The golf industry is behind the times in almost every core aspect of running a business in this day and time. Most golf courses still have a website that provides no information, it does not collect any data from people visiting it, and looks like something that my 12 year old daughter could create in a few hours. These golf clubs need to embrace technology and develop a website that both promotes AND generates business. There are a handful of golf marketing businesses that specifically create websites to help generate more business for golf clubs, why aren’t more clubs taking advantage of them?

Another way the golf industry is behind the times is basically marketing in general. Look at how much effort clubs are putting into promoting themselves. Are they even attempting to promote their golf course? The average golf courses do the following things which they call “marketing”.

• They place a black and white ad in the local newspaper showing how they just discounted the price. This only gets them into discount wars with their competition which only causes them to lose MORE money. They should instead find something that shows what they excel at and increase their cost because of it.
• They place a boring ad in the yellow pages and local phone book that looks like every other ad. Honestly, with the invention of search engines such as Google and the amount of people who use the internet these days, how many people do you think still use the phone book to find information when they could just power up their computer and type in a search term? The answer is that phone book usage is dropping by ten percent almost every year! These clubs that are spending thousands of dollars a year on this single ad could be directing that extra money towards something more beneficial such as a website or direct mail campaign like I mentioned above
• They place an ad in the local penny saver.Once again, something that is proven to be ineffective in this day and time. Instead they should be looking into fusion marketing techniques and working with other businesses to promote their golf course. They could easily go to the local Audi dealer and give away a free round of golf with every car purchase. Not only will the dealership easily accept this offer, but it will get new people, with MONEY, at the course and they will easily make up the lost green fee revenue by the new players paying for a cart fee or eating after the round at the club house. They will even convert some of these players into returning players, which will boost residual income. Think about that for a second, if they charge forty dollars a round, and the new players plays 10 times a year, they just made an extra 0 off green fees alone. If you get 20 new players a year from the car dealership that’s an extra ,000 a year from a simple green fee promotion with a car dealership!

Another way golf clubs are slowly killing themselves is with real estate. A lot of golf communities that were doing great in the early 2000’s are now drowning in a sea of debt because of unsold lots, unsold homes, and not enough members. What can they do to help correct this? Let’s look at what Juliette Falls, which is a Golf Resort in Florida, in Dunnellon did. They first got a world-class website from a company named Legendary Marketing. They built their website into something that looks fantastic and promotes exactly what they do. Well guess what, the economy dropped off and now they have over forty homes that are in the price range of 0,000 to more than a million and no one was buying them. How can they turn this around? They came up with an incredible promotion that is how! At Juliette Falls you can stay in a Florida Luxury Golf Home worth over a million dollars, play a round of golf, enjoy the onsite spa and eat at a fancy restaurant for $199 a night. If they sell only one night for every day of the year, that is over ,000 in additional revenue for the resort AND they get new prospects and leads at the course every single day which they can use to promote to in the future! Why aren’t all the golf communities thinking this way?

As you can see, the golf industry is slowing killing itself by being behind the times in technology, marketing, real estate and a host of other things that will be addressed in a future article. If you are a member of a golf course, or even better part of the members committee, stand up and bring attention to the actions your golf course is taking. Tell your club they need to break the mold of what they have been doing because it is not working. Make them think outside the box! Make your golf course management company become accountable for the actions the club takes! It may be the only thing that they can do to save your golf resort!

There are a lot tips to selecting the school which is worthy of the investment, and this is not an exhaustive list .

1) Golfing style 

As with any topic or subject matter to learn, golf can be played in many styles. Some play conservatively, others, like me, more aggressively. But you must choose school or instructor that matches you ultimately.

Your skills, your personality, your style.

2) Problem areas  

I have trouble with slicing. I find that my shots slice to the right Consistently. You, to be sure, has at least one issue with your game or specific shot.You may want to found a school to address and help correct that shortcoming. If you come back from a long weekend and your slice has vanished, you would have had time (and money) well spent.

3) Instructor to class-size ratio 

This is a personal preference item. Some people learn in group setting (even craze the interaction). It might also depend on what you are trying to gain the school which one you actually choose.

4) Price 

If you improve your game, and thus your enjoyment,  golf is your life and no amount of money is too much. For others, there is big obstacle. If you are considering golf school then you know that most start above 00. There are some “big name” instructors offering half day lesson for ,000.

If you are price sensitive then, by all means, do not forget to add in travel, lodging, and food costs. Many times this “incidentals” could double the overall cost.

5)  Proximity 

What is your traveling distance? Is your schedule tight so slipping off within 100 miles for a half day lessons is all you can squeeze. When these offer last-minute specials you can jump on those quickly, One plus of keeping tabs on those schools “in your own backyard” is.

6) Length of training 

Like any good consultant would answer, it depends. It depends on whether you are looking for a long weekend, a day seminar, or wrapping a vacation around your training. This is an important factor on choosing a school so compare wisely.

What the types of courses or golf green?

Links courses, this is the traditional type of golf course, much like the golf course in the British Isles.  These courses are mostly located in coastal areas, on sandy soil and with artificial water and sand hazards.

Parkland courses resemble British parks as they have lawn-like fairways and many trees.

Heathland courses, they are less wooded as compared to parkland courses.  It has space that is more open and may even have tall grasses in them.

Desert courses are popular in Australia and some parts of the United States.  These courses as you know may not be as green as you think it to be.  It may be quite difficult to navigate the ball around this course because of the flat space.

Executive courses, these courses are generally smaller than the usual 18-hole golf course.  They are however well manicured that assists players to ensure that they will enjoy their time.

The above are only a few of the types of golf coursesplayers enjoy.  There are other types of courses but these are the most common courses and the United States Golf Association (USGA) and R&A, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews accept them.

In playing on the gold green, you need to exhibit golf etiquette and respect for the environment.  Some of the golf etiquette players need to keep in mind include the following:

- Do not talk or laugh too loudly that other players may loose concentration.

- Never block the way of other players, especially when they making a shot.

- Do not walk too fast or too slow that you may not be able to keep at pace with your plight partner.

- Play the ball right where it rested after a stroke

- Avoid causing damage to the green.  You may need to remove all traces before living the green.

The above are some of the golf etiquette that needs to be exhibited on the green.  They show respect for other players and respect to the green as well.

Knowing the golf ethics is one thing; the rules and regulation that are being enforced by the golf associations should also be followed while playing.  You therefore need to keep in mind the rules and regulation in combination with respect while playing.  Let me tell you that fairness and respect is the main contention of the rules of golf.  There are a number of rules and regulations being enforced but the main contention is fairness.

Finally, golfers need to carry with him the proper equipment especially the golf club.  This is to ensure that you will be comfortable executing your strokes.

It takes time executing a good swing, no overnight success.  Thus, patience and following the rules will ensure you will have a great time playing this game leisurely.

The oldest course in the world was back in St. Andrews Trails, located in the Royal Burgh of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. This course is known as the “home of golf”.

Even though it is commonly known that golf courses have eighteen holes, according to history, this has not always been so. Golfers at St. Andrews played on a route that was determined by the topography of the area. An eleven-hole course came about and players would play all eleven, turn around and play them again – twenty-two holes. Some thought that the holes were to short in 1764, so were combined with other holes. The number was reduced from eleven to nine, leaving a total of eighteen holes.

The size of the golf hole even goes back in history. The standard golf hole size is 4.25 inches in diameter. It was the St. Andrews Trails that were the founders of this standard size, with some assistance from the links at Musselburgh. The size was decided such because the folks of Musselburgh had invented the first acknowledged hole cutter in 1829. This cutter utilized a tool that was 4.25 inches in diameter. St. Andrews simply liked that size and adopted it for the games standard hole size.

The common used phrases in the game of golf are birdie, eagle and par. The word bird was a slang term in the 19th century that referred to anything considered remotely cool. So the term was used then for a great shot in a game of golf – one that led to a score under par – and was eventually turned into birdie. The word eagle followed with the same pattern as expected from the bird mentality. Par was used long before it became associated with the game of golf and basically meant something that was acceptable or average. The word simply became associated over time with the game of golf to indicate an ideal score among golfers.

Where did these rules come from? Well, you honestly cannot play a game, any game, without rules. So from the very beginning there had to have been understood rules to play along with. No one knows what those rules were as the rules were never officially written until they were specifically written in 1744 for the Annual Challenge for the Edinburgh Silver Club.

Player’s Abilities

A golfer might consider all or some of these factors when deciding to play at a particular local golf courses and in fact the player’s own abilities too are sure to affect their opinions about a particular course. A new golfer might not like to play at a course that is frequented by the pros and the pros in turn would not like to play at a course where the majority of golfers are amateurs. On the other hand, a group of young women that only occasionally play a round of golf would prefer playing at a local golf course where the terrain is easy and where they feel more confident of completing the course without encountering too many difficulties.

Sometimes the popularity of a local golf course also depends on what non-golfers think about such courses. If some of these non-golfers come across a nice course, their opinion would be very positive while if they discover a course that is unloved and rather drab their opinions will be negative.

There no doubts that a local golf course that is visually appealing is bound to enjoy a better reputation and so many times the owners of a local golf course will like to employ the best architects to ensure that their course stands out from the rest. Theoretically of course the more successful local golf courses are those that are designed with a view to be more appealing to golfers of various skill levels and which help to give every kind of golfer maximum playing pleasure and satisfaction.

A golfer’s own personal beliefs and tastes too play a very important role in deciding the popularity and reputation as well as success of different local golf courses. Also, by reading reviews of several different local golf courses you will be able to form an opinion of whether or not a particular course is one that you will in fact enjoy playing on. For some getting a good local golf course job represents a good means of not only improving their golfing abilities but to also earn good money as well.

Imagine working at a pretty local golf course that has a terrain to challenge your playing abilities and where the pay is as good if not better than the facilities. Surely, you could not ask for more.

For more information about golf please visit my Eagle Valley Golf Site