The Pellucid Perspective - June 2014 - (Page 10)

Golf course proMotions operations Club to golfers: Promise to have fun Bolingbrook 1st Tee Oath offers rewards if customers enjoy themselves By Jim Dunlap H ead pro Eric Aldrich and his staff at Bolingbrook Golf Club are well aware that their course, owned by the Village of Bolingbrook outside Chicago and operated by KemperSports, presents more than its share of challenges for the average golfer, so they decided to do something to ease the pain. Earlier this month, the club rolled out its Bolingbrook Golf Club 1st Tee Oath, a menu of promises by both golfers and the course staff designed to make the golfing experience more enjoyable. The 1st Tee Oath contains four oaths for golfers, who can choose to sign any or all of the four, or none. The golfer oaths are "I will have fun," "I will tee it forward," "I will enjoy the 19th hole," and "I will play by house rules." Before beginning their round, golfers can indicate which of the oaths they want to sign off on either by filling out a scratch-off card at the first tee or filling out a registration card in the golf shop or the clubhouse grille. Participants who take all or part of the oath are entered into a weekly drawing for complimentary golf instruction, and those who promise to visit the 19th hole receive 10 percent off their 19th hole tab. For the staff 's part, their oaths include "We will treat you like guests in our home," "We will help you with keeping the pace," and "We will honor house rules." While the first two of those are relatively self-explanatory, the "house rules" include the creation of greenside drop zones for errant shots and a maximum two-putt rule on all greens. As with any of the oaths, participation is optional, so golfers who prefer to play to the traditional Rules of Golf may do so. The 1st Tee Oath is, in part, a response to the USGA's "While We're Young" televised ad campaign to speed pace of play and that organization's campaign to track the correlation between pace of play and grow-the-game efforts. "The gist of the original idea was that I didn't really like the sound of the 'While We're Young' ads," Aldrich said. "'While We're Young' didn't really resonate with me. We have one of the hardest golf courses in Illinois. For the average player, it's going to take around 4 1/2 hours or more to play, and there's a good chance that somebody playing it for the first time will shoot one of their worst scores ever. It's the core golfer that we're losing, so we wanted to do something that would make their experience here more enjoyable, and make them want to come back." The scratch-off cards that oath-takers receive also have room on the back for golfers to jot down the names of any course staffers who have been particularly helpful during their visit to the club. That, Aldrich said, enables management to recognize those staffers, and provides staffers with some positive acknowledgment of their contributions to an enjoyable experience. Given that the program has just been launched earlier this month, Aldrich said there has not been enough feedback from customers yet to gauge its popularity, although he said early indications are that the program will resonate with a least some number. And, as he pointed out, there is little expense involved in the strategy other than the relatively small amount of collateral costs for scratch-offs and printing. His hopes are that the more relaxed "house rules" and the other benefits to participants will mitigate the inherent difficulty posed by the course, and increase the enjoyment factor sufficiently to bring golfers back for repeat visits. "We want golfers to leave Bolingbrook Golf Club with a smile," Aldrich said. "We developed the house rules such as greenside drop zones and two-putt max to not only speed up play, but improve the average golfer's experience." Those are certainly worthy goals, and seem likely to generate more positive results than an over-zealous course marshal prodding customers along to hit an arbitrary pace of play target. n the 1st tee oath contains four oaths for golfers, who can choose to sign any or all of the four, or none. the golfer oaths are "i will have fun," "i will tee it forward," "i will enjoy the 19th hole," and "i will play by house rules." 10 The Pellucid PersPecTive June 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - June 2014

TOC
Is the golf industry "healthy"? Three versions of truth
Former ClubLinks co-gounder launching 12-hole golf
How is your golf course really doing?
Winning team produces a turnaround success story
Club to golfers: Promise to have fun
May '14 golf weather impact: Positive streak extends to 3 months
Chicago courses 'toddling' along in tough times
Declining Golf Galaxy sales contribute to poor Dick's Sporting Goods stock performance
Tracking golf's progress … via GPS?

The Pellucid Perspective - June 2014