The Pellucid Perspective - September 2012 - (Page 8)

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT Industry finally warming to SNAG Golf Program’s popularity in schools and parks now spreading more rapidly among traditional golf facilities By Jim Dunlap o those who say that player development has hit a snag in the golf industry, SNAG Golf CEO Terry Anton says, “Amen, brother.” The organization that Anton and fellow PGA Tour player Wally Armstrong launched nearly 13 years ago has grown along relatively quietly since that time, primarily in elementary schools and local Parks & Recreation departments, but with the dawning of realization among golf course operators and instructors that golf needs to aggressively recruit new players, SNAG courses and equipment appear to be gaining new traction among the golf community. SNAG, which stands for Starting New At Golf, currently has a presence at over 5,000 golf courses in the U.S., and 15,000 facilities total, spread among 42 different countries. Using unique SNAG equipment, incorporating golf club shapes with special hitting surfaces, a specially designed ball and targets of varying shapes with Velcro material to simulate the golf hole, beginners learn the basics of the golf swing, how to get the ball airborne, and the different types of shots necessary to play traditional golf, with more of the fun and far less of the frustration inherent in most traditional golf instruction. There are a number of reasons for taking a new look at the SNAG concept, and its programs. One of the action platforms for the recent and much ballyhooed Golf 2.0 study was a call to the PGA of America and other industry organizations to develop a closer working relationship with SNAG. Another reason is that overwhelming evidence suggests that the industry’s traditional player development programs are not reaching young people and their families in sufficient numbers to preserve the industry’s health. Yet a third is that SNAG offers programs and templates for ways that golf courses and their instructors can generate revenue while they are exposing new players to the game. “We’re just copying the rest of the sporting world,” said SNAG VP of Golf Sales Kelly McGammon. “As tennis has done with QuickStart, baseball does with TeeBall and soccer has done with AYSO, we’re getting kids started with equipment made for them. It’s hard to start kids who are 6 or 7 with traditional equipment, even the US Kids or Little Linksters clubs.” Anton is quick to point out that SNAG has also proven effective in getting older or handicapped beginners into golf, and shouldn’t be pigeonholed as a kids program. “Our goal is retention [in golf ], with equal emphasis on adults,” Anton said. Whether the target audience is youngsters, their parents or even grandparents, Anton said golf course operators can benefit, both long term in new players and short T term in new revenue. “We can show them how to create [SNAG] golf outings for people’s first experience, show them how to compensate their people, and ways they can develop a program for less than $5 a student. Group instruction is more economical. You can set up the equipment in stations, and just have the kids go play. With SNAG, they’re learning and feeling good about it.” “I think SNAG is one of the most innovative ideas out there for introducing people to golf,” said George Kelley, owner of the Stevinson Ranch course in California and a principal in Greenway Golf. “We’re creating a little 9-hole course around our pavilion for SNAG play on weekends which we’ll charge $5 or so for, and we also do a Ladies Night Out on Mondays and Tuesdays during the summer, where we start with SNAG instruction. We also have a couple of staff members who go into the local schools and teach the P.E. instructors how it works, and school districts are buying the equipment.” While SNAG is making gradual inroads at golf courses, SNAG enthusiasts like long time industry veteran Jeff Burey are bringing the word to huge groups of school children. Burey, former director of golf at Pinehurst and long-time head pro at Prairie Dunes in Kansas, is spearheading the introduction of SNAG programs throughout school districts in Kansas and neighboring states. Burey, who backs up his belief in the program by working for free, has the SNAG program in place at schools with between 40,000 and 50,000 students already, and has commitments in other districts that will increase that total dramatically. Burey has also managed to elicit support from the Midwest PGA Foundation, and has organized a group of 30 PGA pros from the Midwest Section to bring youngsters from their facilities for an annual 9-hole amateur SNAG scramble event, with the pros playing alongside their young students. “If this program works the way we think it’s going to work, everybody is going to want to do it,” Burey said. Anton, who has experienced more than his share of frustration in trying to convince the game’s governing associations that SNAG is not a threat to golf as it is traditionally played – and taught, is still awaiting the full embrace of the PGA, USGA and others. “Before, they used to run from me,” Anton said. “Now they’re starting to run to me. If SNAG continues to foster an early taste for the game in anything like the 100 million people Anton hopes to reach globally over the next 10 years, perhaps golf ’s future can avoid n further snags. September 2012 8 The Pellucid PersPecTive

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

The Pellucid Perspective - September 2012
New golf industry financing sources emerge
How is your course really doing?
Industry finally warming to SNAG Golf
Sometimes figures lie, and liars figure
Course construction work showing some signs of life
August golf weather impact: Another winner
Chesapeake area courses hanging on by a claw
Phoenix considers options for municipal courses, including closure
FedEx Championship is confusing, but Rory isn’t

The Pellucid Perspective - September 2012