.6%.
• In spite of these sad facts staffing levels has not changed between 2008 and 2009. One in 5 increased their numbers of employees in this period. How is it possible? I am sure it has not happened in CEE region.

Death of the Hungarian golf champion

The Hungarian golf community was shocked by the murder of Krisztina Fodor. Krisztina (pronounce it as Christina) the Hungarian golf champion was murdered/butchered by his husband (according to the police) 4 days ago in her home. Yes, butchered is more proper to say as per the way she was killed. Krisztina was my virtual friend on Facebook. She was one of the big hopes of the Hungarian golf community...

If you want to see her Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000563701600&ref=ts. Her husband's Facebook profile was removed (i guess by the police). In the next video from YouTube - you will see Krisztina (blond lady in green T-shirt):

  Her blog's URL is: http://krisztinafodor.com/galeria.html. Here you can see some of her photos.

Is Russia viable for a golf business opportunity? - part 3

As I promised in my previous post, now Lyne Tumlinson, the former director of Career Services at Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) will share with us below what kind of golf business opportunities are in Russia.

More features of the Russian world view that affect potential for the golf industry:

• About "rules". Russian culture is tradition and "high context", which can affect social benefits of golf. Here in US, golf is both a popular game/sport and and an important business networking tool. In Russia, relationship-building traditionally takes place in intimate settings and public networking is often only for the show. What social/economic role will the golf course take in Russia?

• Everything in Russia is expensive these days and start-up expenses of golf course - building/maintenance equipment, golf turfgrass seed, plus need for professional golf course management to maintain and keep the golf course running - do not bode well for affordable play to attract still-developing middle class clientele.

So far, golf course development in Russia is for top member of new Russian society with reputation for elitism - showy consumption of luxury, with corresponding price tag. A proper golf business plan can overcome this for Russian middle class, only if start-up costs can be recouped.