If you live in the Midwest or Northeast, chances are you've seen the sun 🌞 recently, and hopefully, that has brought more guests and members to your courses. As Spring arrives (cue the CBS promo), The Masters is just around the corner, and with it comes the rising excitement of the golf season. The buzz around the game is building, and this is an excellent opportunity for golf courses to take advantage of that energy.
What do I mean by that? In the biz, it's called third-party event marketing. We are marketing an event that's not ours, but looking to leverage it to our interests.
This week, I want to share how golf courses can leverage key moments when golf is top of mind—such as The Masters and other Majors. I’ll provide marketing content ideas to help everyone at your club embrace the moment in a cohesive and impactful way.
Let's Grow Golf.
Marketing Around the Majors
Creating a Collaborative Content Approach
The Masters and other major tournaments create natural enthusiasm that your club or course can transform into engagement opportunities. Rather than isolated efforts, consider how your team (or the different aspects of your golf business) might work together to create complementary content that feels cohesive to members.
Below, I wanted to provide some flexible ideas for each department that can be adapted to your club's unique culture and resources to leverage The Majors (The Masters, specifically) with high golf enthusiasm.
Ideas for Your Membership Director
Your membership director connects people to your club community. During tournament season, they might consider:
Content Possibilities:
- Member Stories: Brief videos of members sharing favorite Masters memories or tournament experiences. These personal touches humanize your club and celebrate your community.
- Casual Prediction Pools: Simple, low-pressure contests where members predict tournament outcomes. These create conversation starters in the clubhouse and give members a stake in tournament results.
- Exclusive Previews: Behind-the-scenes glimpses of tournament-inspired course setups. These reinforce the value of membership through special access.
- Historical Connections: Exploring any links between your club and tournament history, perhaps featuring members who have attended or highlighting regional connections.
- Community Viewing Suggestions: Recommendations for prime viewing locations around the clubhouse or special member-only viewing areas during peak tournament moments.
Ideas for Your Food & Beverage Director
Tournament weeks offer perfect opportunities to create memorable dining experiences that complement the golf excitement.
Content Possibilities:
- Tournament-Inspired Specials: Menu items that playfully reference tournament traditions, famous holes, or past champions. These create conversation pieces that members will share on social media.
- Casual Chef Conversations: Relaxed videos where your chef explains a special dish's inspiration, providing personality and story behind your offerings.
- Flexible Pairing Ideas: Suggested beverage pairings for tournament viewing, perhaps tied to specific tournament traditions or regions.
- Family-Style Tournament Options: Take-home packages for members hosting their own viewing parties, extending your club experience to their homes.
- Tournament Tasting Events: Casual sampling opportunities featuring multiple small plates inspired by tournament cuisine, encouraging social interaction.
Ideas for Your Head Golf Professional
Your golf professional can bridge what members see on television with their own game improvement.
Content Possibilities:
- Approachable Technique Observations: Brief, conversational analysis of notable tournament swings or strategies, focused on one takeaway members might try.
- Course Parallels: Highlighting similarities between famous tournament holes and features of your own course, with suggestions for how to approach them.
- Informal Skills Stations: Practice area setups that let members attempt shots they're watching during the tournament, with simple setup instructions.
- Pro Insights: Your professional's personal observations about tournament developments, building their personality and expertise in members' eyes.
Ideas for Your Pro Shop Manager
Tournament excitement creates natural merchandise opportunities.
Content Possibilities:
- Equipment Connections: Highlighting similar equipment to what tournament players are using that's available in your shop, presented as helpful information rather than direct selling.
- Tournament-Week Collections: Curated merchandise groupings with a tournament theme, creating a sense of seasonal exclusivity.
- Style Inspirations: Showcasing tournament-inspired outfits assembled from shop merchandise, perhaps modeled by staff or willing members.
- Performance Insights: Observations about how equipment choices are affecting tournament play, connecting to options available in your shop.
Ideas for Your Director of Golf
The Director of Golf has a unique opportunity to weave together various department initiatives.
Content Possibilities:
- Club Experience Highlights: Casual recaps of how members are enjoying tournament-viewing events and specials across the facility, celebrating the community atmosphere.
- Staff Spotlights: Featuring the people making the weekend special, from groundskeepers creating special pin placements to bartenders crafting themed cocktails.
- Facility Transformations: Before-and-after glimpses of how your club embraces tournament themes, from course setup to clubhouse decorations.
Communication Coordination
This type of coordination isn't easy, but its very manageable. Successful collaboration in creating marketing around an event (or Major) happens through:
- Regular Check-ins: Brief staff touchpoints ensuring content complements rather than competes
- Shared Content Awareness: Each department knowing what others are planning
- Visual Consistency: Similar design elements that tie departmental content together
- Flexible Adaptation: Adjusting plans based on tournament developments and member response
Conclusion
These suggestions here aren't prescriptive mandates but starting points for your team's creativity. The most authentic approaches will emerge from your unique club culture, facilities, and membership preferences.
Make as much or as little content as you feel is appropriate for your club or business. This will certainly be different whether you're a driving range operator or private club, but every golf business can lean into these events to be relevant and timely.
The magic happens in those spontaneous moments when a bartender names a cocktail after a dramatic shot members just witnessed, or your pro demonstrates a technique that just proved crucial on television.
By fostering coordination without rigidity, your club or golf business can create relevant content where tournament excitement naturally flows.
So whether it's The Masters or The Ryder Cup this Fall, use these moments of high golf enthusiasm to your advantage - and don't be afraid to lean into it.
I hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter. If you did, pass it along to someone who may benefit from it. C'mon, let's Grow Golf.
-Rich
ICYMI
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