The Pellucid Perspective - March 2012 - (Page 8)

TARGET MARKETING Knowing your customer and making it work Deer Run owner designs course for his horses By Harvey Silverman ine new PGA Golf 2.0 regional administrators are taking their places in nine key markets, spreading and hopefully implementing the gospel of Golf 2.0’s comprehensive program of player and business development. One of the key pillars of the program is “Know Your Customer,” with guidance on how golf course operators can use that to develop and market new programs, leading to participation and frequency growth. One golf course has done this already, albeit through a strategy that may not exactly endear itself to Golf 2.0. Deer Run Golf Course is a suburban Minneapolis golf course whose managing partner and PGA general manager, Tom Abts, has received national publicity for various out-of-the-box ideas. What the other publications failed to understand, however, is that Abts N CONDITIONED FOR SUCCESS. The golf landscape in America has changed. In a market overcrowded with golf courses and little prospect for demand to grow significantly, today’s course owners and operators are experiencing extreme competitive pressure in nearly every aspect of their business. Never before has there been more reason to work smarter and more efficiently—or more reason to partner with ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance. As the national leader in golf course maintenance contracting, we’re a trusted steward of all manner of golf properties throughout America. 24151 Ventura Boulevard Calabasas, CA 91302 (888) 406-GOLF www.valleycrest.com Comprehensive Golf Course Maintenance has a plan distilled from previous failures that centers on one very key element: Know Your Customer. Abts and his partners purchased Deer Run in 1991 when it was a sleepy little goat track in a suburb that was still more cows than people (it’s two miles from Hazeltine National – remember the Dave Hill comment from the 1970 U.S. Open?). Abts built a customer following by offering free golf clinics and convincing these people to join leagues he was forming. By 1994 he had filled women’s, seniors, couples, and Minnesota’s largest men’s leagues. Deer Run also sold a large number of season passes, thinking hey, we have bought these customers’ loyalties. Rounds shot up to 40,000 annually. But by 2001, things had changed. Golf course openings were at the peak of the “build a course a day” boom. Victoria, the formerly sleepy little suburb surrounding Deer Run, was now a booming, upscale market teeming with Yuppies with money to spend on golf. At the same time, Abts was fighting with a contingent of league and season pass holders who were making demands that were unreasonable and unprofitable. Tom looked around and saw 30-40 year old white collar workers – salesmen, young professionals, mid-level managers – who had disposable income but weren’t particularly interested in joining private golf clubs. They wanted a nice place to play where they could ride carts, smoke cigars, drink liquor with their friends, and mix in a little golf along the way. That’s when the epiphany hit (in Minnesota it’s known as the “ya betcha” moment). Abts went to the bank and borrowed $1.5 million to refurbish the clubhouse and course to fit the needs of his new target audience – young, successful white collar guys living in the southwest Minneapolis suburbs. He refaced the old brick farmhouse/clubhouse, building a charming Irish Pub in the middle of it, hired the best superintendent in the state, hired a woman to plant flower gardens everywhere, and changed his course so the back nine plays four shots easier than the front. For the 2003 season, Abts blew up the men’s league and abolished the season pass program. Expecting a firestorm, he got a solar eruption. He withstood the assault, but by the end of 2004 rounds had dropped from 40,000 to 34,000. On the other hand, revenue went up. Way up. Deer Run was getting top dollar for daily fee golf instead of bottom dollar from season pass holders. And his new clientele were spenders. All revenue centers increased, including food and beverage and merchandise. In 2005 Abts took another dramatic step. Understanding March 2012 8 The Pellucid PersPecTive http://www.valleycrest.com http://www.valleycrest.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - March 2012

The Pellucid Perspective - March 2012
Contents
New twists in Cincinnati muni course taxation situation
Study cites “Best Practices” to generate more female play
Chip Brewer chosen to write Chapter V of Callaway Golf
Knowing your customer and making it work
Golf Industry Show, CMAA Expo to share San Diego venue in 2013
February weather impact: The hits just keep coming!
Cleveland, OH
Southworth Development acquires Willowbend CC from Reebok head Fireman
Show me the money

The Pellucid Perspective - March 2012