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Technology, Atmosphere Drive Today's Golf Business
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The modern golf experience is a far cry from the game our grandfathers played in the first half of the 20th century when they used clubs with monikers such as “niblick,” “baffing spoon” and “brassie.”
These clubs with wooden shafts have been retired to museums, remembered (if at all) as if they were the tools of some ancient civilization whose language and customs long ago disappeared.
Were you on a course today, it’s unlikely you’d reach for a “spoon” or “jigger” in your golf bag. Instead, golfers gravitate toward sleek, custom-fitted clubs designed and engineered with a precision our grandfathers could only dream of.
“It’s far more advanced than ever,” says Nick Bellino, an avid golfer who on a sunny Tuesday afternoon was preparing to play a round at Avalon at Squaw Creek in Vienna. “It’s helped us baby boomers who are now getting older to play a lot better.”
Bellino reaches into his golf bag and produces a TaylorMade-brand driver. Then he uses an Allen wrench to demonstrate that he can adjust the screws at the base of the club head to reposition its weight. By doing so, the player can direct shots such as a draw or a hook.
“It’s changed the game, but the courses have gotten a lot tougher, too,” he says. “But, technology can only take you so far. If you don’t know how to use it, it doesn’t really matter.”
Not only has the equipment become more sophisticated, the culture of golf has changed over the last decade or so, especially in the Mahoning Valley.
New economic models for golf clubs, software applications that help one learn the game, radar technology that can map the trajectory and distance of your shot, new computer-operated irrigation and drainage systems on modern courses – all are part of today’s game.
Even golf carts come equipped with amenities that offer more luxuries than many used cars. Heaters, leather seats, new and improved suspensions, cell phone chargers and adapters, and yes, GPS systems so players can gauge the distance to the pin, are common features for cart fleets at high-end courses.
“Tools such as GPS can definitely help your game,” said Bill Henwood as he was finishing a round at Squaw Creek, “especially when you’ve never played a particular course before.”
Paul Otto, general manager and golf professional at Kennsington Golf Club in Canfield, says his club plans to upgrade its fleet of carts with the latest GPS system. “They’ll have new touch screens that gives them more accurate yardage to the pin,” he says.
As golf courses go, Kennsington is young. “We’re in our seventh year and this course continues to develop,” Otto says. “It normally takes seven to nine years for a course to grow in.”
Newer courses such as Kennsington were designed and constructed differently than many of the older courses in the region, Otto explains. Today’s course is better integrated into its natural surroundings and terrain, allowing for more elevation changes and trees.
“The greens are much bigger, too,” he adds. “You can have a 100-foot putt.”
Kennsington’s irrigation and drainage system is among the best on the market in this region, and new technology helps drive even this segment of the business, Otto says. “It’s all computer-controlled,” he notes. The course superintendent can program the entire irrigation network from his cell phone.
Otto emphasizes that the ultimate objective is to ensure players enjoy themselves. “We have five sets of tees,” he says, positioned at varying distances from each pin so the course measures anywhere from 4,900 yards to a maximum of 7,150 yards. “If you’re on the right set of tees, you can have a lot of fun.”
While new clubs and equipment have helped change the game and have helped players, they’ve also affected how the sport is taught. Instructors have started to use digital technology as never before, making it possible for those who want to improve their game to engage in long-distance learning with their hometown pro.
“When I give a lesson, I can send a voice-over video and analysis of their swing and attach drills,” says Andy Santor, golf professional at Mill Creek Golf Course. “Then, they can also send me a video through an application on their smart phone.”
Santor uses what is called V1 Academy, a software program that enables students to film themselves and transmit the video to Santor via the application. “I open it, download the video, do a voice-over video, send it back to them, and I don’t even have to see them,” he says.
Many teaching professionals view digital instruction as the wave of the future, Santor says, and notes he’s used the application about a year. “It’s usually to augment those that I’ve worked with before,” he clarifies, although he has yet to meet one student face-to-face.
Advances in technology have helped lower the cost of once very prohibitive systems that sales representatives use to test new clubs they’re selling.
Scott Pollack, outside sales representative for Callaway Golf in northeastern Ohio, reports that a portable radar system designed to track the trajectory of a golf ball – its distance, angle of descent and spin rate – is standard equipment for Callaway’s field reps.
“It enables us to compare our current clubs with last year’s and with our competitors’,” he says of Trackman, a system that consists of a small radar box that he’s plugged into a laptop computer during a demonstration day at the Lake Club near Poland. “Using this information, I can determine if the person needs a stiffer flex or a more flexible shaft, more weight or less weight, more loft, or less loft.”
Golf has emerged as a technologically sophisticated game that is part of a larger social experience, observes Jeff Shaffer, general manager of Avalon Golf & Country Club. Sleek course designs, aesthetic beauty of the area and new inclusive events to draw in new members and players are all part of the modern golfing experience, he says.
“When we first started this, we thought it was all about golf,” Shaffer says. “But, the days of throwing the clubs in the trunk and leaving are gone. They want to come inside to a fun atmosphere.”
Avalon owns and operates three clubs and courses in the Mahoning Valley: Avalon at Buhl Park in Sharon, Pa., Avalon Lakes in Howland, and Avalon Squaw Creek in Vienna Township.
“We have three different styles of golf courses here,” remarks Adam Scott, director of golf. Buhl Park is an older course, and plays much like a traditional course. On the other hand, Avalon Lakes is a sleek, modern course that is highly rated every year.
“The newer courses are designed to be attractive to the eye,” he says. Avalon Lakes, for example, is fashioned as a resort-style club and comes equipped with modern drainage systems under the greens with a single row of irrigation heads down each fairway. “Ten years ago, there were no such things,” he remarks.
Attracting new players, especially juniors, is key to developing the sport in this region, Scott notes. Promoting ladies golf leagues, hosting wine-tastings tied to golf outings, and pairing other social events with golf is important to draw in new business.
“We’re always trying out new ideas,” Shaffer says.
Avalon’s business model has also set new standards for clubs in this region, he notes. A membership at the Avalon entitles access to all three clubs, and there are no initiation fees, no minimum payments and no assessments. A family membership starts as low as $100 per month.
The strategy thus far has worked. This year, Avalon’s membership is up by 300, Shaffer reports.
Merchandise in the pro shop is also discounted for members, Shaffer says. “Everything we sell is 15% above cost,” he reports. “Other clubs mark it up as much as 100%.” Golf clubs and fashion trends change every year, and it’s important to keep abreast of these changes.
Marketing a course is today more important than ever because the region’s population has declined and no longer sufficient to support the large number of golf courses in the region.
“We’re a $25 course,” remarks Eric Hanisko, owner of Copeland Hills, an 18-hole course in Columbiana, “and that’s what we’re trying to be.”
A key demographic for golf in this region is the senior market, says Hanisko, who took over operations this year. To attract new players, he reports that he’s extended the senior rate to age 50.
Copeland Hills is fortunate in that it’s the only 18-hole public course in the immediate vicinity, and Columbiana County is not as saturated with golf courses compared to Mahoning and Trumbull counties, Hanisko says. While the weather this year has slowed business, he says interest is on the increase.
“We’ve just picked up two leagues and bookings for outings have increased,” he reports. “We’re definitely off to a good start.”
One of the brightest prospects for new business may rest on oil and gas development in the Utica shale as giant energy companies move into the region to tap the “wet” gas window of the geological formation, Hanisko says. “I’ve seen some of the workers and executives come in and play,” he reports.
Others in the region concur that business related to shale industry could help revive some of the older private clubs that have struggled in recent years.
“The culture has changed in that there are more courses than the economy can support,” says Rick Purcell, board member and membership chairman at New Castle Country Club in New Castle, Pa. The club, celebrating its 90th year at its current site, has amended its business model to fit the times.
“There’s no initiation fee, and we have a modest trail fee,” Purcell says. “It’s a much different environment.” Over the last six years, some $2 million has been spent on improvements there, he reports, and membership stands around 320.
The game-changer for this region is the oil and gas industry, Purcell says. “We have liquid gold in the ground in Lawrence County. It could make our place. We could improve our infrastructure here, it could take care of all of our improvements and take us back to where we were in the 1970s when everyone was working.”
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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