The Pellucid Perspective - January 2018 - 8

GOLF COURSE
OPERATIONS

Change up Demo Day for fun and profit
By Jim Dunlap

hen the golf industry descends upon the annual PGA
Merchandise Show in Orlando next week, one of the
first stops for many will be Orange County National
Golf Center on Tuesday, January 23 for the yearly Demo Day
showcase and testing ground for the latest in golf equipment.
As it is every year, the show-launching Demo Day will be the
largest such event in the world, featuring approximately 100
golf equipment vendors and their latest products. This year,
in addition to the hitting and trial stations surrounding the
massive O.C. National range area, the show will feature several large portable JumboTron-like screens carrying live and
recorded broadcasts and demonstrations from The Golf Channel's Morning Drive show, the PGA of America and others.
The PGA Show may be the biggest, but it's not the only
venue offering a new approach to an annual golf club favorite event. There are few more established traditions at any
golf facility worth the name than Demo Day. On at least one
day a year, and in many cases multiple days, the latest in golf
equipment comes to the customers rather than the other way
around. While hitting stations and display tables on the driving
range touting brands like Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist, Ping,
Cleveland and many other manufacturers are standard fare at
most Demo Days, some clubs add their own special touches to
make Demo Days even more memorable and, just as important, profitable.
When April rolls around every year, the more than 1,800
golf members at Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas check
their club calendars for the annual "Kickoff Mega-Vendor
Demo Day." The event takes place on a Friday night and while
8 to 10 of the club's most popular vendor partners are showing
off their latest product lines, there is a lot more going on for
the whole family.
"We're a very family-oriented club, so we have a lot of
things for the family to enjoy, along with all the opportunities
to demo the latest clubs," said Brad McCullum, Brookhaven's
PGA Director of Golf. "We have 'bounce houses,' games for
the kids, and our vendor partners come up with games and
contests for people. For instance, Titleist offers Vokey wedge
contests where people try to hit the 'B' in the Brookhaven sign
on the range. It's a carnival-like atmosphere, with finger food,
complimentary beer and wine, and we bring out our large 'Pitzilla' smoker to cook some things."
The annual event is so popular that Brookhaven even opens
it up to some other ClubCorp clubs in the area. McCullum said
the club partners with a local company that helps members sell
their old equipment for either trade-in credit on new clubs or
pro shop credit at the club to, as McCullum said, "soften the
blow on new equipment purchase."
Speaking of that, McCullum said Brookhaven typically realizes over $20,000 and often as much as $30,000 in equip-

8 The Pellucid PersPecTive

ment revenues for the evening in shop and special orders. In
addition to clubs, products have included FootJoy shoes, Oakley sunglasses and a variety of other gift table items. The club
also offers a Junior Demo Day on another occasion featuring
clubs and fittings for kid-friendly brands such as US Kids,
Tour Edge and others.
At the semi-private St. Mark Golf Club in the San Diego
suburb of San Marcos, attendees at the 2-day Golf & Craft
Beer Festival sample brands from Belching Beaver, Karl
Strauss and other local craft brewers and receive a host of
other discounts and entertainment while sampling the Demo
Day equipment offerings from most of the industry's major
manufacturers, many of whom are based in nearby Carlsbad.
Attendees who pay a fee of either $15 or $20 are eligible to
sample the wares of up to 10 local brewers and several local
vintners and for the larger fee, receive a free round at the club's
18-hole championship course as well as a 2 for 1 deal on the
club's executive course. Additional perks include a $25 gift card
from TeeOff.com by PGA Tour, a trick shot show and a free
live concert. The event ran from 11-7 on Friday and 11-5PM
on Saturday at the fall Festival in late October.
"We started doing this earlier this year, in May," said John
Phipps, Event Director for the Festival. "We had around 1,700
people at the earlier one, but the fall one didn't draw quite as
well as that one, although people seemed to enjoy it, and got
some nice discounts during the days of special pricing."
The politically prominent membership and staff of Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD know the year's
golfing season has officially arrived on the third weekend of
April when the club's 130 yards long driving range is lined end
to end with all the club's golfing vendors for the annual Expo
Day. For five hours, the club's 3,500 members and staff can
enjoy a selection of food and drink while trying out the latest
golf equipment and products.
"Our whole staff turns out to help, including our 13 golf
instructors on the range," said Jason Epstein, the club's director
of golf and athletics. "It's a real outdoor party event, and hundreds of our dedicated golfers stop by. This year, we also had a
Ladies Expo Day the day after the main Expo Day for the first
time to focus exclusively on products for our lady golfers."
While the big April Expo Day is the major product showcase event at the club, listed on the club's annual Tournament
Calendar and promoted heavily throughout the month or more
leading up to the event, Epstein said the club holds a number
of smaller Demo Day events throughout the golfing season.
"We want to do as many Demo Days as possible so our
members can sample the latest products," Epstein said. "We
have a strong relationship with all our vendor partners and our
members, and we're here for our membership. We have to stay
ahead of the [equipment] trends. Our members are aware of
January 2018

http://www.TeeOff.com

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