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THIRD PARTIES…FRIEND OR FOE?

TEN STEPS TO ONLINE SUCCESS

YIELD MANAGEMENT: RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PRICE

ONLINE ADVANTAGE

Brought to you By Activegolf, pArt of Active Network, iNc.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA CONTINUES TO WIDEN THE GAP ON TRADITIONAL FORMS OF COMMUNICATIONS

Winter 2009

With 30 years of experience and over 1,100 customers, ActiveGolf’s leading golf management software and

marketing solutions are proven to succeed.

To find out more or schedule a demo:

1.866.962.1887

www.ActiveGolfSolutions.com

Proven Marketing SolutionsIncrease Exposure. Drive Rounds and Revenue.

ActiveGolf will help you leverage technology and the Internet to more effectively promote your facility with a suite of interactive marketing tools that allow you to:

> Market online tee times via your Web site and ActiveGolf.com> Effectively target customers with CRM tools> Send e-mail blasts to customers and potential golfers> Develop affinity programs to retain loyal customers> Market golfers through Active’s powerful database

“The tee times that have been driven to us – from the ActiveGolf.com Web site as well as through our own Web site – have been huge. Between the two, a tremendous amount of revenue has been produced.”

Art Walton, General Manager Crystal Springs Resort, NJ

265_08c_Connect_Supplement_Ads.indd 2 12/4/08 1:42:06 PM

connect winter 2009 1

page 3

FRIEND OR FOE?THIRD-PARTY TEE TIME MARKETERS WINNING

CONVERTS AS THEY INCREASE BUSINESS

page 7

ONLINE ADVANTAGEELECTRONIC MEDIA CONTINUES TO WIDEN

THE GAP ON TRADITIONAL FORMS OF COMMUNICATIONS

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THE 10 STEP ONLINE PLANTEN STEPS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE GETTING THE

MOST OUT OF YOUR ONLINE MARKETING

page 17

RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PRICETAKING A CUE FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES,

GOLF COURSES ARE REAPING THE BENEFITS OF YIELD MANAGEMENT

page 19

HOST OF BENEFITSHANDING OVER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE RESPONSIBILITIES TO A THIRD PARTY

HELPS OWNERS FOCUS ON THEIR CORE BUSINESS

tABle of coNteNts

Golf Business and the National Golf Course Owners Association make no representations, either expressly or by implication, regarding the veracity of information,products, services, and material provided within this supplement, or any information, products, or services that are mentioned within this supplement.

The content of articles contained in Connect solely reflects the views and opinions of the contributors and doesn’t necessarily represent the official position of Golf Business or the NGCOA.

2 winter 2009 connect




1.866.962.1887


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” Active’s tee time portal is our best resource for online tee times at off peak days and times... [they] are irreplaceable, easy to work with and one of a few reasons we are so successful.”

-Eric Lohman, General ManagerBlack Gold Golf Club, CA

Increase Exposure, Sell More Rounds



S ome industry professionals may debate the

pros and cons of tee time marketers, but Jeff

Harrison, the director of golf and spa sales and

marketing at La Quinta Resort and Club and PGA

West in La Quinta, Calif., is not one of them. “We’ve

experienced a huge increase in rounds because of tee

time marketing,” says Harrison.

Some have argued that using a third-party tee time

service, which often markets less desirable tee times at

discounted rates, damages a course’s pricing integrity.

But those in that camp seem to be dwindling.

As online use continues to explode, so does

the number of products and services offered to

Web-savvy consumers. Almost anything can be

located and purchased over the Web, and golf is no

exception. The movement toward online marketing

on the part of golf course owners and operators in

the last several years has resulted in the emergence

of a number of third-party tee time services that

target regional, national and even global golfers

looking for a place to play.

“Third-party tee time marketers are actually

portals where many golf courses from different areas

and regions post their tee times for consumers to

search and book a time online,” says Mike Carran,

founder of Click4TeeTimes and general manager of

ActiveGolf, part of the Active Network. “What it does

for the golf course is broadens its reach to many more

consumers than the course would be able to target on

its own.”

Tee time portals are a grassroots source for golfers

to locate courses and to experience new courses they

may not have known existed in their area or an area

of travel. What’s more, they often provide golfers with

an opportunity to play a course that is out of their

price range at its normal rate.

According to Carran, the majority of golfers that

use Click4TeeTimes, a regional tee time portal for

southern California, drive 30 miles on average to

courses booked on the site. Many of those golfers are

using the service to find and play golf courses that

they have not experienced before, Carran says.

Whereas the main benefits of utilizing tee time

portals are convenience and cost savings for golfers,

the benefits to golf courses are multifaceted.

frieND or foe?ONLINE TEE TIME PORTALS | By Mary Beth VanLandingham


Tee time marketers concentrate their efforts

and budget on attracting avid golfers to their sites

and growing their databases. Few courses have the

marketing budgets to afford a similar effort. All those

marketing dollars spent to build databases and

drive traffic are a direct benefit to golf courses

listed through the tee time marketing site.

“When I first came to La Quinta, one

of my goals was to create large sources

of databases for the courses here,”

says Harrison. “The easiest and

quickest way to do that was

to bring on an online tee

time source.”

Tee time portals offer both

direct and indirect access

to customer databases. Most

services offer direct access to

customers who book an online

tee time to a participating

course. This allows golf courses

to add those customers to its

internal database and to reach out

directly with further incentives to play their course.

Many services also offer indirect access to

their larger database. National tee time portal

ActiveGolf.com, for example, has a database of

hundreds of thousands of avid golfers to whom it

sends daily e-mails. (ActiveGolf also has access to 18

million sports enthusiasts through the Active.com

site.) Golf course customers of ActiveGolf.com

may request that special golf packages or deals

be included in an outgoing e-mail. A course’s

name appearing in just one e-mail could result

in a significant increase in course awareness and

eventual tee time bookings.

Tee time portals also allow courses to discount

rates as the course desires. “It’s a phenomenal

tool,” says Carran. “Courses can discount by day,

by month or even by time of day. The courses that

benefit most are those who are the most involved and

use the service as a yield management tool.”

Harrison chooses to look over his pricing daily

and discount appropriately for the time slots he

wants to fill. “The tee time marketing service makes

it easy to track rounds sold and to see our return on

investment,” he says.

All tee time marketers stress the need

for courses to discount only when they see

the need to fill times on the tee sheet.

Rate integrity issues seem only

to arise these days when course

operators become too dependent

on discounts listed through their

third party tee time marketer.

“Tee time portals are a tool

in the arsenal of ways to drive

people to your golf course. It’s not

the only tool you should use,”

says Carran. “Courses who

rely too heavily on tee time

marketing get into the habit of

continuously discounting their rounds

and this affects rate integrity.”

Of course, courses are not required

to discount and discounts should only be

given when they are needed to drive participation

during slow periods.

Consumers also seem to be more understanding

of marketing overtures from tee time portals and

see them as less intrusive than efforts on behalf of a

single course.

“A single golf course will get much more push back

from a customer receiving a daily e-mail about course

specials than third-party companies that are representing

a database of courses,” says Carran. Interestingly, e-mail

communications account for the majority of online

“My cost to utilize a tee tiMe Marketing service is a trade out for services. i literally spend zero in hard dollars and i can target thousands of active golfers daily.”


bookings made through tee time portals.

The cost for enlisting the services of third-

party tee time marketers varies depending on the

agreement between the course and marketer. The

most common way to structure pricing is through

a trade arrangement. In such an arrangement, the

portal receives an agreed upon number of tee times to

sell weekly in return for its marketing support. Most

courses trade between four to seven foursomes per

week during an off tee time, according to Carran.

“Using the barter method, savvy golf course owners

should monitor the slots that are being sold,” says

Carran. “As a third-party company, we pay special

attention and have staff dedicated to ensure that the

ratio of course-owned slots to trade slots being sold

is fair. This forces us to increase our prices so that we

are not over selling the trade.”

A second way to structure the arrangement is

through a flat rate percentage negotiated between

courses and the third party. Utilizing this practice, golf

courses generally agree to pay 10 to 20 percent of any

business brought in through the tee time portal.

A third pricing option is a ratio cost structure where

golf courses allow the third party to keep the revenue

generated from every fifth booking, for example, as an

incentive to market the course aggressively.

“My cost to utilize a tee time marketing service is

a trade out for services. I literally spend zero in hard

dollars and I can target thousands of active golfers

daily,” says Harrison. “I’m much better off spending

my time and money on people who play golf rather

than taking a shotgun marketing approach such as

newspaper advertisement.”

“When i first caMe to la Quinta, one of My goals Was to create large sources of databases for the courses here. the easiest and Quickest Way to do that Was to bring on an online tee tiMe source.”

One of the most important considerations when choosing a third-party tee time marketer is the type of golfer who is most likely to be attracted to your course.

“Make sure that the service you are bringing aboard is reaching out to your demographics,” says Jeff Harrison, the director of golf and spa sales and marketing at La Quinta Resort and Club and pga West in La Quinta, Calif.

Tee time portals operate locally, regionally, nationally and even globally so making sure the service you choose matches your target cus-tomer is essential to getting the best return on your investment.

also look at the number of years the tee time marketer has been in business; you don’t want a marketer using your course for its first on-the-job training. You could also ask to see real statistics showing the success rates for other courses uti-lizing the online service.

Since a major benefit of third-party tee time marketing is helping courses grow their database of qualified customers, it is important to under-stand the marketing strategies of the company. What is it doing to grow its online traffic and membership database? How much access, if any, does the course have to the tee time marketer’s database? Does the marketer have any strategic partners that may increase traffic? For example, activegolf.com has a partnership with eSpN, which gives ActiveGolf’s customers exposure to the millions of daily visitors to eSpN.com.

CHOOSiNg a Tee TiMeMaRkeTeR

ONLINEADVANTAGE

ELECTRONIC MEDIA CONTINUES TO WIDEN THE GAP ON TRADITIONAL FORMS OF COMMUNICATIONS | By Bill Bryant

E very Monday morning, someone at

KaneffGolf in Brampton, Ontario,

clicks the button that sends an electronic

message to 18,000 members of the golf

management company’s E-mail Club. The

e-mail might include a recipe suggestion

or a tip from a golf professional at one of

the six courses KaneffGolf manages in

the southern Ontario area. But what those

18,000 members are really looking for is a

“deal” and the e-mail doesn’t disappoint.

“I don’t place ads in the Toronto papers

offering discounts,” says John Dickie, direc-

tor of sales and marketing at KaneffGolf.

“The E-mail Club is the only place you

can get a deal at one of our courses.”

Dickie’s marketing strategy is indica-

tive of what many in the golf industry

are discovering: online marketing is more

effective at targeting golfers and delivering

relevant messages than traditional commu-

nications vehicles and media outlets such

as newspaper, radio and direct mail.

“You can spend $20,000 to do a mailing

to those same people, and you won’t know

if anyone actually opened the envelopes,”

Dickie says. “But with one click – and

practically no cost – I can do the same

thing and probably get better results.”

Harpreet Mannan, the online marketing

manager for ActiveGolf, part of the Active

Network, which offers marketing and tech-

nology support to golf courses throughout

the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe, is

convinced of the electronic advantage.

“The Internet has significant advantages


over traditional media for golf course marketing,” Man-

nan says. “With traditional media, you are somewhat lim-

ited in communicating your message. You have a limited

amount of space and a limited amount of time people

are going to spend looking at your ad. You’re also limited

by your budget. But you can convey a significant

amount of information online at very little cost com-

pared to the costs of traditional media advertising.”

The dynamic nature of the Internet, which

allows real-time updates and messaging capabili-

ties via e-mail, is also an advantage, Mannan says.

“You’re communicating to your customers without

the built-in speed bumps that come with direct mail

and print advertising.”

Art Walton, the vice president of golf operations at

Crystal Springs Resort in Vernon, N.J., was never a big

fan of traditional media for his business. “Golf has always

been a strong word-of-mouth business,” he says. “The

experience people have at the course is a great form of

advertising.” But Walton, who oversees a golf operation

with six courses, does like the results he’s getting with his

online marketing programs.

“When somebody says you’ve got to check out Crystal

Springs, where do you go?” Walton asks. “Not to the

newspaper and you don’t wait to hear an ad on the radio.

You go to the Web site.”

In addition to booking a tee time, visitors to the Crystal

Springs Web site can make a reservation at one of the

resort’s hotels or restaurants or book a day at the spa.

“Driving people to our Web site and then converting

them into reservations or selling them a gift certificate or a

membership is a significant part of our marketing effort,”

Walton says.

Electronic marketing is so prevalent in the golf business

these days that those who aren’t leveraging the Internet to

book tee times and drive new golfers to their course are

not only missing an opportunity, but also losing business,

according to Justin Ramers, director of online communi-

ties for Active Network, which helps consumers learn

about and participate in a wide range of sports and lei-

sure activities. “If a golf course isn’t involved in some kind

of Internet marketing program, they’re definitely falling

behind the curve because it’s a good bet their competitors

are doing it,” he says.

A course’s Web site is the starting point for an online

strategy. Most courses have their own site by now, but

many may be missing opportunities to enhance their

brand image or drive revenues, according to those famil-

iar with the latest technology and golf applications. Some

speculate that golf ’s technology gap may result from cus-

tomers who do not push for more than the basics. That

may change as more young players come into the game

and raise the expectation for the same kind of cutting-

edge graphics and interactivity they find on other sites.

Meanwhile, the experts agree the most important thing

to remember when designing and developing content for

your Web site is to make it relevant.

“Ideally golf courses would like to sell tee times at every

opportunity, but you also need to provide content that

is viewed as helpful and informative,” says ActiveGolf ’s

SeO Tip: To determine the most effective

SEO terms and key words to integrate into your web

copy and press releases, take off your owner’s hat

and put on a golfer’s cap. Ask yourself what people

are really looking for when they’re searching for a

golf course. Conditioning, price and location are

probably on the top of most golfers’ minds. Identify

your key words and then build out your copy utiliz-

ing those words and phrases. But don’t overdo it.

The search engines are very good at reading text

and figuring out if it’s readable and relevant, or if

it’s simply been placed there for a search engine to

find it. Use the key word in the title of the article and

repeat it once or twice in the body copy. That’s really

all you need.

“When soMebody says you’ve got to check out crystal springs, Where do you go? not to the neWspaper and you don’t Wait to hear an ad on the radio. you go to the Web site.”


“if a golf course isn’t involved in soMe kind of internet Marketing prograM, they’re definitely falling behind the curve because it’s a good bet their coMpetitors are doing it.”

Mannan. “If you can give something to users that they

want, they will find you.”

That’s why the KaneffGolf Web site includes informa-

tion on which holes are prime places to spot deer and how

to get more distance off the tee, as well as recipes for local

dishes in addition to a wealth of course information.

The savviest course owners and operators are branch-

ing out from their Web sites and finding the latest ways

to mine the Internet to their advantage. Search engines,

portals, and golf communities are tools and techniques

that are slowly making their way into the golf business.

Courses can pay a fee to search engines like Google

and Yahoo! or join a national golf portal such as

ActiveGolf.com, or a regional site, such as Southern Cali-

fornia’s Click4TeeTimes.com to improve their odds of

golfers finding them through searches. Or they can chose

to go the organic route and hope that a link to their site

comes up naturally (and free) through a practice known as

search engine optimization or SEO. By employing SEO

techniques (see sidebar), you can improve your search

engine rankings and increase the chances that visitors will

link to your Web site.

Portals, which are designed to communicate with users

who share similar interests, are also effective in target-

ing golfers and directing them to your site or facilitating

an online tee time booking. “You know that anyone on a

golf portal Web site is not only a golfer, but also probably

an avid golfer,” says Ramers. “So when you market your

course through a portal, you get the advantage of pig-

gybacking the efforts the portal is already making to drive

people to the Web site without having to spend additional

money from your marketing budget.”

Many courses choose to sign on with a golf portal (such

as ActiveGolf.com or Click4TeeTimes.com) in addition to

implementing a search engine marketing (SEM) cam-

Search engine Optimization or SeO is one of the hot-test technology trends going, and the really beneficial part is that you don’t have to be an iT wizard to increase your rankings in those all-important search engines.

“There are a lot of people and agencies out there that try to make SeO more complicated than it is,” says Harpreet Mannan, online marketing manager for ActiveGolf. “But it all comes down to really just one thing – uniquely relevant, text- based content.”

When search engines such as google and Yahoo! are crawling through millions of web pages at any minute of every day, they’re using a combination of highly sophisticated algorithms and pageRank for-mulas to determine which Web sites they’re going to put at the top of their rankings. No one really knows exactly how those algorithms and formulas are de-termined, and since they’re always changing, there’s no use in trying to outsmart those guys. But the one thing that does seem to work is a web site chock full of unique copy that is relevant to golfers’ needs and interests and, just as importantly, not laden with sales messages.

“along with your marketing messages, you also need to be putting up fresh, relevant and text-based content that is totally non-commercial,” Mannan says. “a lot of people don’t understand that strategy, but it is one of the best ways to drive targeted and pre-qualified traffic to your Web site.”

Of course, the best thing about SeO is that it’s free. What’s more, with SeO the smallest golf course competes on a level playing field with the biggest and most sophisticated.

“The No. 1 goal for search engines is to provide the person who is searching the most relevant information based on the user’s search phrase,” Mannan says. “Because of that, (the search engines) go out of their way to make sure all web sites are considered. if the site seems too commercial, it’s not going to be consid-ered as relevant and it won’t be ranked as high.”

SeO LeveLSthe PlAyinG Field


“so When you Market your course through a portal, you get the advantage of piggybacking the efforts the portal is already Making to drive people to the Web site Without having to spend additional Money froM your Marketing budget.”

How many times have you been to a trade show, collected a stack of business cards from pros-pects and found yourself still staring at them when you’re getting ready to go back to the same show the next year?

The same principle applies with information gleaned from your online tools. “it’s only valuable if you use it,” says John Dickie, director of sales and marketing at kaneffgolf.

Dickie uses a suite of software from active golf Solutions plus a program that helps him analyze the reams of data that is available from his web and e-mail activity. “i get 26-page reports,” he says. “Some of it is information you’ll never use, but if you take the time to dig into it, you can find some valuable stuff.”

What dickie finds most valuable are the reports that monitor traffic on the management company’s email-Club. “i can tell from my e-mail reports how many of the 18,000 people in our e-mail club ac-tually take advantage of our special offers. i can also tell where visitors to the site are coming from, which search engines they’re using, and where they go on our site.”

analyzing the information has led to changes in the company’s Web site design and navigation. “We know people are interested in tournaments, for example, so we’ve built a lot of information into that portion of the site and made it simple to ac-cess,” Dickie says.

KAneFFGolF e-mAil CluBuSe it or loSe it

paign. “That’s a really strong 1-2 punch,” Ramers adds.

SEM includes things such as search engine optimi-

zation, paid listings and other search-engine related

services that are designed to increase exposure and traffic

to a Web site. Portals aggregate tee times on behalf of

participating courses and market those courses to their

large network of golfers who are searching for tee times

in specific markets. Many golfers are probably not even

aware that portals exist as a way to book tee times and

find other golf-related information, including product and

instruction news and a place to gab about golf.

“Golf course owners have a tendency to trend off of

their consumers, and since their customers aren’t push-

ing them to be part of a portal site, they’re lagging be-

hind,” Mannan says. “But consumers will likely change

faster than golf courses in terms of their portal aware-

ness and use.” What’s more, as the golf business takes

on more of the characteristics of the business world,

golf will continue to adopt digital strategies, especially

those that appeal to youth.

There is already a proliferation of online communities

on the web where avid golfers are communicating on a

regular basis about equipment and courses. Communities

such as FreeGolfInfo.com represent a way for courses to

start a dialogue with players who can be important influ-

encers to new golfers.

“If the golf course starts participating in a community,

it will get great feedback on what golfers think about

their course,” Ramers says. “Of course, they’ll have to be

willing to accept what the Internet world tells them about

their course. But that’s a great way to get feedback and

bring your marketing down to a personal level.”

“you can spend $20,000 to do a Mailing to those saMe people, and you Won’t knoW if anyone actually opened the envelopes.”

—JOHN DICkIE, DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARkETING, kANEFFGOLF


D eveloping an online marketing plan can seem like a

daunting task to golf course owners and operators

who are new to the online world and for whom electronic

tools and techniques are far less familiar than traditional

print and broadcast media. But for all the reasons that

millions of businesses in countless industries are turning

to the Internet to help market their products and

services – including attracting new customers, facilitating

communications and reducing marketing costs – so

should golf course owners and operators make electronic

strategies and tools part of their marketing program.

Most people today equate an online marketing plan

with a Web site. They design a site with some pretty

pictures of their course and start sending e-mails to

names in a homegrown database. Suddenly they think

they’re doing online marketing. Well, they are. But the

question is how seriously are they doing it and how

effective are they going to be?

Advances in technology in recent years have given

course owners and operators additional tools to enhance

their Web site and online strategies. The most effective

online programs today are taking advantage of these

tools. They’re also forming relationships with golf

management software providers that offer electronic

tee sheets and third-party marketing partners. Many

operators are finding that the technology these firms

leverage on their behalf extends their marketing reach

beyond what they would be able to afford on their own.

With that in mind, here are 10 steps to consider when

developing an online marketing strategy:

1 Start with a Specific objective.

In marketing – regardless of what media are used to

deliver the message – everything starts with the objective.

What are you trying to accomplish? Who is the target

audience? And what is the timeframe in which the

effort will be executed? Taking the time to define your

objectives in specific terms allows you to tailor content

that is relevant to your target audience. It also helps you

create plans based on your current environment and link

those plans to a realistic budget.

For a course just starting an overall online marketing

the 10 step oNliNe plAN

TEN STEPS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR ONLINE MARKETING| By Bill Bryant

Active Network, Inc.

Leading Software &Marketing SolutionsWith 30 years of experience and over 1,100 customers, ActiveGolf’s leading golf management software and marketing solutions are proven to succeed.

> Comprehensive software line, including GEN, Jencess Software and Fairway Systems.

> ActiveGolf.com, to connect your course with new golfers and drive more rounds.

> Millions of tee times booked through our portals.

> Unlimited, 24/7 support.

> Flexible pricing options to fit your business needs.


1.866.962.1887


“Absolutely, I would recommend Active!”Tom Prince, Chief Marketing Officer

Pacific Golf Enterprises, CA

265_08c_Connect_Supplement_Ads_Spread.indd 2-3 12/4/08 1:43:42 PM


program, the objective might be expressed as follows:

Develop a Web site and implement other electronic tools and

marketing initiatives that will enable our course to increase

rounds and revenue by 50 percent by the end of the year.

2 eStabliSh a budget.

How do you know how much to budget? You can

start by asking peers at facilities that share similar

characteristics how much they spent to launch their

online program and, in retrospect, where they would try

to save money or even increase the budget if they were

doing it all over again. You also could consider how much

of your traditional media budget might be replaced by

the online program and how much value you expect the

online program to bring the course in its first year or two

after its launch. In challenging economic conditions, it’s

easy to rationalize not investing in new programs and

technology. But it’s important to remember that these

investments are designed to increase your business and

help you grow. What’s more, there are ways to leverage

today’s technology that require only modest investments.

In some cases, no incremental spending is needed if you

have a basic understanding of certain tools. You can also

often trade your golf rounds for marketing services and

increased exposure on third-party online marketing sites.

3 deSign your web Site with both

Style and function.

Overall, your site should be simple, easy to navigate

and include helpful course content with ample images

and course statistics. There should be a sign-up form to

gather e-mail addresses integrated with an online editing

tool so you can make changes yourself without the

assistance and expense of a consultant.

The key to an effective online marketing

strategy is for golfers to be able to book

tee times on your course’s Web site, and

for that you’ll need an online booking

engine. With an online booking engine,

you can quickly turn golfers who

are driven to your site through

promotions, marketing materials

and general searches into paying

customers. You can also incorporate and promote

special offers and online discounts to encourage

bookings through your online booking engine, in turn

saving staff time and expense. Ask your tee sheet

provider if it can provide this capability.

One of the core benefits of online marketing is that

it enables you to track all of your marketing efforts, and

that includes more than just who is coming to your site

and opening your e-mail. When you know how many

people are printing your online coupons for special offers,

taking advantage of discounts published in the newspaper

or other print ads and how many people responded to

your direct mail offer, you can make informed decisions

about which parts of your marketing budget are most

effective. The technology supporting this kind of analysis

and evaluation is available through such free services as

Google Analytics (see step 10).

4 aggreSSively build your databaSe of

cuStomerS and proSpectS.

It’s been said that in the era of electronic marketing the

organization with the largest database wins. The wisdom

in that maxim lies in the fact that online marketing is a

numbers game, and there’s strength in numbers.

That’s why you’ll see organizations today going to great

lengths to capture e-mail addresses. Golf courses are

learning the tricks of the trade, too, placing information

cards on tables in their restaurants offering a free dessert

for those who complete the form or stationing friendly

attendants on tee boxes during corporate outings to

capture information. Of course, there also needs to be

multiple points on the Web site itself where enticing

content and offers also request profile information.

The more information you can capture the better

you can make your offers. If, for example,

you know the ages of the people in your

database, you can design a promotion

for seniors. If you know which people

have children between 6 and 14 years

of age, you can design an e-mail that

promotes a new junior program.

Going a step further, if you know

the handicaps of your best


players, you can partner with a club manufacturer to help

it introduce a new line of performance irons to players

most likely to be the manufacturer’s best prospects.

Of course, these kinds of targeted communications

are only valuable if they’re relevant. And that’s only

possible if your software is capable of slicing, dicing

and sorting the information in the database. A golf

management system with a built-in CRM system

allows you to do this as well as extract the

information with e-mail addresses so you

can build your campaigns.

5 add relevant

content – and lotS of it.

A lot of designers and agencies

that say they specialize in Web

site design will advise you to load

up your Web site with images and

video because, as they’ll tell you,

“No one reads text, especially on a

Web site.”

The truth of the matter is that text works.

In fact, if you don’t have enough text on your site, search

engines won’t be able to find you. There are several

important caveats to this rule: the text must be relevant,

unique, written by humans (not dynamically generated) and

it must come across as helpful to someone who is searching.

“If you can give something to users that they want,

they will find you,” says Harpreet Mannan, the online

marketing manager for ActiveGolf, part of the Active

Network, which offers marketing services and golf

management software to golf courses throughout the

U.S., Canada and parts of Europe, Asia Pacific and South

and Central America. “Value-added content is essential.

Ideally golf courses would like to sell tee times at every

opportunity, but you need to also provide content that is

viewed as helpful and informative.”

Information about the course – its history, relevant

statistics (yardage and slope rating, for example), press

releases and golfer feedback, as well as tips to help

first-time players enjoy the course more – is the type of

content golfers find relevant and helpful. It’s also exactly

what boosts search-engine rankings. (See step 6.)

6 optimize your expoSure through Seo.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO as it’s commonly

known, refers to activities a site manager does to improve a

site’s ranking and appearance within a search engine. The

major search engines are Google, Yahoo! and MSN with

Google holding the dominant position. You can improve

your course’s position on any of these engines by making

sure your site includes the keywords that golfers

would most likely use to search for a course

in your area. Decide on at least four

or five keywords and weave those

words throughout your site. You

can find more information

regarding SEO and free tools

to help you identify keywords

for your site at the Google

Webmaster/Site owners help

page at Google.com. You can

also use Google analytics (a free

service) to track the effectiveness of

these keywords.

While SEO is a free tool for both

searchers and site owners, it also comes without

guarantees. The technique known as “pay per click”

is another way of directing golfers to your site’s online

booking engine and more closely resembles advertising

in that the service comes with a performance-based fee.

With PPC, the course bids on keywords it thinks golfers

will be searching on and pays a fee to the pay-per-click

search engine when golfers click on the sponsored ad and

are directed to its site. Overture (www.overture.com) and

Google AdWords (google.com/ads) are among the top

PPC engines.

7 maximize your reach with portalS.

Portal marketing is a cost-effective complement to search

engines. In contrast to a search engine, which can attract

a wide range of people with varied interests, you can be

pretty well assured that anyone visiting a golf portal Web

site is a golfer and probably an avid golfer at that.

The advantage of portals is that they aggregate tee

times on behalf of customer courses and market those

courses to large numbers of golfers – far more than any


course could afford to market to on its own. Golfers

searching for tee time availability and offers at courses

in specific markets often come to the ActiveGolf.com

portal, for example, to find courses to play and check out

current offers. What’s more, the portal plugs you into

your electronic tee sheet and integrates it with the online

booking engine so your staff doesn’t spend countless

hours updating tee sheets. Another benefit of the portal

working with your tee sheet is that you eliminate double

bookings. Look for a third-party marketer that allows you

to control your rates and times sold.

By leveraging the portal’s marketing strength in

conjunction with SEO, you’re building the basis for a

strong online marketing program.

8 complement your online program

with other communicationS toolS.

A Web site is a critical tool to communicate with

customers and help attract new players and new

business to your course. But you shouldn’t rely entirely

on your site to deliver the results you need. When used

wisely, public relations, direct mail and advertising

can complement an online strategy. If you choose to

integrate public relations, advertising or direct mail

with your online program, make sure you always list the

course’s Web site address so those who want

more information know where to find it.

9 communicate on a

regular – and relevant

– baSiS.

Following searches, e-mail is the

second most popular activity on the Web

and it’s the easiest and most cost-effective way

to communicate with customers and prospects. E-mail

communication keeps readers informed, drives traffic to

your Web site and builds your brand. It also provides a

valuable feedback mechanism to help you understand

how your customers view your course and the golf

experience. Most readers appreciate regular updates on

upcoming events and activities, but it’s easy to go too far

with e-mail. If you’re sending an e-mail to confirm a tee

time, for example, make sure the confirmation is just that

– and not a thinly veiled attempt to sell something else.

So the trick with an effective e-mail strategy is the same

as it is with so much of online marketing – relevancy.

Your messages will break through the cluttered e-mail

landscape if they provide information or offers that are

focused on the recipient’s needs and interests. Weather

updates, course changes and enhancements, special event

announcements and reminders, coupons and discounts

are the type of information that stand the best chance of

getting through the e-mail filter.

10 meaSure your reSultS.

There are a number of systems and tools (known as

Web analytics) used to track interaction with your Web

site and monitor its effectiveness. Questions you’ll want

answers to regarding your online strategy include: how

much data regarding customers and prospects is being

collected, how many people are visiting the Web site, how

many people are opening your e-mails, how much business

are your 800 calls bringing in and how many downloads

(a sign of frequent interaction with the site) is the site

generating. Some analytics vendors (including Google

Analytics, www.google.com/analytics) offer their services

for free. If you require more complex reporting than

what Google’s complimentary service offers, you might

consider WebTrends (www.WebTrends.com) and Omniture

(www.omniture.com).

But don’t just collect data – analyze it.

Not analyzing the information gleaned

from your Web site is like coming back

from a trade show with a briefcase

full of prospects’ business cards and

doing nothing with them. Only a few

months worth of data gives you enough to

start setting benchmarks for your analysis. If, for

example, the largest number of visitors came to your

site in April, establish that number as your benchmark

and analyze what drove that spike and how you can use

similar offers or messages to increase traffic at other times.

When you’re evaluating your return on investment,

remember that your online success is going to be a

function of the size (and quality) of your database and the

appeal of your offer, whatever it might be.


Of all the quotes and bullet points and guiding prin-

ciples that Mark Seabrook has seen and heard at the

hundreds of golf conferences and meetings he has attended

over the years, there’s one that really sticks in his mind.

If you choose the day and time, I choose the price; if you

choose the price, I choose the day and time.

“I can’t even remember who said it, or where I heard it,

but it sure made a lot of sense to me then, and it still does,”

says the president and general manager of the Canadian

Golf and Country Club near Ottawa, Ontario.

Seabrook is talking about yield management, or as it’s also

known, revenue or profit management. By now most golf

course owners and operators understand the basic concept,

which was born in the airline industry’s post-deregulation

days after upstart People Express Airlines introduced the

industry’s first discount fares.

Since then, yield management has been adopted by

many industries as a technique for extracting the maximum

amount of revenue from a fixed quantity of perishable

goods and/or services. Just as the value of an unoccupied

airline seats or hotel room drops to zero after the plane takes

off or the sun comes up, so does an unfilled tee time lose all

of its revenue-producing potential after the starter sends the

next group off the tee.

Despite the familiarity with the concept and the funda-

mentals conducive to its practice, golf has been slow to adopt

its version of yield management. “While a lot of golf course

operators have systems, they are not all that systematic in

their approach,” says Sherri Kimes, professor of operations

management at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Ad-

ministration and a specialist in revenue management.

Adoption has also been slow to come to Europe, according

to Lodewijk Klootwijk, CEO of the European Golf Course

Owners Association. But Klootwijk sees revenue manage-

ment as important to European owners and operators who

are moving toward a more U.S. style of performance-based

operations. “This strategy is very important not only because

it can increase revenue. It also helps you think more in the

way the customer thinks. Used correctly, it forces you to

know what your various customer segments want.”

Until a few years ago, Seabrook, the former president of the

NGCOA and one of golf ’s most respected operators, lumped

himself among the less sophisticated yield management

practitioners. The Canadian Golf and CC had a weekday

and a twilight rate, which kicked in at 3 p.m., but that was

about it. But when he took a more critical look at his tee sheet,

Seabrook noticed a pattern of empty tee times in the last half

right tiMe, right price

TAKING A CUE FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES, GOLF COURSES ARE REAPING THE BENEFITS OF YIELD MANAGEMENT | By Bill Bryant


hour or so leading up to the start of twilight time.

“No one wanted to be the last guy who went off before

the twilight rate kicked in,” Seabrook says. “That guy felt

gypped.” Not anymore. The guys in the 2:50 p.m. tee time

at the Canadian feel lucky because they saved a couple of

bucks over the group that went off before 2 p.m. And if you

want to tee off after 4 p.m. or even 5 p.m. and risk not get-

ting around the full 18, you can save even more.

Using ActiveGolf ’s Jencess tee time booking system, which

allows the Canadian to vary its green fees based on time of

day (discounts range from $1 to $15.50 on weekdays and as

much as $23.50 on weekends and holidays), Seabrook is see-

ing far less empty space on the tee sheet these days.

“Price fills a golf course, that’s for sure,” he says.

It also evens out play over the entire day, which operators

and golfers find appealing. By varying green fees by a small

amount over a longer period, “people end up playing at

about the times they want to play and paying the price they

want to pay,” Seabrook says.

“You don’t get those half-hour blocks at 2:30 when the

tee sheet is empty,” Seabrook says. “The sheet gets filled

throughout the day. We may not be doing any more rounds,

but we’re spreading them out on the golf course, and that’s

good for the golfers, too.”

Whether the Canadian is booking more rounds or not,

“The net effect over the entire time frame is higher rev-

enues,” Seabrook says.

Seabrook and other operators who are leveraging yield

management to their advantage are relying on today’s more

sophisticated technology and tee time systems.

Kirk Jensen, vice president of sales for ActiveGolf, part of

the Active Network, who has worked in the golf and technol-

ogy industries in the U.S. and throughout Europe and Asia

for more than 25 years, says the most valuable benefits come

to those who view technology as both an art and a science.

“Everyone can be good at (using technology), but the re-

ally great ones know how to interpret it. They know how to

look at the information and consider other factors that might

have influenced participation, such as the weather, course

conditions, competition, economic times, and even road

construction around and to their facilities. If you just look at

it as a science, you’ll do well at it. But if you make it both a

science and an art, you’ll be great at it, Jensen says.

The late george Carlin swore there were seven dirty words that television would never allow over the airwaves. Some in the golf industry would add one more to the comedian’s list and ban it from all conversation, not just television. The word is “discount.”

The word and its connotations – dilution, price wars and cannibalizing, which are among those you can use in polite conversation – even inspired its own euphemism. Some now prefer the term “added value,” as in the course opera-tor who declares, “i’m not discounting, i’m add-ing value” when he knocks $5 off the price of a green fee and throws a hotdog and Coke into the price of a weekday green fee.

“Discounting, value add, call it what you want to call it,” says kirk Jensen, vice president of sales for activegolf. “i call it marketing.”

Discounting has taken on a “bad connotation,” Jensen says. “But golf courses have had twilight times for years and that’s discounting. But no one called it that. it was just one of the ways they marketed their course.”

Mark Seabrook, president and general man-ager of the Canadian golf and Country Club near Ottawa, Ontario, doesn’t quibble over the termi-nology, either.

“There are a lot of people today who shop at Wal-Mart and Costco who are looking for value,” Seabrook says. “The words discount, value-add, whatever you choose, are the words that appeal to those people, and many of them are golfers.”

That’s the logic that makes the concept of yield management (or revenue management, if you prefer) even more appealing in today’s economy.

“When we change our price per hour, it gives people an opportunity to play a good golf course at a price that suits them,” Seabrook says. ”May-be they’ll have to make some tradeoffs, but that’s their decision.”

For Seabrook, the bottom line is easily defined.“Would i rather have 300 rounds a day pay-

ing $15 or $16 a round net rate, or would i rather have a third of that at rack rate?”

diSCountinG


A fter the demands of a long day – handling the

concerns of a disgruntled member, sitting through a

contentious budget meeting and trying to decide if it’s time

to upgrade the irrigation system – technology issues may

be the last thing most owners want to confront. Wouldn’t it

be nice if installing software updates, working the bugs out

of your system and making sure backups are performed

properly were tasks that you and members of your staff

didn’t have to worry about?

Once you transition to a hosted golf management

software system you can leave all of those worries to

someone else. That’s because hosted software, as opposed

to programs that you install on your server, actually resides

on a provider’s server at another location and is accessed

through the Internet.

“It’s a way for someone else to take care of the

technology, so you can focus on your customers,” says

Tim Bramlet, software development manager for

ActiveGolf, part of Active Network, which provides hosted

software services through its golf management solutions.

Estimates are that only about 10 percent of golf courses

today are taking advantage of hosted technology. But

hosted providers say once you go hosted – and hand

over responsibility to install, update and maintain your

management software programs– you’ll never go back.

Hosted software benefits include convenience,

reduced frustration and cost savings as well as

increased security protection and assurance. Because

your system is backed up by a professional service,

your data is always secure and you don’t have to worry

about forgetting to perform backups. What’s more,

hosted software transfers today’s stringent personal

data protection requirements imposed by credit card

companies from the course owner to the provider.

Hosted software programs are accessed just as you

would any Internet site. Once on the site, you can run your

programs, view your data and produce reports as if the

software were residing on your own desktop.

Hosted software runs on servers that are housed in secure

facilities and is maintained and updated by technology

experts who can access your systems to solve problems and

provide support.

Cost savings come from the fact that facilities with hosted

systems don’t need powerful workstations, don’t have to buy

multiple software programs (or pay licensing fees) and don’t

have to maintain high-end servers. And because most of

the technical expertise needed is on someone else’s payroll,

you also can reduce your technology support resources.

host of BeNefits

HANDING OVER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE RESPONSIBILITIES TO A THIRD PARTY HELPS OWNERS FOCUS ON THEIR CORE BUSINESS | By Bill Bryant


“it’s a Way for soMeone else to take care of the technology, so you can focus on your custoMers.”

Users on hosted systems can be up and running in

far less time than it takes to get started with traditional

desktop software systems. And since they’re web-based,

hosted systems are easier than many older products to

understand and navigate. In addition, updates and new

software versions are automatically installed and ready to

use immediately upon release.

Golf course owners and operators also like the ability to

access their system over a standard computer and Internet

connection from anywhere they happen to be.

Without the initial cost of hardware, software,

maintenance and licensing fees, hosted expenses are

minimal compared to owning and maintaining your

own system, according to Bramlet. “Based on a monthly

subscription fee or a transactional model (where courses

trade tee times to lower their monthly service fees), the

course is going to see a significant savings when compared

to going it on their own.”

Wayne Simmons, the recreation facilities manager for

the City of Edmonton, believes the hosted software system

provided by ActiveGolf is going to be a good fit for the

city’s three public golf courses. “Each of the courses has

its own computer set-up, and they’re able to access the

software in a matter of minutes,” Simmons says. “It’s

definitely made things easier.”

He’s also comfortable that the system provides the high

degree of security required by the city to protect personal

information and financial collections data. “These were

areas where we needed complete assurance,” Simmons said.

“But we vetted the system with our financial people and we

were assured we would have the security we needed.”

Edmonton’s hosted service is helping the city run its first

online golf tee time reservation system. “With our current

financial data collection system, there are a lot of problems

in taking people’s registration information and putting it

through our system. This system will save us a lot of time

and headaches,” Simmons added.

as wireless technology becomes more abun-dant and cost effective, users of hosted software services will be able to access more of their data and run more programs from their phones and other wireless devices.

“Today’s wireless access can still be pretty spotty,” says Tim Bramlet, software develop-ment manager for activegolf. “But as wireless improves, you’ll be able to take better advantage of hosted applications because you’ll be able to do more while you’re disconnected.”

products available from activegolf that can be part of a hosted service and accessed from a wireless device include:

StArter module: Allows starters to confirm who is next on the tee and confirm that they’ve paid their green and cart fees. also helps marshals monitor pace of play.

GolF CArt PoS module: allows beverage cart attendant to record transaction into the pOS system and process credit cards.

PhySiCAl inventory module: a scanner plugs into a pDa and provides updates directly into the system.

hoSted BeneFitS

• Remote 24/7 web-based access

• Low upfront costs

• No license fees

• No ongoing maintenance fees

• Fully maintained infrastructure

• automated software updates

• Quick implementation updates

• Scalable to meet seasonal demand

• Security and reliability

• Back ups done on daily basis withprofessional storage

HOSTeD gOeS WiReLeSS




1.866.962.1887


Know Your [Potential] Customers.Customers care about service and the overall

experience, but for your customers and prospects, are online conveniences important as well? How about flexibility? These are important and valid questions to consider before evaluating potential partners and creating your lists of requirements. Ensure you find a provider who knows how to implement technology that enhances services and attracts customers based on the requirements you’ve defined.

Expect a Return on Investment.It’s important to find a partner whose offerings align

with your goals. Don’t buy more than you need and make sure that the software you implement and services you market will add value for your customers and your course. Your partner should bring something new to the table that will ultimately generate more money, not more expenses.

Join Software and Marketing Efforts.Make sure you understand the full scope of services

a potential partner can deliver. Companies that provide software and marketing solutions as an integrated offering will save your course time and money. A vendor that delivers both software and marketing solutions equates to a one-stop-shop for these two very important business functions that work synergistically with one another.

Consider a Trade.Imagine if you could drive more rounds and

revenues from new golf management software at no out-of-pocket cost to you. Look for a partner that is so confident in its software and marketing solutions that it’s willing to offer your course software at no up-front cost in exchange for rounds of golf sold on its Web site or other portal sites. Trade rounds you’re not currently selling and market your course through your partner’s site.

Stick to Experience.Your partner should have years of experience

serving the golf industry from both a software and marketing perspective. Ask potential partners how long they’ve been in business, how many customers they have, and don’t be shy about requesting references. An established, reliable company should have a laundry list of references who can speak to its software, marketing and customer support services.

When selecting a software and marketing partner, you should expect a comprehensive solution that streamlines all aspects of your administration, saves your customers and staff time, eliminates paperwork, and increases revenues through effective, targeted marketing into new, untapped resources.

Software and Marketing:

Choosing the Right Partner for Your Golf Course Operations

Technology and marketing are consistently ranked as two of the

top priorities for business leaders. That’s why savvy golf course owners and

operators recognize that golf management software with integrated marketing technologies is essential

to boosting course efficiencies and revenues. But how do you know which solutions provider will make

the best partner? How do you know what vendor will best support your business goals? And what kind

of return on investment should you expect from the software and marketing solutions? Below are a few

tips to guide you in choosing the right partner for your course:





1.866.962.1887


Streamline Operations. Improve Customer Service.

Streamline course operations with the most complete, powerful and integrated golf management software available. The software line, which includes GEN, Jencess Software and Fairway Systems, brings over 30 years of experience together to provide solutions for all business needs.

> Streamline operations and reduce operational costs> Increases security and reliability> Improve financial and management tracking and reporting> Improve customer service> Access your information in real time, anytime, anywhere

“Several other vendors said their software would do this or do that; Active proved it. Active’s golf solution beat out the competition by leaps and bounds. It’s simply the best.”

– Dave Cowan, General Manager, Saugeen Golf Club, ON

Leading Management Software


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