Leadership Lessons from Tobacco Roadwith Scooter Buhrman, General Manager In the world of destination golf, few courses command attention quite like Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford, North Carolina. Designed by Mike Strantz and opened in 1998, this bold and unconventional layout has earned a reputation as one of America's most distinctive golf experiences. At the helm of this unique operation is General Manager Scooter Buhrman, whose collegiate and professional playing career and 15 years in...
9 days ago • 5 min read
Newsletter 43 | August 21, 2025 Why the Future of Golf Isn’t an App—It’s Infrastructure Golf is booming. Participation is at generational highs, waitlists for private clubs are stretching longer every year, and the game is as culturally relevant as it’s ever been. And yet, one of the sport’s most routine transactions—the tee time—remains stuck in the late ’90s. That’s the premise behind Rebuilding Tee Time Access, a recent white paper by Old Tom Capital (Link to Download It). Thanks to one...
15 days ago • 5 min read
Newsletter 42 | August 13, 2025 When the Calendar Turns, So Do Your Members’ Schedules Full warning here, I know it's still August, however, for many of us Fall (and the pending schedule) is coming FAST. Fall doesn’t just bring cooler mornings and colorful leaves — it brings a complete shift in your members’ priorities. After Labor Day, the pace of life changes. Kids head back to school, youth sports seasons kick off, and family calendars fill up faster than a Member-Guest weekend. Suddenly,...
23 days ago • 4 min read
Newsletter 41 | August 7, 2025 New: Referral Program Hey friends, Summer’s flying by, isn’t it? I took a quick break from Grow Golf last week to soak up some extra time with my family before the school chaos begins again (parents, I know you get it). But now I'm back—and I’ve got something BIG to share. Today, for a limited-time, launching the Grow Golf Referral Program. Here's how it works:1) Share Grow Golf with your industry friends using your custom referral link (you’ll find it below)....
29 days ago • 1 min read
Newsletter 40 | July 23, 2025 Your Polo is a Status Symbol. Is Your Logo Ready? Last week in Business Insider, I read this article able about the emergence of the golf polo on Wall Street. Here you have high-powered men gathering in loafers and tech-fabric polos—there’s a subtle flex happening. And it’s not about Rolexes, cars, or even a low handicap. It’s about the logo on the left chest of a moisture-wicking golf polo. Golf club logo, especially from elite, invitation-only courses, have...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Newsletter 39 | July 16, 2025 Social-First vs On-Brand This week were focusing on the ever changing landscape of golf social media. If you run or help out on your club/course/business social media accounts, it may feel like every time you open Instagram another club’s drone-shot tee-off has gone viral—while your own posts are still waiting for their first dozen likes—you’re not imagining things. The modern golf marketer lives in a constant tug-of-war: crank out scroll-stopping content at...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Let's Analyze After an amazing summer vacation ☀️ with the family, I'm refreshed and ready to share the final installment of Grow Golf's AI series. I hope you've learned a thing or two over the past few newsletters, while taking the custom AI Assistants out for a spin. Over the last few weeks, we've explored how to build a custom GPT for marketing and membership professionals packed with ideas, content prompts, and strategy shortcuts. You can continue test our Marketing AI Assistant and...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Let's Engage Last week, we explored how to build a custom GPT for marketing—packed with ideas, content prompts, and strategy shortcuts. You can continue test our Marketing AI Assistant, click here and ask it any marketing question. This week, we’re heading to the other side of the clubhouse: Membership. What if you had an AI assistant that understood your member roster and could help you segment members, spot churn risk, flag upgrade candidates, and surface hidden patterns in member behavior?...
2 months ago • 4 min read
Newsletter No. 36 | June 19th, 2025 Let's Build If you've been following along in our AI series, this is the week I've been most excited for. After covering AI fundamentals and automation in our previous newsletters (Part 1 and Part 2), I'm eager to share Part 3 of our AI series. From my conversations with you and other Grow Golf subscribers, most club professionals have tested out AI tools, but they're not training AI on their data yet, which can provide next-level insights and efficiency....
3 months ago • 3 min read