Recession Forces More Golf Deals

Filed in archive Golf Business on June 8, 2009

Necessity is the mother of invention.

How true, especially these days.

If you have wandered through your favorite department store recently, you've probably seen some pretty amazing deals: 60 percent off, buy one, get two free - that kind of thing.

Retailers are desperate to move merchandise and they're employing inventive strategies.

But what about the recreational golf industry? Frankly, I haven't seen too many club or ball manufacturers offering astonishing deals. I mean, if you are going to play golf, then you're going to buy clubs and golf balls to begin with.

So the equipment makers still have the golfing consumer by the short and curlys.

However, when it comes to golf courses, well, that's an entirely different kettle of fish.

Golf courses need golfers. They need them to populate their fairways so they will filter in to the clubhouse for drinks and food afterwards.

Few people visit a golf course just to have a steak sandwich and a beer.

The first decent marketing measure was probably equity membership. This was a solid answer to private memberships where you plunked down thousands of dollars for the privilege of playing.

Leave the club and you abandon your "investment".

But with an equity stake in the bricks, mortar and turf, you could make money if you had to leave.

These days, of course, equity memberships are being fire-saled.

Then came a unique kind of playing membership that allowed a golfer to enjoy a number of different high-end courses for one membership price.

Club Corp. in Dallas, Texas was the pioneer and it has been used elsewhere, including Canada.

However, the memberships aren't cheap and are often complex. Plus you still pay an annual fee and you're responsible for spending a monthly minimum in the restaurant and bar.

Next came the coupon books and they have really made inroads. The coupon book is perfect for the golfer who can't afford a Club Corp styled membership, an equity stake or the traditional private membership.

These books recruit a wide range of golf courses and then offer the golfer 2-for-1 deals, 4-for-3 deals, free power carts, etc.

The latest variation on the green fee theme comes from southern Ontario - which boasts the highest number of golfers per capita in North America.

It plays on the Club Corp theme by offering annual "memberships" for a few hundred dollars that give golfers enormous discounts on green fees at several dozen courses in the Greater Toronto Area.

Green fees for half price or better are available through this membership deal. And it includes some of the finest - and most expensive - courses in the area.

GTA Golf Club is spearheading this new concept and claims that clubs love the idea because GTA buys the space from the courses and then re-sells it to golfers.

A company spokesman says the old model saw the courses eating the cost of a 2-for-1 green fee deal, for example.

This does mean that the full marketing and advertising effort falls squarely on the shoulders of GTA Golf Club but they seem to be willing to take that on.

As I said at the outset, the need to attract golfers is the impetus behind this and the Great Recession is the reason.