The purpose of this blog to discuss the business side of the golf industry, including golf architecture, golf club management and marketing, golf tourism, golf and health, golf equipment trends.
I thought when GPS range finder mobile applications and other digital mapping solutions are gaining momentum in the golf industry, a prestigious golf club like Royal Dornoch Golf Club would select Club Car's Visage solution. If they would take Visage then they would be able to provide a more sophisticated customer experience and increase revenues.
Namely, the Visage system enables users to contact with the club house (=>sell more tee time), pro shop and restaurant. In addition to these useful solutions, it provides precise yardages and available hole flyover as well.
Despite of all these benefits Royal Dornoch Golf Club purchased 7 Club Car Precedent i2.
The 2015 Troon Challenge has just ended at Troon North Golf Club (August 22-23, 2015) after 12 weeks of hard-fought competition contested on 35 courses, spanning 16 states. The game attracted more than 1,200 amateur golfers. This was a shamble type (combines elements of scramble and stroke play) of competition.
The winners are:
Gross division: Steve Blackford & Joseph Fox, Poston Butte Golf Club: 63-64 = 127
Don't worry, the owner Todd Perry will not shut down his golf club. Instead he selected Honours Golf to manage his golf club.
The Calhoun-based golf club is considered as one of the best in northeast Louisiana. At the center of the club, is the 18-hole championship golf course co-designed by John Floyd (who worked under Jack Nicklaus) and Bill Zimmerebner.
In addition to golf, Calvert Crossing offers a fully stocked golf shop and a warm and inviting pub-style restaurant featuring specialty salads, freshly-prepared burgers and sandwiches, and weekly Sunday brunches.
The banquet facility hosts special events ranging from weddings and holiday parties to business luncheons and political rallies. The club also offers two hard-surface tennis courts and an outdoor swimming facility.
I wrote this down, because you will not find this information on the golf club's website...
One of the advantages of this partnership is that as an Honours affiliate club, members of Calvert Crossing now have reciprocal privileges at Honours Golf and Troon managed resort and daily-fee clubs throughout the world.
I think Honours Golf will have to come up with a more attractive and advantageous value proposition on the golf club's website. They will have to think about how they can improve customer experience as we can hardly find such services that would help us for instance to book tee time. Just to feel the difference, check out PGA Catalunya Resort.
It looks like there is a retro feeling in the golf industry. Wilson Staff 88002 putter returned after 52 years in 2014 and most recently Callaway Golf's Great Big Bertha.
Now Cobra Golf is introducing the new KING LTD driver. It is the next generation of product under the KING COBRA name. The KING LTD is a brand new flagship offering. Cobra Golf reassures that the KING LTD isn’t a replacement for anything in the current Cobra lineup.
Cobra Golf together with The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and Nanoracks LLC conducted in the International Space Station a material science research. What Cobra Golf implemented from the findings in the new KING LTD driver are:
SpacePort window that is incorporated into the sole of the driver. This interesting feature is locked in place by the use of Spiralock thread technology. A great advantage of this technology is the ability to withstand high vibrations and loads during impact without over tightening or loosening.
The SpacePort system consists of a 16-gram Aerospace grade Aluminium dual-purpose weightand translucent port system. This enables us to see the internal driver technology: 811 Titanium E9 Face, Low CG Hosel, and Textreme Carbon Fiber Crown (this is the 1st time when Cobra Golf is using this material, before that he used carbon fiber crowns; it is 20% stronger than the carbon fiber crown; see picture below).
Thanks to the The Port there was is no need for Hot Melt Glue + saved 4 grams.
The Port also allows final swing-weight tuning, with 0-12g Tungsten weight, at time of build to precisely fit the golfer.
We can find 28 grams of discretionary weight (Callaway Golf in the Great Big Bertha driver is using a 10g sliding weight on the perimeter of the clubhead to add stability.) strategically positioned in and around the Port perimeter positioning the Center of Gravity low and to the back of the clubhead (=higher ball speed and higher launch angles + lower spin). There is nothing novel in this positioning. By the way, this is the lowest Center of Gravity on the driver market today.
We can find 4 internal technologies in the new KING LTD driver:
crown is ultra-light TeXtreme Carbon composite (20% lighter than a standard carbon fiber crown; also used in the aerospace industry);
A thin, lightweight 811 titanium face with next generation E9 zoning removes 10 grams from the face structure.
The hosel structure has been lowered which also contributes to lowering the CG of the club head.
The body is constructed of lightweight 811 titanium with an optimized variable thickness sole incorporating a back weight port and 12 gram tungsten weight.
The KING LTD driver is available in:
5 lofts – 9°, 9.5°, 10.5°, 11.5°, and 12°and three draw settings – 9.5°D, 10.5°D and 11.5°D.
The KING LTD PRO is also available in:
5 lofts – 7.0°, 7.5°, 8.5°, 9.5°, and 10° and three fade settings: 7.5°F, 8.5°F, 9.5°F.
Both options are equipped with an Aldila Rogue Black 60g graphite shaft and Lamkin UTX/KING LTD grip. A variety of custom shafts are also available.
Availability for KING LTD and KING LTD PRO begins in the US in early November at a suggested retail price of $449.
Cleveland Golf has just launched its 2 new game-improvement wedges, the Smart Sole 2.0 C wedge and the Smart Sole 2.0 S wedge. The Smart Sole 2.0 C wedge meant to eliminate the chunked wedge. The Smart Sole 2.0 C is encouraging crisper, more consistent greenside chips with easier control of launch and distance (see picture below).
The Smart Sole 2.0 wedges are only offered in a premium Black Satin finish, which reduces glare and creates contrast between the ball and wedge for better alignment. The Smart Sole 2.0 wedges feature an improved Feel Plaque which dampens vibration while helping to relocate more of the weight around the perimeter of the club for increased forgiveness and greater consistency on all shots.
The Smart Sole 2.0 S wedge is designed for "bunker fighters". The Smart Sole 2.0 S wedge features a forgiving sole with optimal loft and shape to promote more solid contact and easier launch out of bunkers.
The new Smart Sole 2.0 wedges will be priced as:
MAP price of $109.99 (steel shaft) and $119.99 (graphite shaft).
The Smart Sole 2.0 wedges will be available for pre-booking on Friday, September 4, 2015, and will launch in North America on Friday, September 18, 2015.
Scotland is still excited about hosting The Solheim Cup in 2019. In March it was questionable whether Scotland will launch a formal bid in the summer. Now it is sure that they will officially bid for the hosting of The Solheim Cup in 2019.
Scots take this bid really seriously. The Scottish Government (Jamie Hepburn, the Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health) is strongly supporting this initiative. The bid team has been lead by VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
After a long selection process, The Scottish Government, the Scottish Ladies Golf Association, Scottish Golf Union, Transport Scotland and current Scottish LET professionals and of course VisitScotland selected Gleneagles (was acquired by Ennismore for around £150m) as an ideal bidding partner. The game would be played on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles.
They calculate with 30,000 spectators per day to the Perthshire venue including a strong contingent travelling from outwith Scotland and from overseas.
I think, the opportunity to host such a big golf event can contribute to women's participation in golf. It would be nice to boost women's golf club membership to above 20% in Scotland (and of course elsewhere also).
However VisitScotland has to come up with more convincing reasons to believe (RTB) than emphasizing Scotland's golf history and heritage. We also cannot be sure that the weather will be favourable to the event (see what happened during the British Open this year).
Other weakness of Scotland and Gleneagles is what can they offer to the spectators beside the game. My impression is that the crowds are largely made up of the ladies sections of golf clubs plus family and friends. If this is really the case, then what can the organizers offer to these ladies??(e.g. shopping opportunity, spas etc.) Well, when I think about Scotland, golf, whiskey and James Bond come to my mind first.
This is why I think Turkey, Spain, Portugal or Italy can be tough competitors for Scotland.
In April I covered Cleveland Golf's new TFi line of putters, the Smart Square putter. Now here come the new models of the TFi line of putters.
The new TFi 2135 putter and the TFi Smart Square putter are the latest edition of the TFI line of putters. Just like in the first edition of Smart Square, at the new models Cleveland Golf continues to focus on helping golfers to avoid misalignment and off-center hits.
So the innovation in Cleveland Golf's TFi 2135 putters and the TFi Smart Suqare putters is the new alignment technology called 2135. Cleveland Golf actually raised the alignment line of the new TFi 2135 putters to the exact radius of a golf ball, or 21.35 millimeters
The alignment feature placed at the most optimal position for precision alignment, which is at dead center of the golf ball.
The TFi Smart Square technology is based on a different concept. The essence of this technology is the Dual Axis Alignment. Basically Cleveland Golf put 2 squares on the top of the putter (see picture below) that can help us align our putter correctly.
The TFi Smart Square putters feature the TFi face, which consists of a milled copper infused face cap over a copolymer insert for better feel and consistency.
Whatever putter you will choose, you will still have to have a straight eye...
Pricing information:
TFi 2135 blade putters: MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) of $129.99, and a MAP of $169.99 for the counter-balanced model.
TFi Smart Square mallet putters will carry a MAP of $159.99 and a MAP of $199.99 for the counter-balanced model.
Availability:
Official launch in North America will be on September 18, 2015.
The new TFi 2135 and TFi Smart Square putters will be available for pre-booking on Friday, September 4, 2015,
Of course DIRECTV will cover the 97th PGA Championship at Whistling Straits as part of their “PGA TOUR Experience". I think you have already noticed on your TV. In February I had already reported that DIRECTV signed a 5-year contract with the PGA Tour.
DIRECTV's "PGA Championship Experience" will showcase its exclusive, four-in-one-screen Mix Channel along with an interactive menu of apps for instant access to player stats, bios, scorecards and tee
times.
You will not miss the highlights of this four-day event, if you download PGA's mobile app ( for iOS and Android mobiles). Did you know that 77% of us now watch TV with a laptop, phone or tablet nearby? I assume the searches via these devices will reach new peaks during the game, also because of the high adoption of smartphones and tablets.
We should not neglect the phenomenon of social broadcasting! People like to to push entertaining and inspirational content out to their network
The PGA Championship Experience Mix Channel (701) includes: the main TNT/CBS broadcast (702); Marquee Group (703); Par 3 coverage (704) and PGA Championship In-depth (705) coverage. Any four channels on the Mix - each fully produced with its own announcers - can be tuned tofull-screen.
In this post, Hanno Kross, the CEO of Estonian Golf & Country Club continues to explain how can we get rid of obstacles of golf participation:
I heard already few years ago that there is a company in Italy which develops the ball and a club where it has a chip inside so when you hit your shot, you can see the statistics from your device in detail and of course you can search your ball also and find it.
I personally don't care if there is someone somewhere who says that this is not allowed and I wouldn't allow these also in our club championship but on a Sunday round when people want to play a fast round of golf or they want to make their own tournament using some software what is available for that - I would encourage to use the technology!
And think about the environmental impact for the golf courses when they could mow weekly less rough for example when these lost golf balls would be in use? For every golf course hundreds of thousands of Euros when combined the fuel, man hours, depreciation of the machinery, water management etc. The players are still in huge trouble when they find their ball and still the pros have a lot of work but the enjoyment from the game for certain type of players would be a lot better. Maybe we are losing these type of players today, we just don't know...
So the typical presentation in golf today is that someone steps to the stage and starts to ask, how do we modernize golf when the golf club membership is declining and juniors don't take up the sport as they did years ago. They start to suggest many things how to imply for the youngsters and rethink the sport that maybe we need to go online! And be more accessible.
Golf is few decades behind when we compare ourselves to flight companies or hotel businesses. Try to remember how you booked a holiday 20 or 10 years ago and how you do it now and think what there is available in golf... We are still using same methods as hotels used maybe 10 or 20 years ago. We are going to the tour operator or sending an email to book the tee time... And we are surprised to see some golf clubs or courses in trouble...
I think majority of the golf businesses have been very lucky, it's been easy for them and still the shock hasn't come, we are still lazy and don't look the businesses from the clients’ perspective, especially the new ones. They don't care so much about the speed of the green rather how they can spend time with their friends or family and have fun!
I think dealing with juniors is important but if we really want to grow in participation then we have to look new possible players from the age groups 30-40 who first time in their lives have some money and maybe flexibility and want to escape for few hours from work or small children. Preferably with their wives!
We have to advertise to the 60+ years as they have time and money and they live 20 years more than they grandparents did. They have 15-20 years very active life still ahead of them and golf is superb for them for socializing and being fit for the last third of their lives. How many associations or clubs are putting these age groups for one priority when they talk about growing the game? Not many so far, I think.
I would like to end this post with our clubs president’s words that we often do the same things and expect different results in our businesses... I think it is more than true in the golf business generally and those who have taken the guts to change and be more open they are sharing their win with the players already. Golf has been played more than 600 years and will be played another 600 because it is simply the best game in the World.
Honma Golf found an interesting venue to present and sell its golf clubs. From now on, we will be able to test or even buy Honma Golf's golf clubs at iPlayGolfUK. Mathieu Humel, a Honma Golf expert from Paris trained the local PGA professionals about what makes Honma Golf unique (e.g. hand-crafted).
It is an interesting opportunity to compare Honma Golf with other premium brands like Callaway Golf, Titleist or TaylorMade. However, Honma Golf should look for more exclusive places (e.g. private golf clubs) to provide a more suitable context to its golf clubs even though iPlayGolfUK is a good place.
Honma golf clubs in the ultimate 5 Star specification can cost over £75,000, with individual clubs costing almost £6,000 apiece. Sets of Honma irons start at £1,130, Honma woods start at £400 apiece, and individual iron clubs including putters and wedges start at just £195.
Recent Comments