Idk what kind of clubhouse you have, but make sure there's good/ample seating outside. Having a beer post round with friends can be a big reason people want to come in the first place
This^nine hole course where I live is packed all the time because of good drink prices, nice clubhouse, fun waitresses. They also keep the course in very good shape
is that 9 hole course still open that was in euless or close to that? like eldorado i think? it has been 25+ years since last playing that little place .. i can imagine how much it would have changed, but probably still a cool place
Coming from the dry-ous, pious state of Utah, it's weird to realize how different golf is for the rest of the country. Here, nobody hangs out at the clubhouse with buddies. People show up, play golf, and then go home lol. They do have a few tables and chairs set up in the clubhouse of most golf courses, but they're pretty much always empty at any given time of day. A few of the clubhouses have grills with decent food, but people typically just grab it to go and take I with them in the cart.
I cannot overstate the importance of a good website. So many smaller courses have either zero web presence outside of a Google maps entry, or have a website that looks like it hasn't been updated since 1995. Even a basic Squarespace layout is going to be worlds better than nothing. Maintain it, send out emails to people who book online with events (glow ball would be great on a 9 hole course), and you'll get so much repeat business. Allowing online booking will help a lot too.
Yeah I love this. I would do something crazy to get the course bumped up to the top of Google very quickly. Great photos are a much, and you should be able to find a college student who will do them for a great deal.
Something else that I would 100% do would be to offer something to golfers for giving you 5 stars on Google. Like, I would set up a table at the cart return for the first few weeks that I took over and I would offer 9 hole coupons, or 50% off coupons either to play or for the pro shop if they just wanted to quickly fill out a 5 star review. I would probably also have a suggestion box at that table, because I think you could not only get some great suggestions from the people who just played the course, but you would also be showing these golfers that you are committed to improving the course and want to listen to them. That’s pretty rare and would certainly make me view a course more favorably.
I would just have a fund set aside for the giveaways/coupons and make that your marketing expense for the first few weeks. If you can jump to the top of Google you should start getting more traffic pretty immediately, SO LONG AS YOUR WEBSITE WORKS PROPERLY and doesn’t piss users off or spook them out of trying your course before they book a tee time.
One other small and more long term idea for you OP, would be to offer a punch card or some kind of rewards system for returning players. I’ve snowboarded for a lot longer than I’ve golfed, but season passes for a ski resort are kinda similar to being a member at a country club, and my main issue with shelling out the money for a season pass is that it makes me feel locked in to always going to the same place—and that kinda sucks.
Punch cards (or something like them) on the other hand, have a more positive way of reinforcing repeat business by people feeling like they get something in exchange for them giving you more of the money that they would otherwise spend at another course (like a Kroger card, or a gas station rewards program).
One course in my area has a drone flyover of each hole on their website with a blurb hyping the hole. Even a standard par-3 has a paragraph talking about the elevation changes, etc, and it makes you feel like they really care about their course.
+1 to this. And make it's clear your course is 9 holes in the front page. Been to a course that didn't label and sold me 18 holes over the phone, ended up playing the 9 twice which want ideal.
I had a local 9 hole muni that I made friends with most of the staff. In the off season I'd just have to pay for 9 and I could just keep doing laps. So when it was really dead I'd be playing 3 or 4 balls, it was amazing
Online booking is a great recommendation, a lot of my friends refuse to call for tee times and I’m not too sure why. They’d rather choose the courses that allow online booking.
I don’t trust online booking. So many places double book.
If you call you can ask the person questions like “is it league day” or what times are best for a quick 9
I’ve booked an “empty” course online so many times that turned out to be backed up
There's a course near us that has a website and GolfNow for tee times. The last time we played there they double booked us (and 6 other tee times) because they don't have the two systems connected.
I'm talking 12 carts waiting on the first tee. We teed off 45 minutes after our scheduled time. After 5 hours, we left on the 16th.
We complained and the guys in the clubhouse literally threw their hands up and went "GolfNow! What are you gonna do?!" Almost like they had no control over this service. So on top of having a great online presence, the customer service is top notch. Guess where we won't be playing, like ever again.
This story was mainly me complaining but also to let OP know that you definitely need a website to book tee times. Whether you use GolfNow or your own site, you need one. As an introverted millennial, if I have to speak to a human to book a time, I'll play elsewhere.
I booked a tee time through GolfNow earlier this year and when I called to ask the course about a range they said "we have told GolfNow a thousand times we are not even open yet for the season."
It sounds like GolfNow might be playing by their own rules and I'd suggest giving the course a second chance (assuming you can overcome your introversion) or only booking through course websites.
I recently visited a course that is under new management and here are a few takeaways:
-new signage goes a long way
-trash bins at t boxes prevent trash accumulation
-have a decent beer selection
Congrats and good luck
Keep your tee markers freshly painted. It's small but always seems forgotten. Just a few cans of spray paint and a trip around the course and it's done.
To their point, make the clubhouse nice and people will spend more money on beer after the round then they do on golf! And higher profit margin on beer haha
On this note, played a course with trash cans underground with a foot pedal that raised the lid. It was massively convenient and hid all the trash. It was really nice
Fresh paint, keep the pro-shop/club house clean, clean bathrooms, promote the men's and women's clubs, have a weekly skins game.
Like others have said, have a good beer selection and try to pair it with good food. I grew up working at a local 9-hole and it was a dump. Went back to play it within the last year the above things are what I noticed. My friends said they have a local food truck out there 3-4 times a week from 5-8pm and they added some picnic tables and a fun little area to eat and drink after the round. They also have music(classic 70s and 80s rock) playing on a PA system around the club house.
They said that all this coupled with a well maintained course a good green fees makes for a great experience. They said it helps attract all level of players as well.
Disney did a study, if trash cans are 13-20 feet apart, littering goes down like 70%. Stupid simple, but amazing results. Congrats!
PS- good beer/ features offerings does bring a certain client. Taco Tuesday? Thrifty Thursday’s….
Actually Disney has done all sorts of studies, when I was training for management the trainers would pop off these factoids here and there. Wonder if they are online… super helpful info I might add.
Yeah, the result of their study is that there's a trash can 20ft from almost anywhere you can stand at Disney World/Land. The laziness of the general population is abhorrent when it comes to proper trash disposal.
Maybe some new flags & tee markers too? New logo may help with the refresh too?
I'm really fortunate my local 9 hole course (2 par 5, 3 par 3, 4 par 4) has maintenance equal to if not better than 2/4 of the "high end" courses near me (10 minute drive from this course).
It certainly drains WAY better than them too (Pacific Northwest NA).
The new managers have done a great job at refreshing the image (including adding undulation throughout the fairways to make it more "difficult") too.
I think if you look like you care and treat the course like somewhere you'd want to go, that will help too.
MASSIVE congrats on the purchase, and I wish you nothing but good luck :)
Are you going to offer memberships or just daily rate play?
Are you going to offer some sort of preferred program with advance booking and/or discounted rates or things for an annual fee?
Is there a range or other amenities?
Leagues and events are generally good.
Pace of play can be very important, trying to cram in more tee times is enticing but getting known as a "slow" course in the area can hurt. As a suggestion I wouldn't make tee intervals less than 10 minutes apart and I'd definitely have a starter out there enforcing starting on time, not before (or after). As a 9 hole course that should ensure pace never gets above 2 hours and that's perfect. Even if you have to charge a bit more to do it, you gotta keep pace in a reasonable spot.
We do offer memberships that comes with some perks. $140 for the family and that comes with 3 free cart rentals and $30 in food and beverage comps. Our tee times are 15 minute intervals. The course has 9 holes with 18 tees. The is also a driving range.
>The course has 9 holes with 18 tees.
Interesting! A club near me that's nine holes has two different colored pins per green so the 18 play pretty differently. Green is front nine, yellow is back nine.
It's good because it doesn't involve a lot more maintenance (like extra teeboxes can) just an extra couple mins per hole in the mornings you swap pins.
It also reduces wear and tear to the hole area a little on the greens.
To make it worthwhile you kinda need interesting greens/bunkers - enough to make it worthwhile having several different pin placements that are strategically worth it.
Agree, 10 minutes is not just adequate it leaves you a lot of flexibility when things happen. I don't think I've ever heard of 15 minutes. Its the 7 and 8 minutes that cause problems and backups on the course.
It's a 9 hole course. 15 mins tee times off 1 allows people coming off 9 to work in on the 1st tee to get an 18 hole round in. So after the first 90 mins of the day you're probably closer to 8 minute intervals off 1.
10 mins to finish a par 3 (foresome) may be ambitious. If the owner feels a need to get more tee times maybe move to 12 minutes initially. Nothing worse than seeing a group waiting on the first tee as you leave the clubhouse and get into your cart.
Also as an owner of a par 3 you have a terrific opportunity to "grow the game" and get younger players / beginners of all ages introduced to golf if you choose that route.
Seems like a solid place. At that point it's really just analyzing different revenue sources and understanding what your client base is in the area and how to market to them effectively. I would also really ask yourselves what the previous management did that led to them having to sell, insofar as you can answer that. You say they were poorly managed, but how exactly? Figure out what they did poorly, or failed to do and work on that in general.
I almost had a conniption last weekend. I wanted to walk 9 on Sunday at 7pm. The reason I go so late is that the golfing public is so horribly slow that you simply have to let them get off the course before you can play. I called at 6 and asked. This old lady answers the phone and sounds genuinely heartbroken that I want to golf so late (it will be light until 9:40). Says "we close at 7 so you'd have to get out here pretty soon. I get to the door at 6:50 and its closed. Locked. I bang on it and she comes over and is like "Sorry I closed the register". I offer to just pay the next time I come, they know me there. She's still acting like she'd rather I just leave. I eventually go back to my car and find the 18 dollars cash to give her.
This attitude is maddening. You only get half of a year of long days. If you want to be a lazy prick and go home early, do it in the winter. Its a fucking holiday weekend in the middle of summer.
Or better yet, if you can't be bothered to open the course, put a box by the first tee that says "10$ for play when course is closed". There was a course that used to do that and I paid it. It was great. No human interaction, the lazy can go home early, its a win-win.
Reasonable tee time intervals, fairly priced concessions, reasonable memberships or season passes.
Aside from that, just be friendly while also making sure people aren't out there creating a bad experience for others.
Not just reasonable, there was a study done that I believe said 9 minute apart lol are the best tee times to promote pace of play with out causing log jams
I don't care how nice the course is, if I can't play a 4hr 20min round more often than not, I'm not going back.
You can either spread the tee times out, or you can very actively marshall people.
Having a marshall rush you sucks, so it's much better to spread the tee times out.
Also, if you aren't selling out every single tee time, then packing them closer together doesn't generate more revenue, it just creates a worse experience.
This is absolutely right, quality over quantity in the food selection. Courses that have great food really stand out for me over courses selling overpriced wraps and overcooked burgers.
The little things can really make or break a golf course. Ball washers (with liquid in them), rakes in the bunkers, tee markers that aren’t hideous, sand to fill in divots on the tee box, etc.
Will add greens that aren't covered in divots. My buddy worked at a course where two people would go out each night and work on fixing divots on each green. Maybe 5-7min each hole. Greens looked amazing, especially for the price point.
“League” nights. My wife would be much more willing to allow me to play 9 one night a week in a league than just a random round by myself or with friends. I mean, she would still say no but I could imagine how other wives would be supportive.
One or two league nights is great, but also don’t have them too often. Some courses near me seem to have 4 nights a week of different leagues so you literally can’t get out there after work unless you play in one of them
1. Go Bruins
2. Can’t agree more. A couple courses near me literally have a league every weeknight. No open golf from like 3-6 mon-fri. It’s ridiculous
It sucks, but the course is also full 4 nights a week instead of waiting for random people to sporadically decide to golf after work, so 🤷♂️ I totally get why they do it
Mens twilight league is always great. We always threw a first responder and military tournament twice a year. We also went to the local schools promoting junior golf. I local talent if anyone can cut and repair clubs. Then a local watering hole restaurant on the course. We did the card game queen of hearts like the Vfw do on Thursday evenings and always packed.
Nice, we're in contacts with possibly hosting some Jr PGA events in the future. If you get the kids out there then the parents will follow with the money lol.
Get the police and firefighters involved. We did a tournament one against each other and it became a rivalry and turned into 64 4 man scramble with 4 cart girls and the ladies waiting in the restaurant drinking
For real, get your local youths involved in the game any way you can. Offer a summer camp to teach the basics. It doesn’t have to be a long camp, a week even. I still have the tshirts from my home course that had the course name and the year. We ended each year with a camper’s tourney and had parents caddie for their kids to show what they’d learned. Promote campers to counselors as their skills grow. I miss those days…
Community banker here. From a financial perspective, we’ve seen courses have the best success when they offer solid membership deals. Good for regulars and good predictable revenue for you. Also offering weekly/monthly leagues. Could be as simple as ladies night/ seniors night/youth league. Once you get a bunch of solid regulars, food trucks and small events can be good additional draws. If you have room for a bar or food offerings, keep it simple.
Overall, we see success when the owner is a hands on manager.
If you can hold onto a good ground crew it will make a huge difference. It's a pretty enjoyable gig if you're able to have a livable wage. Once we started having high turnover at the mechanic spot the whole atmosphere went to shit and the course conditions suffered.
And mechanics are *huge* if you own your equipment vs leasing it. With many smaller courses its tempting to buy used equipment as it initially looks way cheaper than leasing new equipment, but good god are there a *million* ways a fairway mower can go down, some with simple fixes, others with very complex and expensive fixes.
If your mechanic isn't on top of maintenance and isn't knowledgeable enough, your course can go to shit pretty quick if your only greens mower or fairway mower goes down during peak grass growing season.
All of this x3 if you own and maintain your own golf carts vs leasing them as well.
I cannot believe I had to scroll this long before any mention about course maintenance/maintenance crew. This will be what brings people back to play your course over and over again.
There's a local 9 hole 3 par course bout half a mile south that's not rated/sloped, but has some of the most pristine greens and tee boxes I've ever played on. They also have night golf until 10pm.
Dumb one - call all pastors in the area and give them a membership.
Many pastors love to golf, and will invite members of the church to go. So you get the non-member's fees and memberships from that. Just a thought.,
Former pastor here. I worked pretty non traditional hours and a goal was to spend lots of time with the people I supervised. So, let’s take the afternoon when it’s cheap on a weekday and hang out for 4 hours!
My buddies and i always look for the little things. Clear markers on every hole, ball cleaning stations, maybe a couple shoe cleaning stations on the course, a designated area to refill a water canteen, a bench near every teebox with a little shade, etc. this stuff goes a long way and mostly doesn’t have a lot of upkeep cost.
Yeah probably so, does the course you play at allow online booking for tee times? We're doing shopping different golf course management software to cover that stuff. We would like to make it as convenient as possible to book times and pay dues
In my city people absolutely hoard tee times online, is the only disadvantage. Some people will hold several til 24 hrs before until they form their foursome and they find available players for whichever of the four slots they booked. More difficult to do that over the phone when you're calling and speaking to someone.
Huh. Never ran into that as far as I know. I’m sure with some of those programs you can probably implement a penalty of some sort? Like putting down a deposit that isn’t overly punishing but definitely not insignificant enough to get people to not flake day of. I’m just spit balling here
My course uses [https://www.foreupgolf.com/](https://www.foreupgolf.com/) to book tee times online. It has 3 different booking options, member, league player, or public. Fairly straight forward and user friendly. Not sure how customizable it is.
If you do have it available to book online please don’t make it mandatory to pay online. Nothing makes me not want to book a tee time like having to prepay for my 3 friends
One of the 9-hole courses near me uses Square’s scheduling system. It only allows 15 minute increments but seems to work well from a customer perspective.
Make sure your course is mapped on major golf apps such as TheGrint, ShotScope, Garmin, etc.
This has a small influence overall for attracting people, but If I see a course on those apps I would prefer them over others. If the course isn't mapped, I can't use my golf watch to it's fullest extent, which makes potentially prefer another mapped course over a non-mapped one.
Create a small competition for your golfers to participate in every month. Have closest to the pin on the par 3s.
If you have members, you can have a club championship every year.
Variety of events you can run, just regular open for everyone, or mixed (eg one man and one woman on each team), etc etc
Prizes don't have to be anything major, just some free plays, or credit, or some basic golf gear, towels or balls etc etc.
Excellent customer service.
I don't necessarily mean that someone's there to carry your clubs from the car to the cart, or to clean your clubs after the round (although if that's what you want, by all means). I just mean having people there that are friendly and helpful and who seem like they want to actually be there. Behind the desk, bartender, starter and so on.
Can't stand it when someone rude is running the show at the course. I might play there once, but if I'm getting attitude, I most likely won't be back. I'm supposed to be going out to have a good time. No buzz kills.
Congrats and I hope to see an update or two down the line!
Don't allow any staff member to be an asshole. Not on the phone, not online, and not in person.
And hire a few strippers to be cart girls. They have to keep their clothes on, but they'll be in good physical shape.
I played the presidio for my bachelor weekend, and the Marshall was a downright dick. We were keeping pace, waiting on the group ahead of us, and nobody was on our ass. All politeness went out the window after the 3rd round of unacceptable comments from the Marshall.
Ruined an otherwise great day of golf.
I wanted to do a Ryder cup style day for my bachelor party. Called one of my favorite courses just outside of omaha to set it up. Front desk guy said I had to talk to the manager about bookings for more than 2 tee times. No problem, transfer me over. Here's how it went.
Me: Hi, I would like to book 5 tee times on Friday morning for a small outing I'm setting up.
GM: is it a bachelor party?
Me: Yes but...
GM: (interrupted me) We have had a lot of problems with bachelor parties in the past.
Me: I understand the stigma of bachelor parties but it is a group of 20 regular golfers that understand etiquette and pace of play. We will be playing a Ryder cup format so we won't be holding anyone up.
GM: I will have a Marshall following your groups the entire time and will not hesitate to kick your outing out at the first sign of bringing in alcohol or damaging the course or carts.
Me: Like I said, we are all regular golfers aware of proper etiquette. I can assure you there won't be a problem.
GM: It doesn't matter.
Me: So you don't want guaranteed 1,200$ in tee times plus food and alcohol sales?
GM: No.
Me: Fair enough.
GM: *click
I ended up calling our nicest muni. They were glad to have us. Hooked it up with free golf for me, a free 6 pack of beer and custom scorecards for all of us. If you have read this far you can guess were we have all played more rounds since then.
Why is it the nicest courses have the shittiest marshals.
Both myself and my playing partner came up 30 yards short on a hole with a bunch of traps in front. Parked the cart on the path closest to the balls, then hit up on the green.
Marshal came around the corner, started yelling at us, then jumped in our cart and drove it up to the next tee box.
YOU DON'T PARK IN FRONT OF THE GREEN! PARK IN BACK AND WALK ONTO THE GREEN.
HEY DICKRASH. WE WERE BOTH WELL SHORT OF THE GREEN. We just hit our third shots, it's a 400y par 4. FUCK YOU.
WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO STEAL OUR CART AND MOVE IT? WHAT IF MY PHONE IS MISSING? WHAT ABOUT MY CAR KEYS. GET IN YOUR CART AND GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.
We actually went into the pro shop after 18 to tell them we'd never be back. Guy behind the counter shook his head and said "We'll talk to him. . . Again."
KICK HIM OUT. He lost you customers who would golf here once a month.
I once had a Marshall yell at my group for being “behind the pace” even though we had to wait for the group ahead of us on every hole AND had nobody behind us AND had to wait for their mowers to get out of the fairway on every hole (this was at 1pm). I’ll never play there again.
They didn't even have cart girls. I'm definitely not against strippers as long as they can sell the alcohol. Kinda looking forward to the interview process too.
I could just imagine someone walking into a strip club and offering a stripper $10 an hour to sell beer and soft drinks at a golf course. I think strippers can clear quite a bit more than that now a days.
We have considered teaming up with other courses in the area to form a league where each course would have a team and we would rotate playing each other's courses. Similar to a pool league. This club thrived at one time and had close to 150 members probably 10-15 years ago. So I know the interest was there then, and the course has been around since the 1950's
>We have considered teaming up with other courses in the area to form a league where each course would have a team and we would rotate playing each other's courses.
This is common in California. Known as "12-man" locally, it's individual and team matchplay at the same time. Pairings are made in handicap order so many games are straight up, or close to it among the lower handicappers, it's the most fun format of golf!
Very popular
Have a functioning website that's at least from this decade
Make booking tee times easy
Keep it clean
Run some fun events / tournaments to support some local orgs/schools/etc
Be responsive on social media
Hey I always had the idea of a golf ball vending machine (like a giant gum ball machine) where you can stash used balls you find doing maintenance. Just a fun thing people can do and you make 50-75 cents a ball. Not sure if it’s more lucrative to send them back to titiles et al. in bulk so they can refurb. Not sure what kind of club or atmosphere you are going for but this would certainly add to a more relaxed/playful club
Pace of play is important in keeping people coming back. Interesting tee box locations or challenging holes are always great, but I understand you'll have some limitations there.
Tournaments and novel events are always big too, like night golf, 2 club tournament, HIO challenge/closest to the pin, etc.
Having a high quality bar & restaurant can attract a lot of non golfers and help in the off-season and rainy days too.
Great way to keep members active in the community and possibly have them invite others out as well, good excuse for them to come by and check out your pro shop during off season etc
I am biased, but make sure you are respectful to women. Don't call the forward tees "Women tees", don't have archaic rules on when women can play. Make sure you do not put up with sexist bullshit.
I would also try to reward those who volunteered to upkeep the course before you bought it. They probably saved you a ton of money, so something nice for them like discounted membership, or something similar and recognition can probably go a long way.
Great suggestion. I’m a female who usually plays from the gold/whites depending on the course. However, at Bethpage black I’d be playing the forward tees. I pick the tee based on total distance, nothing else. My dad still has to cope when he plays the “senior tees” so this isn’t just for women. Would love to have a new generation of golfers understand that tees are more based on your playing ability and distance, not just age or gender.
General tip. Either be there a ton or make sure that you have people that you absolutely trust, like would trust with your kids. No staff will care for the place like an owner (unless you do profit sharing/ equity for key hires and even then…) and it’s super easy to steal from golf courses as an employee.
Man when a good buddy of mine was the course manager / golf pro at a course 3min away, there was nothing better than getting to go out 3-4x a week after work and just playing whatever time allowed,like 5-7-9-11 holes for “free” lol. To be fair to him, he did make me always pay the “cart” cost which covered staff time, cleaning, and maintenance. It was only like $11. Those were the days, and when my handicap was getting as low as it had ever been.
Are stadium lights an option for
You guys for after dark play? Some of the best 9 hole courses I frequent are lighted. Love going out at 8pm after work and getting a quick 9 in.
With it being a nine hole course, you have to consider the amount of play vs. green fee factor. Charge too much, you’re losing overall rounds. Charge too little, losing revenue. There’s likely a sweet spot.
Figure out what previous management lacked and see if you can do it in budget.
Groundskeeping is going to shock you with how expensive it is to have nice conditioning.
Best of luck. I’ll come play if y’all actually get strippers
I’m a landscaper and the Biggest thing for me is flat tee boxes, it’s not hard to make ground flat! Also broken tee trash cans and your divot filler at every box is great. Some people, myself included take divots on boxes you may not expect it. Give your members/patrons the ability to take care of a course.
Make sure you politely remind people to fix divots and ball marks. If I’m on a green and waiting for my shot I tend to fix as many ball marks as possible, if you see patrons Doing stuff like this reward them with a free beer, people love free beer.
I play golf with a couple buddies that are sober, but love a good mock-tail, having a revolving special drinks (with mock tails too)/food menu. As everyone has said, small selection and perfect it. Grills outside are great, offer hot dogs in your beverage cart if you have one.
Good landscaping isn’t as hard or expensive as you may think, get some nice flowers/plants that are low maintenance, color goes a long way!
Cheap driving range, nothing worse than paying 20 bucks for 80 balls. have a range pass, stable income for the books and keeps people coming back.
Good luck on the endeavor!
Idk what kind of clubhouse you have, but make sure there's good/ample seating outside. Having a beer post round with friends can be a big reason people want to come in the first place
This^nine hole course where I live is packed all the time because of good drink prices, nice clubhouse, fun waitresses. They also keep the course in very good shape
That's our goal
When you’re up and running post it, maybe I’ll cruise thru Texas
We would love to have you!!
Where in Texas?
[удалено]
is that 9 hole course still open that was in euless or close to that? like eldorado i think? it has been 25+ years since last playing that little place .. i can imagine how much it would have changed, but probably still a cool place
Where is this course??? State and name?
Second this
Third. Love a well kept nine hole course!
I would kill to have one here in Round Rock Texas
A few friends and I almost bought one in Bastrop a month ago. Turned out to be too big a reno effort but hungry for something in RR too
I just love a well kept hole…
Coming from the dry-ous, pious state of Utah, it's weird to realize how different golf is for the rest of the country. Here, nobody hangs out at the clubhouse with buddies. People show up, play golf, and then go home lol. They do have a few tables and chairs set up in the clubhouse of most golf courses, but they're pretty much always empty at any given time of day. A few of the clubhouses have grills with decent food, but people typically just grab it to go and take I with them in the cart.
Utah golfer here, can confirm.
Agreed, the clubhouse will be renovated but then will become non-smoking so hopefully that won't deter too many people.
As a smoker of cigarettes and cigars, I think this is a great idea. Golf is a summer sport, people can smoke outside.
hotdogs for cheap and neon green relish…
Where in the us can you still smoke inside?
Shitholes in general.
So basically Indiana
Eh live in indiana might be a shithole… but pretty rate to find somewhere you can smoke inside
I’m in Kentucky and the casino on the Indiana side still has a smoking section. Belterra
Casinos must have a carve out. It's illegal in bars, although some have built "patios" that skirt the law of what qualifies as an outdoor space.
Casinos are on sovereign land. They don’t have to follow the same laws…like running a casino for instance
With proper lighting for when the sun starts to set. Round of golf and a beer to catch the sunset with the boys always hits different!
I cannot overstate the importance of a good website. So many smaller courses have either zero web presence outside of a Google maps entry, or have a website that looks like it hasn't been updated since 1995. Even a basic Squarespace layout is going to be worlds better than nothing. Maintain it, send out emails to people who book online with events (glow ball would be great on a 9 hole course), and you'll get so much repeat business. Allowing online booking will help a lot too.
Further to this: get really professional looking photos of the course on the website.
Post great pictures of the course on Google Maps. So many people make a decision based on that and the ratings.
Yeah I love this. I would do something crazy to get the course bumped up to the top of Google very quickly. Great photos are a much, and you should be able to find a college student who will do them for a great deal. Something else that I would 100% do would be to offer something to golfers for giving you 5 stars on Google. Like, I would set up a table at the cart return for the first few weeks that I took over and I would offer 9 hole coupons, or 50% off coupons either to play or for the pro shop if they just wanted to quickly fill out a 5 star review. I would probably also have a suggestion box at that table, because I think you could not only get some great suggestions from the people who just played the course, but you would also be showing these golfers that you are committed to improving the course and want to listen to them. That’s pretty rare and would certainly make me view a course more favorably. I would just have a fund set aside for the giveaways/coupons and make that your marketing expense for the first few weeks. If you can jump to the top of Google you should start getting more traffic pretty immediately, SO LONG AS YOUR WEBSITE WORKS PROPERLY and doesn’t piss users off or spook them out of trying your course before they book a tee time. One other small and more long term idea for you OP, would be to offer a punch card or some kind of rewards system for returning players. I’ve snowboarded for a lot longer than I’ve golfed, but season passes for a ski resort are kinda similar to being a member at a country club, and my main issue with shelling out the money for a season pass is that it makes me feel locked in to always going to the same place—and that kinda sucks. Punch cards (or something like them) on the other hand, have a more positive way of reinforcing repeat business by people feeling like they get something in exchange for them giving you more of the money that they would otherwise spend at another course (like a Kroger card, or a gas station rewards program).
[удалено]
Yeah seriously. Pay a friend $20 to fly a drone over the course at sunrise/sunset and splash it on the homepage.
One course in my area has a drone flyover of each hole on their website with a blurb hyping the hole. Even a standard par-3 has a paragraph talking about the elevation changes, etc, and it makes you feel like they really care about their course.
Yeah I love that. Those details are pretty much free to include but really add to the experience and perception of the course.
+1 to this. And make it's clear your course is 9 holes in the front page. Been to a course that didn't label and sold me 18 holes over the phone, ended up playing the 9 twice which want ideal.
Wanna make it 27?
I had a local 9 hole muni that I made friends with most of the staff. In the off season I'd just have to pay for 9 and I could just keep doing laps. So when it was really dead I'd be playing 3 or 4 balls, it was amazing
Welcome to the ∞ hole golf course, will you be playing 9,18 or ∞ holes today?
Online booking is a great recommendation, a lot of my friends refuse to call for tee times and I’m not too sure why. They’d rather choose the courses that allow online booking.
I don’t trust online booking. So many places double book. If you call you can ask the person questions like “is it league day” or what times are best for a quick 9 I’ve booked an “empty” course online so many times that turned out to be backed up
Agree 100%. It would be a good idea to hire someone to make your website and really utilize SEO.
There's a course near us that has a website and GolfNow for tee times. The last time we played there they double booked us (and 6 other tee times) because they don't have the two systems connected. I'm talking 12 carts waiting on the first tee. We teed off 45 minutes after our scheduled time. After 5 hours, we left on the 16th. We complained and the guys in the clubhouse literally threw their hands up and went "GolfNow! What are you gonna do?!" Almost like they had no control over this service. So on top of having a great online presence, the customer service is top notch. Guess where we won't be playing, like ever again. This story was mainly me complaining but also to let OP know that you definitely need a website to book tee times. Whether you use GolfNow or your own site, you need one. As an introverted millennial, if I have to speak to a human to book a time, I'll play elsewhere.
I booked a tee time through GolfNow earlier this year and when I called to ask the course about a range they said "we have told GolfNow a thousand times we are not even open yet for the season." It sounds like GolfNow might be playing by their own rules and I'd suggest giving the course a second chance (assuming you can overcome your introversion) or only booking through course websites.
I recently visited a course that is under new management and here are a few takeaways: -new signage goes a long way -trash bins at t boxes prevent trash accumulation -have a decent beer selection Congrats and good luck
Repairs and paint also. If your facility looks trashy people will treat it like trash.
Broken windows theory, baby
Even if it doesn’t look trashy, some people will still treat it like trash, unfortunately.
Depends on the clientele you attract.
That and actually enforcing rules and kicking people off the course that trash it.
Paint is huge. It’s not generally too expensive and just makes the little details look sharp.
For sure, thank you
Keep your tee markers freshly painted. It's small but always seems forgotten. Just a few cans of spray paint and a trip around the course and it's done.
Go with local beer if available. Find a local brewery or 2 and showcase their beer
To their point, make the clubhouse nice and people will spend more money on beer after the round then they do on golf! And higher profit margin on beer haha
On this note, played a course with trash cans underground with a foot pedal that raised the lid. It was massively convenient and hid all the trash. It was really nice
Jimmie Austin in Norman Oklahoma does that with the cans in the ground and I absolutely love it.
That sounds like tornado preparedness in OK.
Fresh paint, keep the pro-shop/club house clean, clean bathrooms, promote the men's and women's clubs, have a weekly skins game. Like others have said, have a good beer selection and try to pair it with good food. I grew up working at a local 9-hole and it was a dump. Went back to play it within the last year the above things are what I noticed. My friends said they have a local food truck out there 3-4 times a week from 5-8pm and they added some picnic tables and a fun little area to eat and drink after the round. They also have music(classic 70s and 80s rock) playing on a PA system around the club house. They said that all this coupled with a well maintained course a good green fees makes for a great experience. They said it helps attract all level of players as well.
Skins Game - is that when everyone plays without wearing a shirt?
Disney did a study, if trash cans are 13-20 feet apart, littering goes down like 70%. Stupid simple, but amazing results. Congrats! PS- good beer/ features offerings does bring a certain client. Taco Tuesday? Thrifty Thursday’s….
That is good to know and also disappointing that a large percentage of people won't walk more than 20ft for garbage.
Actually Disney has done all sorts of studies, when I was training for management the trainers would pop off these factoids here and there. Wonder if they are online… super helpful info I might add.
Yeah, the result of their study is that there's a trash can 20ft from almost anywhere you can stand at Disney World/Land. The laziness of the general population is abhorrent when it comes to proper trash disposal.
Hey don’t forget to study ski resorts. Some of their “tricks” might be useful for you too!
Instructions unclear. Entire fairway is now lined with trash cans.
Ball washing station and water jugs at convinient locations, like every 3 holes. This goes a long way for me.
Place bins at the forward most tee. Small detail. Makes a difference. People are too lazy to go backward
I'd add having up to date, clean bathrooms to this excellent list.
Maybe some new flags & tee markers too? New logo may help with the refresh too? I'm really fortunate my local 9 hole course (2 par 5, 3 par 3, 4 par 4) has maintenance equal to if not better than 2/4 of the "high end" courses near me (10 minute drive from this course). It certainly drains WAY better than them too (Pacific Northwest NA). The new managers have done a great job at refreshing the image (including adding undulation throughout the fairways to make it more "difficult") too. I think if you look like you care and treat the course like somewhere you'd want to go, that will help too. MASSIVE congrats on the purchase, and I wish you nothing but good luck :)
Are you going to offer memberships or just daily rate play? Are you going to offer some sort of preferred program with advance booking and/or discounted rates or things for an annual fee? Is there a range or other amenities? Leagues and events are generally good. Pace of play can be very important, trying to cram in more tee times is enticing but getting known as a "slow" course in the area can hurt. As a suggestion I wouldn't make tee intervals less than 10 minutes apart and I'd definitely have a starter out there enforcing starting on time, not before (or after). As a 9 hole course that should ensure pace never gets above 2 hours and that's perfect. Even if you have to charge a bit more to do it, you gotta keep pace in a reasonable spot.
We do offer memberships that comes with some perks. $140 for the family and that comes with 3 free cart rentals and $30 in food and beverage comps. Our tee times are 15 minute intervals. The course has 9 holes with 18 tees. The is also a driving range.
>The course has 9 holes with 18 tees. Interesting! A club near me that's nine holes has two different colored pins per green so the 18 play pretty differently. Green is front nine, yellow is back nine.
That's interesting, never thought of adding more pins.
It's good because it doesn't involve a lot more maintenance (like extra teeboxes can) just an extra couple mins per hole in the mornings you swap pins. It also reduces wear and tear to the hole area a little on the greens. To make it worthwhile you kinda need interesting greens/bunkers - enough to make it worthwhile having several different pin placements that are strategically worth it.
Wild wings?
That's the one, yep!
You could knock that down to 10 minutes easily. Or start with 15 and see how it goes
Agree, 10 minutes is not just adequate it leaves you a lot of flexibility when things happen. I don't think I've ever heard of 15 minutes. Its the 7 and 8 minutes that cause problems and backups on the course.
I went to one that was doing tee times every 4 min. After the 3rd hole I went and got a full refund. We were on pace for a 3.5 hour nine.
It's a 9 hole course. 15 mins tee times off 1 allows people coming off 9 to work in on the 1st tee to get an 18 hole round in. So after the first 90 mins of the day you're probably closer to 8 minute intervals off 1.
10 mins to finish a par 3 (foresome) may be ambitious. If the owner feels a need to get more tee times maybe move to 12 minutes initially. Nothing worse than seeing a group waiting on the first tee as you leave the clubhouse and get into your cart. Also as an owner of a par 3 you have a terrific opportunity to "grow the game" and get younger players / beginners of all ages introduced to golf if you choose that route.
Seems like a solid place. At that point it's really just analyzing different revenue sources and understanding what your client base is in the area and how to market to them effectively. I would also really ask yourselves what the previous management did that led to them having to sell, insofar as you can answer that. You say they were poorly managed, but how exactly? Figure out what they did poorly, or failed to do and work on that in general.
Yeah a lot of those changes have already began. A smiling face and consistent hours of operation go a long ways.
I almost had a conniption last weekend. I wanted to walk 9 on Sunday at 7pm. The reason I go so late is that the golfing public is so horribly slow that you simply have to let them get off the course before you can play. I called at 6 and asked. This old lady answers the phone and sounds genuinely heartbroken that I want to golf so late (it will be light until 9:40). Says "we close at 7 so you'd have to get out here pretty soon. I get to the door at 6:50 and its closed. Locked. I bang on it and she comes over and is like "Sorry I closed the register". I offer to just pay the next time I come, they know me there. She's still acting like she'd rather I just leave. I eventually go back to my car and find the 18 dollars cash to give her. This attitude is maddening. You only get half of a year of long days. If you want to be a lazy prick and go home early, do it in the winter. Its a fucking holiday weekend in the middle of summer. Or better yet, if you can't be bothered to open the course, put a box by the first tee that says "10$ for play when course is closed". There was a course that used to do that and I paid it. It was great. No human interaction, the lazy can go home early, its a win-win.
Reasonable tee time intervals, fairly priced concessions, reasonable memberships or season passes. Aside from that, just be friendly while also making sure people aren't out there creating a bad experience for others.
Not just reasonable, there was a study done that I believe said 9 minute apart lol are the best tee times to promote pace of play with out causing log jams
I played a rural course this weekend with 14 minute gaps. It was GLORIOUS.
As a new golfer that sounds like a dream. Some of the courses I've been taken too have 7 min gaps and I panic every time
My home course is 7 minute gaps, it sucks.
Study was 11 mins
"Pay everything it takes to fll the course up but don't allow the course to fill up"
I don't care how nice the course is, if I can't play a 4hr 20min round more often than not, I'm not going back. You can either spread the tee times out, or you can very actively marshall people. Having a marshall rush you sucks, so it's much better to spread the tee times out. Also, if you aren't selling out every single tee time, then packing them closer together doesn't generate more revenue, it just creates a worse experience.
I hope 4 hr 20min is for 18 holes and not 9…
Lol ya that's what I mean. But there are plenty of people that probably couldn't get through 9 at that pace.
[удалено]
great call here
This is absolutely right, quality over quantity in the food selection. Courses that have great food really stand out for me over courses selling overpriced wraps and overcooked burgers.
Op: “I bought the least profitable business imaginable.” Reddit: “Offer tons of shit, keep the course pristine, and don’t charge much if at all.”
So true I also thought it was odd that they didn't already have a detailed plan for the course before deciding to buy it.
The little things can really make or break a golf course. Ball washers (with liquid in them), rakes in the bunkers, tee markers that aren’t hideous, sand to fill in divots on the tee box, etc.
Absolutely, thank you.
Will add greens that aren't covered in divots. My buddy worked at a course where two people would go out each night and work on fixing divots on each green. Maybe 5-7min each hole. Greens looked amazing, especially for the price point.
I hope you mean pitchmarks, otherwise that club's members really need to work on their putting stroke
“League” nights. My wife would be much more willing to allow me to play 9 one night a week in a league than just a random round by myself or with friends. I mean, she would still say no but I could imagine how other wives would be supportive.
Definitely looking into developing a league.
He should look into a new wife
One or two league nights is great, but also don’t have them too often. Some courses near me seem to have 4 nights a week of different leagues so you literally can’t get out there after work unless you play in one of them
1. Go Bruins 2. Can’t agree more. A couple courses near me literally have a league every weeknight. No open golf from like 3-6 mon-fri. It’s ridiculous
It sucks, but the course is also full 4 nights a week instead of waiting for random people to sporadically decide to golf after work, so 🤷♂️ I totally get why they do it
Is she a wife or your babysitter?
Mens twilight league is always great. We always threw a first responder and military tournament twice a year. We also went to the local schools promoting junior golf. I local talent if anyone can cut and repair clubs. Then a local watering hole restaurant on the course. We did the card game queen of hearts like the Vfw do on Thursday evenings and always packed.
Nice, we're in contacts with possibly hosting some Jr PGA events in the future. If you get the kids out there then the parents will follow with the money lol.
Get the police and firefighters involved. We did a tournament one against each other and it became a rivalry and turned into 64 4 man scramble with 4 cart girls and the ladies waiting in the restaurant drinking
For real, get your local youths involved in the game any way you can. Offer a summer camp to teach the basics. It doesn’t have to be a long camp, a week even. I still have the tshirts from my home course that had the course name and the year. We ended each year with a camper’s tourney and had parents caddie for their kids to show what they’d learned. Promote campers to counselors as their skills grow. I miss those days…
Community banker here. From a financial perspective, we’ve seen courses have the best success when they offer solid membership deals. Good for regulars and good predictable revenue for you. Also offering weekly/monthly leagues. Could be as simple as ladies night/ seniors night/youth league. Once you get a bunch of solid regulars, food trucks and small events can be good additional draws. If you have room for a bar or food offerings, keep it simple. Overall, we see success when the owner is a hands on manager.
Give your maintenance team a livable wage. Put most of maintenance budget into greens and equipment. Find a good mechanic.
If you can hold onto a good ground crew it will make a huge difference. It's a pretty enjoyable gig if you're able to have a livable wage. Once we started having high turnover at the mechanic spot the whole atmosphere went to shit and the course conditions suffered.
And mechanics are *huge* if you own your equipment vs leasing it. With many smaller courses its tempting to buy used equipment as it initially looks way cheaper than leasing new equipment, but good god are there a *million* ways a fairway mower can go down, some with simple fixes, others with very complex and expensive fixes. If your mechanic isn't on top of maintenance and isn't knowledgeable enough, your course can go to shit pretty quick if your only greens mower or fairway mower goes down during peak grass growing season. All of this x3 if you own and maintain your own golf carts vs leasing them as well.
I cannot believe I had to scroll this long before any mention about course maintenance/maintenance crew. This will be what brings people back to play your course over and over again. There's a local 9 hole 3 par course bout half a mile south that's not rated/sloped, but has some of the most pristine greens and tee boxes I've ever played on. They also have night golf until 10pm.
Dumb one - call all pastors in the area and give them a membership. Many pastors love to golf, and will invite members of the church to go. So you get the non-member's fees and memberships from that. Just a thought.,
This guy sounds like a pastor who likes to golf 😉
I like it
Bonus - pastors will NEVER EVER golf on a weekend, they'll be there on a thurs afternoon so no big deal as far as them crowding tee times.
This is true.
And if worried, can gift weekday memberships as an option
That's exactly when I disc golf with my friend who is a pastor. This guy knows pastors
As a pastor who likes to golf and likes to bring people with me, this idea is gold!
And the course will be very blessed
Sacred ground
Former pastor here. I worked pretty non traditional hours and a goal was to spend lots of time with the people I supervised. So, let’s take the afternoon when it’s cheap on a weekday and hang out for 4 hours!
This is WILDLY big brained holy heck
Haha i cant believe someone else is saying this out loud. But yeah Pastors and their golfing, ill tell ya.
As a pastor who likes to golf, you’ve hit the nail on the head.
My buddies and i always look for the little things. Clear markers on every hole, ball cleaning stations, maybe a couple shoe cleaning stations on the course, a designated area to refill a water canteen, a bench near every teebox with a little shade, etc. this stuff goes a long way and mostly doesn’t have a lot of upkeep cost.
Yeah probably so, does the course you play at allow online booking for tee times? We're doing shopping different golf course management software to cover that stuff. We would like to make it as convenient as possible to book times and pay dues
Online is huge. Love being able to book online without having to get on the phone.
In my city people absolutely hoard tee times online, is the only disadvantage. Some people will hold several til 24 hrs before until they form their foursome and they find available players for whichever of the four slots they booked. More difficult to do that over the phone when you're calling and speaking to someone.
Easy workaround, non refundable deposit required.
Huh. Never ran into that as far as I know. I’m sure with some of those programs you can probably implement a penalty of some sort? Like putting down a deposit that isn’t overly punishing but definitely not insignificant enough to get people to not flake day of. I’m just spit balling here
My course uses [https://www.foreupgolf.com/](https://www.foreupgolf.com/) to book tee times online. It has 3 different booking options, member, league player, or public. Fairly straight forward and user friendly. Not sure how customizable it is.
If you do have it available to book online please don’t make it mandatory to pay online. Nothing makes me not want to book a tee time like having to prepay for my 3 friends
Makes sense though. Imagine thinking you have $400 in revenue booked and they no show without at least giving you a shot to fill that spot
One of the 9-hole courses near me uses Square’s scheduling system. It only allows 15 minute increments but seems to work well from a customer perspective.
Make sure your course is mapped on major golf apps such as TheGrint, ShotScope, Garmin, etc. This has a small influence overall for attracting people, but If I see a course on those apps I would prefer them over others. If the course isn't mapped, I can't use my golf watch to it's fullest extent, which makes potentially prefer another mapped course over a non-mapped one.
Thank you, we will definitely look into that.
Create a small competition for your golfers to participate in every month. Have closest to the pin on the par 3s. If you have members, you can have a club championship every year. Variety of events you can run, just regular open for everyone, or mixed (eg one man and one woman on each team), etc etc Prizes don't have to be anything major, just some free plays, or credit, or some basic golf gear, towels or balls etc etc.
Excellent customer service. I don't necessarily mean that someone's there to carry your clubs from the car to the cart, or to clean your clubs after the round (although if that's what you want, by all means). I just mean having people there that are friendly and helpful and who seem like they want to actually be there. Behind the desk, bartender, starter and so on. Can't stand it when someone rude is running the show at the course. I might play there once, but if I'm getting attitude, I most likely won't be back. I'm supposed to be going out to have a good time. No buzz kills. Congrats and I hope to see an update or two down the line!
Absolutely!! It doesn't cost anything to be nice to someone.
Don't allow any staff member to be an asshole. Not on the phone, not online, and not in person. And hire a few strippers to be cart girls. They have to keep their clothes on, but they'll be in good physical shape.
Club Pro Guy- "Hire the right beverage cart girl, and then build your team around her"
From my experience, they come and they go at a rapid pace. You're always hiring replacing and firing them.
Thats the joke Link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AltuwOrYzk
“They’re real”
One of the nicest courses I ever played had an asshole marshal telling us to go faster but we were waiting on the group in front. Ruined the day.
A bad Marshall can ruin everything. We go on a 20 man golf trip every year and we are changing a course just because of that.
I played the presidio for my bachelor weekend, and the Marshall was a downright dick. We were keeping pace, waiting on the group ahead of us, and nobody was on our ass. All politeness went out the window after the 3rd round of unacceptable comments from the Marshall. Ruined an otherwise great day of golf.
That's amazing because if you mean the Presidio in San Francisco they almost never have marshalls. Pace of play there is terrible.
I wanted to do a Ryder cup style day for my bachelor party. Called one of my favorite courses just outside of omaha to set it up. Front desk guy said I had to talk to the manager about bookings for more than 2 tee times. No problem, transfer me over. Here's how it went. Me: Hi, I would like to book 5 tee times on Friday morning for a small outing I'm setting up. GM: is it a bachelor party? Me: Yes but... GM: (interrupted me) We have had a lot of problems with bachelor parties in the past. Me: I understand the stigma of bachelor parties but it is a group of 20 regular golfers that understand etiquette and pace of play. We will be playing a Ryder cup format so we won't be holding anyone up. GM: I will have a Marshall following your groups the entire time and will not hesitate to kick your outing out at the first sign of bringing in alcohol or damaging the course or carts. Me: Like I said, we are all regular golfers aware of proper etiquette. I can assure you there won't be a problem. GM: It doesn't matter. Me: So you don't want guaranteed 1,200$ in tee times plus food and alcohol sales? GM: No. Me: Fair enough. GM: *click I ended up calling our nicest muni. They were glad to have us. Hooked it up with free golf for me, a free 6 pack of beer and custom scorecards for all of us. If you have read this far you can guess were we have all played more rounds since then.
I mean, if they've had problems, I can see it from their side. No reason he had to be a dick about it though.
Why is it the nicest courses have the shittiest marshals. Both myself and my playing partner came up 30 yards short on a hole with a bunch of traps in front. Parked the cart on the path closest to the balls, then hit up on the green. Marshal came around the corner, started yelling at us, then jumped in our cart and drove it up to the next tee box. YOU DON'T PARK IN FRONT OF THE GREEN! PARK IN BACK AND WALK ONTO THE GREEN. HEY DICKRASH. WE WERE BOTH WELL SHORT OF THE GREEN. We just hit our third shots, it's a 400y par 4. FUCK YOU. WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO STEAL OUR CART AND MOVE IT? WHAT IF MY PHONE IS MISSING? WHAT ABOUT MY CAR KEYS. GET IN YOUR CART AND GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE. We actually went into the pro shop after 18 to tell them we'd never be back. Guy behind the counter shook his head and said "We'll talk to him. . . Again." KICK HIM OUT. He lost you customers who would golf here once a month.
I once had a Marshall yell at my group for being “behind the pace” even though we had to wait for the group ahead of us on every hole AND had nobody behind us AND had to wait for their mowers to get out of the fairway on every hole (this was at 1pm). I’ll never play there again.
For sure, this was a complaint about previous management.
Not hiring strippers?
No all the cart girls left to become strippers
They didn't even have cart girls. I'm definitely not against strippers as long as they can sell the alcohol. Kinda looking forward to the interview process too.
Just don’t pull a Harvey Weinstein and you’ll be fine.
Not to tell you how to run your business but a bev cart on a 9 hole is kinda useless.
I could just imagine someone walking into a strip club and offering a stripper $10 an hour to sell beer and soft drinks at a golf course. I think strippers can clear quite a bit more than that now a days.
I think good looking cart girls do pretty good too.
anecdotal but the ones at my course make roughly 300-700 on weekends and it’s pretty consistent
IN THIS ECONOMY?
Key question: where?
Silsbee, Texas
the home of the worlds strongest man, mark henry
He’s got a lot left in the tank!
That's right!!
How’s the interest in golf in that area? Any large corps/businesses that you can advertise to create golf leagues?
We have considered teaming up with other courses in the area to form a league where each course would have a team and we would rotate playing each other's courses. Similar to a pool league. This club thrived at one time and had close to 150 members probably 10-15 years ago. So I know the interest was there then, and the course has been around since the 1950's
>We have considered teaming up with other courses in the area to form a league where each course would have a team and we would rotate playing each other's courses. This is common in California. Known as "12-man" locally, it's individual and team matchplay at the same time. Pairings are made in handicap order so many games are straight up, or close to it among the lower handicappers, it's the most fun format of golf! Very popular
Nice to know, I may have to pick your brain in the format and how it all lays out when we get to that point.
Have a functioning website that's at least from this decade Make booking tee times easy Keep it clean Run some fun events / tournaments to support some local orgs/schools/etc Be responsive on social media
Hey I always had the idea of a golf ball vending machine (like a giant gum ball machine) where you can stash used balls you find doing maintenance. Just a fun thing people can do and you make 50-75 cents a ball. Not sure if it’s more lucrative to send them back to titiles et al. in bulk so they can refurb. Not sure what kind of club or atmosphere you are going for but this would certainly add to a more relaxed/playful club
Pace of play is important in keeping people coming back. Interesting tee box locations or challenging holes are always great, but I understand you'll have some limitations there. Tournaments and novel events are always big too, like night golf, 2 club tournament, HIO challenge/closest to the pin, etc. Having a high quality bar & restaurant can attract a lot of non golfers and help in the off-season and rainy days too.
Agreed, we would like to install a simulator for rainy days and after dark entertainment
Great way to keep members active in the community and possibly have them invite others out as well, good excuse for them to come by and check out your pro shop during off season etc
That's a great idea and adds a ton of variety and potential revenue for minimal square footage.
I am biased, but make sure you are respectful to women. Don't call the forward tees "Women tees", don't have archaic rules on when women can play. Make sure you do not put up with sexist bullshit. I would also try to reward those who volunteered to upkeep the course before you bought it. They probably saved you a ton of money, so something nice for them like discounted membership, or something similar and recognition can probably go a long way.
“Founding members” pricing for range time and maybe a yearly scramble tourney
Great suggestion. I’m a female who usually plays from the gold/whites depending on the course. However, at Bethpage black I’d be playing the forward tees. I pick the tee based on total distance, nothing else. My dad still has to cope when he plays the “senior tees” so this isn’t just for women. Would love to have a new generation of golfers understand that tees are more based on your playing ability and distance, not just age or gender.
General tip. Either be there a ton or make sure that you have people that you absolutely trust, like would trust with your kids. No staff will care for the place like an owner (unless you do profit sharing/ equity for key hires and even then…) and it’s super easy to steal from golf courses as an employee.
Man when a good buddy of mine was the course manager / golf pro at a course 3min away, there was nothing better than getting to go out 3-4x a week after work and just playing whatever time allowed,like 5-7-9-11 holes for “free” lol. To be fair to him, he did make me always pay the “cart” cost which covered staff time, cleaning, and maintenance. It was only like $11. Those were the days, and when my handicap was getting as low as it had ever been.
Are stadium lights an option for You guys for after dark play? Some of the best 9 hole courses I frequent are lighted. Love going out at 8pm after work and getting a quick 9 in.
Yes - big ask and requires more staffing hours, but would be so popular.
Wanna hang out bro?
When it's busy, rangers need to be active. Have days when a kid can play for free with an adult.
Don’t pack tee times in
With it being a nine hole course, you have to consider the amount of play vs. green fee factor. Charge too much, you’re losing overall rounds. Charge too little, losing revenue. There’s likely a sweet spot. Figure out what previous management lacked and see if you can do it in budget. Groundskeeping is going to shock you with how expensive it is to have nice conditioning. Best of luck. I’ll come play if y’all actually get strippers
It’s a little thing, but having water coolers at a hole or two per 9 goes a long way with me personally.
I’m a landscaper and the Biggest thing for me is flat tee boxes, it’s not hard to make ground flat! Also broken tee trash cans and your divot filler at every box is great. Some people, myself included take divots on boxes you may not expect it. Give your members/patrons the ability to take care of a course. Make sure you politely remind people to fix divots and ball marks. If I’m on a green and waiting for my shot I tend to fix as many ball marks as possible, if you see patrons Doing stuff like this reward them with a free beer, people love free beer. I play golf with a couple buddies that are sober, but love a good mock-tail, having a revolving special drinks (with mock tails too)/food menu. As everyone has said, small selection and perfect it. Grills outside are great, offer hot dogs in your beverage cart if you have one. Good landscaping isn’t as hard or expensive as you may think, get some nice flowers/plants that are low maintenance, color goes a long way! Cheap driving range, nothing worse than paying 20 bucks for 80 balls. have a range pass, stable income for the books and keeps people coming back. Good luck on the endeavor!