Community - GolfBusiness

TO AUGUSTA
Bill Stevens buys
the Texas company and
moves it to Augusta.
CAROCHE WITH
ALL-ALUMINUM CHASSIS
Two innovations that changed the industry
and made our brand what it was.
DS
Showed the world, and the
competition, what a golf
car could be.
4-CYCLE ENGINE
More power. More rounds per tank.
Less noise than any gas golf car.
ARMORFLEX®
An advanced polymer body for
better color, lower maintenance
and higher resale value.

ALWAYS DRIVEN
Considering Where We’ve Been,
Imagine Where We’re Going.
VISAGE
Golf’s groundbreaking
mobile information system.
FIRST 4-WHEEL
DRIVE UTILITY VEHICLE
The 294 took utility work
to a whole new level.
IQ SYSTEM
State-of-the-art energy management
in the palm of your hand.
The culture of innovation that permeates Club Car® began on day one in 1958. Since then, virtually
every advance in the industry originated at Club Car. You know where to look for the next one.
Find out more at clubcar.com.

Greensmaster ®
TriFlex TM & TriFlex TM Hybrid
©2013 The Toro Company. All rights reserved.

WE DIDN’T JUST
RAISE THE BAR
WE PUT IT LIGHT YEARS
OUT OF REACH.
The new Toro ® Greensmaster ® TriFlex is the first riding greensmower that
truly cuts with the precision of a walker. But don’t take our word for it, see
what other customers are saying. Visit toro.com/leaderboard.
The Leader in Golf.

Viewpoint
From the
CEO
T
he unsung hero is the person who makes every organization work. This kind
of person isn’t looking for accolades or attention; in fact, they often don’t
like the extra attention. Their motivation and satisfaction comes from a deeper
place. He or she derives satisfaction from seeing the job done well and watching
the organization they care about progress and grow stronger.
For the NGCOA, that person is Anne Lyndrup.
Anne has been a part of the NGCOA family for more than
two decades, and she’s had a hand in virtually everything we’ve
done during that time. Recently, however, Anne announced her
retirement, thereby closing the chapter on one phase of her life
and opening another.
It would take much more ink than I have available to catalogue
all Anne has done for the NGCOA. When she started,
there were three of us in the office and we
all shared the responsibilities, from folding
the newsletter to going on the road and
Anne Lyndrup, the NG-
COA’s unsung hero for giving presentations. As the organization
more than 20 years grew, Anne took on more and more responsibility.
Quite often, that required her to do things she didn’t
enjoy but simply had to be done.
Of course, most of us have had to step out of our comfort zone
from time to time, but the difference between Anne and the rest of us is that she did it
without the attendant moaning and groaning. A good example is when she functioned
as our bookkeeper/controller/human resources coordinator. It was like going
to the dentist every day, but Anne did it willingly (and well) for years
because it had to be done. Anne also made innumerable trips on behalf
of the association during her 20-plus years of service and represented the
NGCOA with great distinction.
As much as these efforts have meant to the association, Anne’s greatest
contribution has been imagining, organizing and producing the NGCOA
Annual Conference. What started as a small gathering of course owners
with similar interests has grown to become the largest,
most diverse meeting of golf course owners in the industry.
It isn’t hyperbole to suggest that Anne, more than anyone, has
been responsible for this success.
Just as important as what Anne has done for the NGCOA is the way in
which she’s done it. She has always put the team ahead of individual accomplishment,
all the while exhibiting good humor and grace. She’s experienced
the ups and downs, the good times and bad, and through it all, managed to
keep a smile on her face and a positive attitude always on display.
So on behalf of the staff, the NGCOA board and its members, I’d like to thank
you, Anne, for everything. It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with you and
to call you a friend.
The official publication of the National Golf
Course Owners Association
March 2013 Volume 19, Number 3
Ronnie Musselwhite
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
RMUSSELWHITE@NGCOA.ORG
Dave Alexander
ART DIRECTOR
DALEXANDER@NGCOA.ORG
Clinton Hall
DESIGNER
CHALL@NGCOA.ORG
contributors
Steve Adams, Jeff Barr, Trent Bouts, Rob
Carey, David Cutler, Kyle Darbyson, Steve EU-
BANKS, Steve Donahue, David Gould, Andres
lara, Dave Moser, Phil Wrigglesworth
advertising staff
KELLY MACPHERSON
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNT MANAGER
KMACPHERSON@NGCOA.ORG
BARBARA SEARLE
CLASSIFIEDS, GOLF COURSE MARKET
BSEARLE@NGCOA.ORG
EditORIAL Advisory Board
MARK BURRIS
OWNER, BURRIS, AN IDEA AGENCY, GREENSBORO, NC
WHITNEY CROUSE
FOUNDING PARTNER, AFFINITI GOLF PARTNERS, ALPHARETTA, GA
HENRY DELOZIER
PRINCIPAL, GLOBAL GOLF ADVISORS, PHOENIX, AZ
ALLISON GEORGE
GENERAL MANAGER,
TOAD VALLEY GOLF COURSE, PLEASANT HILL, IA
LARRY HIRSH
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
GOLF PROPERTY ANALYSTS, HARRISBURG, PA
BILL HORN
GENERAL MANAGER,
THE GOLF COURSES AT INCLINE VILLAGE, INCLINE VILLAGE, NV
LAWREN JUST
OWNER, PERSIMMON RIDGE GOLF CLUB, LOUISVILLE, KY
GEORGE KELLEY
PRINCIPAL, GREENWAY GOLF, STEVINSON, CA
DAVID “ROCK” LUCAS
PRESIDENT/OPERATING PARTNER,
CHARWOOD COUNTRY CLUB, WEST, COLUMBIA, SC
KIM THOMAS
PARTNER/DIRECTOR OF GOLF SERVICES,
GOLF COURSE SPECIALISTS, WASHINGTON, DC
GOLF BUSINESS OFFICES
291 SEVEN FARMS DRIVE, 2ND FLOOR,
CHARLESTON, SC 29492
WWW.GOLFBUSINESS.COM
GOLFBUSINESS@NGCOA.ORG
PHONE (843) 881-9956
FAX (843) 856-3288
FOR ADVERTISING SALES INFORMA-
TION, CONTACT (800) 933-4262
Golf Business ®, USPS #016-601, ISSN #10995943, (Volume 19, Number 3) is published
monthly by the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA), 291 Seven
Farms Drive, 2nd Floor, Charleston, SC 29492, (843) 881-9956. Golf Business is distributed
free to qualified subscribers and is $49 for 1-year U.S. non-qualified. Single
copy and back issue price $10 in the U.S. and $15 in Canada. U.S. funds only. For
address changes, eight weeks’ notice required. The articles and other information in
this publication are advisory only and are not intended to represent the views, opinions,
or endorsement of the NGCOA. ©2013, National Golf Course Owners Association.
All rights reserved under International and Pan American copyright conventions. The
publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Reproduction in whole or
in part without written permission is prohibited. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage
paid at Charleston, SC and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address
changes to Golf Business, P.O. Box 321 , Congers, NY 10920-0321.

I NDIVIDUALLY SEALED
FLA W L ESSLY PRESE R V E D
Introducing the biggest innovation in handmade cigars since the humidor – the NEW
locked-in humidity package. Available for Macanudo, America’s #1 selling premium cigar,
as well as Partagas, Punch and Excalibur. Now wherever you go you can enjoy the
best-selling premium cigars in the U.S. – individually wrapped straight from the factory.
To learn how our top-selling brands and the new locked-in humidity
packaging will increase your profits, please call 800-526-4653.
Visit our new website at cigarworld.com
© 2013 General Cigar, Inc.

CONTENTS
March ‘13
20
24
FEATURES
A Penny For Your Time I BY David gould
In the quest to attract new customers, programming gets personal
March of the Ultradwarfs I By trent bouts
Operators across the nation are converting to new
varieties of bermudagrass. Is switching right for you Page 30
DEPARTMENTS
4 I
8 I
11 I
18 I
20 I
Viewpoint
Flip Side
First Off
On Course
Converting from course
to farm proved to a be
sound move for James
and Stephanie Lemon
Accelerate
Melanie Maslow returned
to the family business and
is now climbing a different
ladder of success
36 I
38 I
41 I
46 I
56 I
Approach Shots
Through the highs and lows,
Robert Elwinger has soldiered on
at Over Lake Golf Course
Strategy
With much still unknown, course
operators weigh their options on
the new healthcare mandate
Community
Members Only
calling card
Melanie Maslow is
moving on up at
Huntsville Golf Club.
20
ON THE COVER
24
30
SERVICES
THE GOLF COURSE MARKET 52 GB CLASSIFIEDS 53 AD INDEX 55
ON THE WEB: Audio highlights from Mike Veeck’s Annual Conference keynote address

Flip Side
From the
Editor
L
egendary marketer Mike Veeck has generated millions of dollars for
various professional baseball organizations by developing fun-filled
game-day promotions that create buzz and appeal to customers young and
old. His strategies have run the gamut—ranging from innovative to downright
crazy—but as he explained during his keynote address at the NGCOA
Annual Conference, they were all grounded in a great idea (see page 11). That
statement really resonated with me when Veeck made it because, ironically
enough, I was scheduled to lead a session later that day
dubbed “Simply the Best: Golf Business Ideas of the Year.”
Ultimately, ideas are why this magazine exists. Each
month, Golf Business strives to present an array of ideas
that have helped golf course owners run more efficient,
profitable businesses. At the end of the year, literally
hundreds of real-world solutions have appeared within
the pages of the magazine.
With so much useful information, we felt we were being
a little remiss by not doing more to highlight some
of the more creative ones. So we went back through each
issue of Golf Business from the past 12 months and identified
five of the most unique ideas in three categories:
Revenue generators—Ideas or innovations that have
produced significant, measurable and sustainable income
gains for a facility operator.
Cost cutters—Strategies or approaches that have lowered operating
costs for an owner without sacrificing quality of the experience or product.
Customer creators—Programs or solutions that have helped an operator
attract new customers or retain current ones.
Afterwards, we sent these finalists to a panel of judges who read the stories
and voted on the ones they felt were the best. The three ideas that received the
most votes were named the Golf Business Ideas of the Year for 2012.
Much like the promotions that Veeck has employed at his ballparks, this
year’s Ideas of the Year—Whitey O’Malley’s “Family Fun Nights” at Saddleback
Golf Club in Firestone, Colorado (incidentally, an idea he “borrowed” from Allison
George at Toad Valley Golf Course in Pleasant Hill, Iowa); Nathan Crace’s
conversion of gas-burning maintenance vehicles to propane power at The Refuge
in Magee, Mississippi; and Steve Graybill’s construction of a nine-hole short
course in the middle of a cornfield at Foxchase Golf Club in Stevens, Pennsylvania—demonstrate
that ideas come in all shapes and sizes: big, small, inexpensive,
expensive, easy to implement or hard. But what these winners also show is that
good ideas are the cornerstone of the magazine and Annual Conference, as well as
the association as a whole. And, more importantly, they’re worth sharing.
So if you have an idea that you’ve implemented at your course, I encourage
to share it. Who knows—next year it might be you that’s honored as one of
the Golf Business Ideas of the Year.
national golf course
owners association
291 Seven Farms Dr., 2nd Floor,
Charleston, SC 29492
phone (843) 881-9956
fax (843) 881-9958
www.ngcoa.org
ngcoa Executive Board
Linda Rogers, President, Juday Creek Golf Course, Granger, IN
Matt Galvin, Vice President, RDC Golf Group, Inc., Monroe Township, NJ
Rock Lucas, Secretary, Charwood Country Club, West Columbia, SC
Frank Romano, Treasurer, Scenic View Country Club, Slinger, WI
Michael K. Hughes, Chief Executive Officer
Bill Aragona, Immediate Past President, Boulder Creek Golf & CC,
Boulder Creek, CA
ngcoa board of directors
Kathy Aznavorian, Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center, Plymouth, MI
Bill Brown, Mont Cascades Golf Club, Cantley QC, Canada
Dan Clark, Willow Creek Golf Course, Des Moines, IA
Dana Garmany, Troon Golf, Scottsdale, Arizona
Michael Hatch, Acumen Golf, Chesterfield, VA
Peter Hill, Billy Casper Golf, Vienna, VA
Jim Hinckley, Century Golf Partners, LP, Addison, TX
Jeff Hoag, Scott Lake Country Club, Comstock Park, MI
Todd Ingraham, Bunker Hill Golf Course, Medina, OH
Walter Lankau, Jr., Stow Acres Country Club, Stow, MA
Dick Schulz, The Oaks Course, Covington, GA
Ralph Stading, Lewis River Golf, Woodland, WA
Bill Stine, Golf Enterprises, Kissimmee, FL
Dick Stuntz, The Oaks, Lawrence, KS
Marcel Welling, BurgGolf Holdings, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
national advisory board
Claye Atcheson, Marriott Golf
Joe Beditz, CEO and President, National Golf Foundation
David Fay, Former Executive Director, United States Golf Association
Doug Howe, Century Golf Partners, LP
Frank Jemsek, Cog Hill Golf Club
Rees Jones, Rees Jones Incorporated
Steve Melnyk, ABC Sports, Riverside Management Company
Stephen F. Mona, CAE, CEO, World Golf Foundation
David Pillsbury, COO, PGA Tour Golf Course Properties
Gary Schaal, Past President, PGA of America
William H. Sherman, Sherman Golf Associates
ngcoa staff
Mike Hughes, Chief Executive Officer
Mike Tinkey, Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Trudy Eyrich, Controller
Thomas Smith, Network/Web Administrator
Brittany Hedrick, Accounting-Office Administrator
Susan Butler, Business Development Coordinator
Rutledge Baker, Account Manager, Partner Relations
Anne Lyndrup, Director of Player Development, Director of
Trade Show & Conference
Scotti Corley, CMP, Meeting and Events Manager
Steven Rudnicki, Associate Director of Marketing Communications
Joe Rice, Director of Membership
Barbara Searle, Associate Director of Membership
Nancy Downie, Regional Membership Manager
Ryan Johnson, Membership Acquisition Manager
Ronnie Musselwhite, Editor-in-Chief, Golf Business
Dave Alexander, Art Director, Golf Business
Clinton Hall, Designer
Kelly MacPherson, Account Manager, Golf Business

THE STAKES ARE TOO BIG TO SETTLE FOR
ANY
NYTH
ING LESS.
As a world leade
r with over 100 private clubs, ClubCorp relies
on E-
Z-GO
® to de
live
ver a lot more
than
reliable vehicles. With
access to E-Z-GO’
O’s industry-leadi
ng suppo
port
net
etwo
work
, Club
Corp
has
a pa
rt
ne
r as they host
over 3 million rounds
of premier golf
every
year,
as well
as prof
ofes
essi
sion
al
and charity tourna
ments.
Because
to get to the
top, you have
to ru
n wi
th the
bes
est.
See Cl
ubCo
Corp
rp’s
sto
tory
at ez
go
.com
om/R
/Rea
lRes
ul
ts
“ WITH A FLEET OF
OVER 9,000, THE
DEPENDABILITY
FROM E-Z-GO HAS
BEEN CRITICAL.”
ERIC AFFELDT
President/Chief Executive Officer
ClubCorp
REAL STORIES. REAL RESULTS.
©2013 E-Z-GO Division of Textron Inc. All rights reserved.

As the only association dedicated exclusively to golf course
owners and operators, the NGCOA offers programs and
services to help members run more successful businesses.
Your Search Is Over
The NGCOA is the solution you’ve been looking for.
Whether you’re wanting to connect with course operators in your area, hunting for new ideas to ll your tee sheet, or trying
to save money on supplies for your f&b operation, the National Golf Course Owners Association has you covered.

First
NEWS, VIEWS,
[ TRENDS & ANALYSIS]
Off
Mike Veeck challenged
attendees of the 2013 NGCOA
Annual Conference to
defy convention
Effecting Change
O
ne of Mike Veeck’s most successful promotions
turned into one of his biggest nightmares.
Challenged by his father, the late owner of the
Chicago White Sox, to come up with an idea to sell
tickets to a White Sox-Detroit Tigers doubleheader
in 1979, Veeck created what came to be known as
“Disco Demolition” night. The promotion drew
60,000 fans, many of whom brought disco albums
to the game to be exploded in a dumpster on the
field. Things got out of hand when some 10,000
fans poured from the stands and onto the field,
continued on page 12

First Off
continued from page 11
forcing the White Sox to forfeit the
second game of the doubleheader.
“I have seen some promotions literally
go up in smoke,” said Veeck, the keynote
speaker at the 2013 NGCOA Annual Conference.
“But it’s never stopped me.”
Veeck has worked for a number of
Major League Baseball clubs and is a partial
owner of several minor league teams,
including the Charleston (South Carolina)
RiverDogs, the Ft. Myers Miracle
and the St. Paul Saints. He encouraged
golf course owners and operators to
think creatively to create promotions
that tempt the outrageous while building
their businesses. The key elements of a
successful promotion include planning,
research, media support and testing.
Effective promotions do not have to be
expensive, Veeck said, but they do need
to be grounded in a great idea.
“Nothing I say here today will cost
you a nickel to do, but you do have to
have an idea,” said Veeck, whose zany
promotional ideas have included hiring
a blind announcer in 1995 to call
a Chicago Cubs-Florida Marlins game
and bringing in a group of mimes to
perform instant replays.
Great ideas share three characteristics,
according to Veeck: They are unique,
they create a dramatic difference in your
business, and they give fans a reason to
believe they should participate. “If you
just have two of those three things, you’ll
get at least 240 percent return on your
investment,” he said.
In addition, Veeck said great
promotions should be complemented
by strong customer service. “We’re in
the experiential business, and service
drives the experience, which drives the
memory.” As an example of his commitment
to customer service and satisfaction,
Veeck sends handwritten notes to
each of his season ticket holders.
Meanwhile, one of the best ways to
improve service and satisfaction is to
welcome complaints, Veeck said. “Nobody
wants to get them, but they’re the
best information we can get.”
Most importantly, Veeck said, don’t
stop promoting, even when times are
tough. “Research shows that the companies
that continued to invest during the
recession are growing at more than 200
percent today, much faster than the ones
that pulled back because they didn’t think
they could afford it,” Veeck said.
A progressive spirit and the willingness
to challenge convention—much
like the ill-fated-yet-wildly-effective
promotion that jump-started Veeck’s career—can
change a company’s fortunes
and keep customers coming back for
more. “The people
who succeed are
the ones who take Extra
the time to look at Extra
Want more highlights
their business and
from the 2013 NGCOA
tear it apart,” Veeck
Annual Conference
Turn to page 46
said. —Bill Bryant
Educational opportunities like
Answers On the Hour abounded
at the Golf Industry Show.
MAKING A MARK ON THE INDUSTRY
TALK OF A FISCAL CLIFF WAS BUT A DISTANT MEMORY as convention center aisles
were crowded and conversations were constant at the Golf Industry Show, which
was held in conjunction with the NGCOA Annual Conference in San Diego.
“Having been in the golf industry for such a long time, I haven’t seen
much that surprises me,” said Mike Hughes, CEO of the NGCOA. “But the
level of vibrancy on the trade show floor—from the enthusiasm of the exhibitors
to the exuberance of the attendees—caught me off guard just a bit. And
I consider myself an optimist.”
Final numbers support Hughes’ claim. The Golf Industry Show attracted
6,018 qualified buyers, who spent time with 515 exhibiting companies covering
172,700 square feet of exhibition space. Total attendance eclipsed 13,000.
In addition to walking the trade show floor, attendees took part in a variety
of on-site educational programming. Offerings ranged from Tech Tips on the Half, which featured such topics as using
technology to drive revenue and customer relationships, and tips to avoid credit card fraud, to Answers On the Hour, with
programming that ranged from strategies for buying and selling a course to redesigning pro shops to meet changing customer
needs. Collectively, the exhibit/educational format appealed to trade show-goers and exhibitors alike.
“The trade show industry as a whole is struggling, but I was very impressed with how much organizers have changed the
show and how they’re constantly working to implement changes that will keep the show fresh,” said Matt Shaffer, superintendent
of Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Perhaps more importantly, the buzz generated at the Golf Industry Show—particularly coming on the heels of positive
reviews from the PGA Merchandise Show (see page 14)—bodes well for the coming year. “The feedback I received was
extremely positive,” noted Rhett Evans, executive director of the GCSAA. “There is optimism for 2013.”

Industry Pulse
December 2012 Monthly Average Rounds Played / Days Open Comparison
The Power
of Print
D
ESPITE REPORTS OF ITS DEMISE, the
printed word remains an extremely
relevant outlet for marketers looking
to reach the golfing
public. So says a
National Golf
Foundation
survey of media
preferences.
According to
the report, core
golfers overwhelmingly
prefer golf magazines
for “golf travel news and articles”
and “equipment news and articles.”
The Golf Channel outpaces golf-related
magazines for “golf-related instruction,”
with Web sites, other television outlets
and mobile apps trailing further still.
“To me, the research validates that
over the last seven or eight years the
pendulum has swung way too far, way
too fast away from print,” says Greg
Nathan, senior vice president of NGF.
The findings, which fly in the face of
many mainstream reports that suggest
print readership and advertising
are going the way of dinosaurs, didn’t
surprise some course operators. “Magazines
provide informative editorial
about cool destinations, accompanied
by great photographs,” says Kris
Strauss, vice president of sales and
marketing for OB Sports. “Our magazine
budget obviously focuses on golf
publications, not non-golf magazines,
because our audience is golfers.”
For course owners searching for a
quick takeaway, the lesson is clear:
“You have to seek out the best audiences
to deliver the best ROI,” Nathan notes.
And, in most cases, that includes print.
continued on page 15
Facility Type
% Change
% Change
Average Rounds Average Rounds
Average Days Average Days
Played 2012 Played 2011
Open 2012 Open 2011
All Facility Types 829 860 -3.6% 15.9 15.9 0.0%
Private 725 743 -2.4% 16.7 16.6 0.5%
Daily Fee 828 866 -4.4% 15.1 15.2 -0.7%
Muni/Mil/Univ 976 1,021 -4.4% 16.7 16.3 2.2%
Resort 1,006 988 1.8% 16.5 16.2 1.8%
2012 Year-to-Date Average Rounds Played / Days Open Comparison
Facility Type
% Change
% Change
YTD 2012
YTD 2011
YTD 2012
YTD 2011
Rounds Played Rounds Played
Days Open Days Open
All Facility Types 24,884 23,383 6.4% 290.5 272.8 6.5%
Private 19,402 18,323 5.9% 284.7 269.4 5.7%
Daily Fee 26,071 24,394 6.9% 291.2 271.8 7.1%
Muni/Mil/Univ 31,527 29,681 6.2% 299.1 281.0 6.4%
Resort 23,102 22,094 4.6% 289.3 275.5 5.0%
December 2012 Median Golf Fee Revenue Per Facility
Facility Type Median 2012 Median 2011 % Change Sample Size
All Facility Types $27,506 $28,387 -3.1% 1,154
Private $18,834 $17,840 5.6% 282
Daily Fee $26,656 $28,231 -5.6% 413
Muni/Mil/Univ $28,599 $30,351 -5.8% 363
Resort $104,850 $107,634 -2.6% 96
December 2012 Median Gross Revenue Per Rounds Played
Median Merchandise Fee
Facility Type
Median Golf Fee Revenue
Median F&B Revenue
Revenue
Median Total Revenue
All Facility Types $23.45 $17.02 $68.36 $248.64
Private $17.78 $38.82 $156.11 $648.84
Daily Fee $24.53 $5.40 $10.04 $53.99
Muni/Mil/Univ $23.46 $4.50 $3.45 $37.50
Resort $55.10 $54.13 $441.06 $590.42
December 2012 NGCOA Competitive Golf Marketplaces
RevPATT*
3.6%
Kentucky
RevPUR*
8.6%
Pennsylvania
RevPATT*
RevPUR*
15.6% 26.0%
Percent change vs. same period last year
*RevPATT = revenue per available tee-time
*RevPUR = revenue per utilized round
What about my state See more details on your market by registering at www.pgaperformancetrak.com
All Rounds Played averages are starts per 18 holes. Detailed data provided based on sufficient response. Responses are
from all participating facilities with 9 holes or more. Data presented was submitted by the 22nd of each month for the
prior month’s data. Rounds Played are weighted by facility type.
Some rounds played data included in this report have been collected and supplied by NGF and Golf Datatech.
Learn more at www.ngcoa.org/benchmark. For more report details, visit www.pgaperformancetrak.

First Off
“The Show” Reflects Guarded Optimism
Aisles were packed and business was
brisk during the PGA Merchandise Show.
orrisome economic indicators
Wabound, including a fourth
quarter GDP shrinkage that puts the
United States’ economy on par with
Greece in terms of growth, government
dependency and dept. But you’d
never have known it from walking the
floor at the annual PGA Merchandise
Show in Orlando in mid-January.
“The Show,” as industry insiders
call it, filled the massive Orange
County Convention Center, and
golf professionals, club managers
and industry executives mingled for
three days in an atmosphere that was
surprisingly energetic and optimistic.
Booths were full from stem to stern,
and many of golf’s elite personalities
strolled the aisles. “This is one of the
busiest I’ve seen in awhile,” said Adam
Barr, CEO of Miura.
It was also one of the most positive
in several years. As Scott Hennessy,
president and CEO of True Temper,
said, “I think the right term is ‘cautious
optimism.’” But everyone in
attendance agreed that it existed.
“We’re certainly seeing it in our
bookings,” noted John Baker, managing
partner of Haversham and Baker
Golf Expeditions. “For the last several
years we’d seen a drop-off like everyone
else, but that’s turned around.”
Admittedly, companies like H&B
are somewhat insulated from economic
downturns because its clients reside
quotable quote
“WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BUILD
INTEREST IN GOLF FOR THE NEXT GENERATION.
WE NEED TO KEEP THE GAME FRIENDLY AND FUN.”
ANNIKA SORENSTAM, 10-TIME LPGA MAJOR CHAMPION, DURING HER KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE 2013 PGA MERCHANDISE SHOW
on the high end of the income scale.
However, Baker has seen an increase in
business across the board.
Equipment manufacturers,
meanwhile, used the PGA Show as a
platform to showcase new products,
connect with partners, and provide
educational opportunities. “The ultimate
measuring stick of our success is
the response we’ve received from our
partners, which has been extremely
positive,” said Joe Gomes, director of
communications for Titleist.
Some of the optimism could be the
natural outgrowth of the revenue upticks
manufacturers realized last year—a
function of a mild winter and a thawing
economy—or the fact that companies
and individuals have been hoarding cash
and improving their balance sheets since
the Great Recession of 2008. But some
of it must also be attributed to expectations
for the year ahead.
“Look, don’t kid yourself, golf is a
long way from being healthy, especially
in the U.S.,” said David V. Smith, founder
and CEO of Golf International Projects,
a development and golf consulting
firm out of Los Angeles. “But there are
pockets within various markets where
things are turning around, and there’s
always the highest end, which is going
to continue to march along unfazed.”
Even so, Baker remained somewhat
bullish, particularly given that his
booth was filled with people anxious
to talk about high-end golf trips to
Ireland and Scotland. “It’s certainly a
good sign to see this many people,”
he said. “The crowds are back and
they aren’t walking with their
heads down anymore.”
That sort of anecdotal evidence
isn’t as telling as a quarterly earnings
statement, but the positive energy on
display in Orlando was a good sign,
at least at such an early stage of the
year. —Steve Eubanks

Industry Pulse
December 2012 Average Rounds Played by State
continued from page 13
Smaller operators, for instance,
should consider advertising in local
papers, while larger operators or those
in resort areas should consider larger
golf-centric publications.
“My marketplace comes from everywhere,
so I wouldn’t advertise in five
or six individual major markets when I
can buy one ad in Golf Digest, which
serves all areas,” notes Claude Pardue,
president and CEO of Mystical Golf, a
three-course operation in Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina.
Despite their print preferences,
savvy operators also devote portions of
their budgets, large or small, to other
marketing vehicles.
“There’s no silver bullet when it
comes to marketing,” says Strauss,
whose “budget pie” includes categories
such as magazines, electronic
efforts (pay-per-click, e-mail marketing,
and the like), radio and television.
“Your marketing plan has to cover all
your bases.”
OB Sports’ layouts, when applicable,
partner with nearby courses or hotels for
inclusion in golf publications at minimal
cost. Managers also reach out to
customers through special events, seek
cooperative trades with radio and television
stations, and market instructional
programs through e-mail, in clubhouses
and in public relations blitzes.
Meantime, Mystical Golf utilizes the
Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday marketing
consortium for e-mail blasts.
“It’s the best bang for our buck,”
Pardue says. “I can create a nice, very
effective e-mail blast because I’m
splitting the cost with 25 golf operators
and hotel properties. We each get
individual exposure without cramping
our budgets.” —Steve Donahue
State
Average Rounds Average Rounds
Played 2011 % Change State
Played 2012
Average Rounds
Played 2012
Average Rounds
Played 2011
% Change
Alabama 939 1,031 -8.9% Nebraska 237 189 25.4%
Arizona 2,709 2,541 6.6% Nevada 1,502 1,587 -5.4%
Arkansas 505 462 9.3% New Hampshire 41 15 173.3%
California 2,341 2,885 -18.9% New Jersey 407 549 -25.9%
Colorado 304 80 280.0% New Mexico 715 463 54.4%
Connecticut 207 248 -16.5% New York 124 148 -16.2%
Delaware 597 668 -10.6% North Carolina 1,076 1,194 -9.9%
Florida 2,671 2,788 -4.2% North Dakota 0 16 -100.0%
Georgia 1,272 1,431 -11.1% Ohio 215 149 44.3%
Hawaii 2,312 2,288 1.0% Oklahoma 1,008 982 2.6%
Idaho 149 164 -9.1% Oregon 544 755 -27.9%
Illinois 307 157 95.5% Pennsylvania 314 319 -1.6%
Indiana 186 110 69.1% Rhode Island 280 200 40.0%
Iowa 79 68 16.2% South Carolina 1,401 1,562 -10.3%
Kansas 546 556 -1.8% South Dakota 33 32 3.1%
Kentucky 398 427 -6.8% Tennessee 855 980 -12.8%
Louisiana 1,257 1,278 -1.6% Texas 1,855 1,562 18.8%
Maine 35 51 -31.4% Utah 565 582 -2.9%
Maryland 847 856 -1.1% Vermont 0 0 *
Massachusetts 166 185 -10.3% Virginia 984 1,053 -6.6%
Michigan 74 26 184.6% Washington 553 778 -28.9%
Minnesota 15 12 25.0% West Virginia 150 143 4.9%
Mississippi 750 864 -13.2% Wisconsin 42 13 223.1%
Missouri 577 536 7.6% Wyoming 15 1 1400.0%
Montana 25 17 47.1%
December 2012 Year-to-Date Average Rounds Played by State
State
Average Rounds Average Rounds
Played 2011 % Change State
Played 2012
Average Rounds
Played 2012
Average Rounds
Played 2011
% Change
Alabama 21,234 19,955 6.4% Nebraska 21,677 19,577 10.7%
Arizona 34,612 33,688 2.7% Nevada 32,504 31,943 1.8%
Arkansas 16,042 14,280 12.3% New Hampshire 23,921 21,871 9.4%
California 41,024 40,892 0.3% New Jersey 22,666 20,833 8.8%
Colorado 26,652 24,441 9.0% New Mexico 21,892 19,981 9.6%
Connecticut 22,481 20,719 8.5% New York 19,938 17,969 11.0%
Delaware 23,004 21,313 7.9% North Carolina 24,220 23,375 3.6%
Florida 32,666 32,544 0.4% North Dakota 13,672 10,097 35.4%
Georgia 25,027 23,640 5.9% Ohio 22,514 19,803 13.7%
Hawaii 29,799 29,696 0.3% Oklahoma 26,214 24,178 8.4%
Idaho 20,725 19,927 4.0% Oregon 23,623 23,840 -0.9%
Illinois 22,604 20,439 10.6% Pennsylvania 21,468 18,728 14.6%
Indiana 18,305 16,022 14.2% Rhode Island 21,777 20,176 7.9%
Iowa 20,730 18,683 11.0% South Carolina 27,690 26,864 3.1%
Kansas 25,623 23,762 7.8% South Dakota 20,735 18,047 14.9%
Kentucky 18,315 16,319 12.2% Tennessee 24,205 22,681 6.7%
Louisiana 20,562 20,461 0.5% Texas 30,996 29,947 3.5%
Maine 16,913 16,352 3.4% Utah 35,936 32,547 10.4%
Maryland 27,109 24,910 8.8% Vermont 18,238 15,249 19.6%
Massachusetts 22,237 20,944 6.2% Virginia 25,433 23,829 6.7%
Michigan 21,036 18,999 10.7% Washington 28,396 27,724 2.4%
Minnesota 22,675 21,167 7.1% West Virginia 13,477 12,147 10.9%
Mississippi 18,096 17,960 0.8% Wisconsin 20,843 18,759 11.1%
Missouri 21,696 20,215 7.3% Wyoming 18,393 15,379 19.6%
Montana 17,327 16,047 8.0%
All Rounds Played averages are starts per 18 holes. Detailed data provided based on sufficient response. Responses are
from all participating facilities with 9 holes or more. Data presented was submitted by the 22nd of each month for the
prior month’s data. Rounds Played are weighted by facility type.
Some rounds played data included in this report have been collected and supplied by NGF and Golf Datatech.
Learn more at www.ngcoa.org/benchmark. For more report details, visit www.pgaperformancetrak.

First Off
by Ronnie Musselwhite
Tools of
the Trade
Spread It & Forget It
The Hype: Agrium Advanced
Technologies’ new Spread It
& Forget It controlled-release
fertilizer allows turf professionals
to spread fertilizer
just once a season, freeing
maintenance staffs to perform
other duties across the
course, thereby saving time
and money.
The Skinny: Driven by Duration
CR, Spread It & Forget It helps
keep turf lush, green and
healthy for up to six months
with just one application.
Super Cuts
The Hype: The latest addition to Jacobsen’s legendary line of LF mowers, the LF510 is
easy on turf, budgets and the environment.
The Skinny: Powered by a Kubota Tier 4 Final engine for emission compliance, the
LF510 offers simplified maintenance, including wet parking brakes, onboard control
module and easily accessible routine service items.
Tech Specs:
Features TrueSet cutting units with Classic XP reels for fast bedknife-to-reel adjustment
Distributes less than 10 psi of operating ground pressure
100-inch width of cut
SureTrac four-wheel drive parallel-cross series system
MSRP: Varies (Contact local dealer)
ROI: Cannot directly measure (However, officials cite increased productivity, simplified
maintenance and emission compliance simplicity as significant cost benefits.)
Models: Available in two- or four-wheel drive
Contact: (888) 922-TURF; www.jacobsen.com
Tech Specs:
Proprietary coating
gradually meters nutrients
directly to the turf
Uses up to 40 percent less
total nitrogen than conventional
fertilizers
Available with either Syngenta’s
Barricade or Dow’s
Dimension pre-emergent
crabgrass control
MSRP: Varies (Contact
local distributor)
ROI: Cannot directly measure
(However, officials stress that
the product helps reduce
fertilizer costs while saving on
labor, fuel and other overhead
associated with multiple
fertilizer applications.)
Varieties: Blends and sizes for
every application and budget
Contact: www.spreaditandforgetit.com

Long On the Range
The Hype: Trojan Battery’s new Traveler 8V deep-cycle battery offers the
longest life in the industry.
The Skinny: Independent third-party testing shows Traveler 8V provides more
than 40 percent longer life than today’s current 8-volt golf car batteries.
Tech Specs:
Internal Battery Protection System insulates and protects internal components
Compatible with HydroLink single-point watering system
Membrane-wrapped plates to reduce shorts
24-month warranty
MSRP: Varies (Contact local distributor)
ROI: 40 percent longer life than traditional batteries, which helps reduce
operating costs over the long haul
Contact: (800) 423-6569; www.trojanbattery.com
A Refreshing Change
The Hype: Cushman’s new Refresher 1200
features the innovative FlexServe Technology,
which enables facility operators to quickly
and easily customize their vehicle’s food,
beverage and merchandise offerings to meet
specific wants and needs of customers.
The Skinny: The modular design allows vehicle
operators to customize compartments on the
Refresher 1200 within minutes to accommodate
a variety of different products, from hot
food to cold drinks to apparel.
Tech Specs:
Multiple modules with a range of options,
from merchandise racks to humidors
12-square-foot wraparound counter
12 cubic feet of beverage storage
13.5 horsepower, 401cc Kawasaki engine
MSRP: $20,000-$28,000
ROI: Cannot directly measure (However, officials
point out that the Refresher 1200 offers
the tools for course operators to grow a significant
revenue stream by increasing impulse
buys on the beverage cart.)
Contact: www.cushman.com
GOLFBUSINESS.COM 17

accelerate
James and Stephanie Lemon are
enjoying the new fruits of their labor
at the former Lakeview Golf Course.
Reversal
of fortunes
Converting from course to Farm
proved to a be sound move for
James and Stephanie Lemon
By Kyle Darbyson
T
here are pumpkins growing on the No. 5 tee box
of Lakeview Golf Course in Cool Ridge, West Virginia,
and owner Stephanie Lemon couldn’t be happier.
It isn’t a “typical” scene for a golf course, but then again,
Lakeview isn’t your typical course. In fact, it’s no longer
a course at all.
Lakeview, a nine-hole track built by Lemon’s grandfather
in 1961 on the site of an old rock quarry, hosted generations
of golfers while affording the owners a comfortable
living. Eventually, however, changing demographics
and increased competition hit the small enterprise hard.
Aging locals began favoring competitors that offered
carts, something Lemon and her family had never bothered
to acquire. “I thought the course was such an easy
walk,” she explains.
The Great Recession of 2008 delivered another serious
blow. Even after Lemon dropped rates to under $10, the business. The surviving family members were unanimous
in their support of closing the course, the decision
rounds continued to fall, and an already shrinking revenue
stream got that much smaller.
made even easier by the fact no one’s livelihood would be
For Stephanie and her husband James, the last straw affected. “There wasn’t anyone else working besides me
came in 2009, when the family was struck with a serious and my husband,” Lemon says.
illness; the couple knew then it was time to get out of Yet even as developers lined up to buy the 105-acre
© 2013 Photo by Steve Brightwell © 2012 Photo by Terry Kuzniar

parcel, the Lemons had something different in mind. “I always
told my dad how good of a farm the course would be,” Stephanie
notes. It’s a dream she’d held onto during the darkest days of the
course’s struggles. So on March 1, 2010, the plows came out, and
Lakeview Golf Course was transformed into Lakeview Farms.
The conversion was surprisingly smooth. Stephanie and
James had always been interested in farming, going so far as
running a small garden on site while the course was operating
and even selling brown eggs out of the clubhouse. Since the
land was already zoned agricultural and was to be completely
organic, they needed no permits or regulatory permission to
transition into a working farm. “We’d basically been running
the course as organic for years,” Lemon notes.
That experience has served the couple well in their new
venture. Rather than expensive bags of fertilizer, the farm relies
on kitchen scraps, compost and a healthy dose of manure
donated by local ranchers. Collectively, these efforts are paying
off for the Lemons, who have spent just $4,000 converting
a third of their land from course to farm. “We’re already making
more money than we ever did with the golf course,” says
Stephanie, noting that she and her husband plan to plant apple
and pear trees on another third of the property next spring.
Indeed, the Lemons’ decision to transition from golf course
to farm runs counter to a national trend that sees
an acre of farmland disappear every minute. It’s
also a reversal of the way many course owners got
into the business. But with so many golf courses
struggling, the Lemon’s strategy may become a
more common exit strategy for other operators.
“A course just a few miles down the road closed last
year and brought in cattle,” Lemon notes.
To be fair, making the switch from golf to
farming isn’t without its challenges. Yule Golf
Club, a daily fee course located an hour northeast
of Indianapolis, Indiana, had been in operation
for 45 years, but like Lakeview, the club was hit
particularly hard by the recession. Revenues had
declined steadily over time, precipitated by the
loss of numerous high-paying jobs at the local
General Motors plant. “The writing was on the
wall for years,” explains Brachen McCurdy, who
managed the course for his father, who owns the
facility.
Even so, the course was viewed as a strong
piece of civic infrastructure—it attracted new
housing, provided valuable tax revenue and,
perhaps more importantly, provided a sense of
community in a town being ravaged by economic
forces. So when the local government heard of
the McCurdy family’s plans to close the course
and sell the land, they quickly offered to run the
course for up to two years while a new owner was found. The
McCurdy family declined
Local citizens were devastated when they found out about
the closing. But after the 158-acre parcel of land was auctioned
off to a local farmer who planned to plow the course
under, they were downright incensed. Convinced the loss of
the course would hurt both the reputation of the town and
the value of their homes, a group of residents pressed town
council to reject the deal. The zoning board listened, and the
petition to rezone the course agricultural was denied. Conditions
of sale were contingent on the farm plan going through,
meaning the McCurdy family is stuck with a distressed asset
and no viable exit plan. “We just want to stop the bleeding,”
McCurdy says.
No doubt, giving up the golf business for the farm business
looks to be a thorny issue that a growing number of operators
could face as they look to navigate treacherous financial waters.
But for Stephanie Lemon, it was the best decision she’s
ever made.
“I spend way more time outside now than I did when we ran
the course,” she says. “All the stress is gone.”
Kyle Darbyson is a Vamcouver, Canada-based freelance writer.
Playing the Game
Plowing under fairways to plant organic corn was a viable exit plan for
Stephanie Lemon, but many owners of troubled golf courses aren’t as lucky.
That’s where consultants like Matt Call come in.
As a principal at NavPoint Golf, a Colorado-based firm that focuses on
distressed golf assets, Call specializes in helping troubled course operators
right proverbial the ship. Typically, that means trying to negotiate more
favorable loan terms or accrued interest forgiveness. “Lenders see taking
the asset back as a very last resort—they’re usually very willing to work together,”
Call notes. He’ll then do an operation assessment to see if there are
inefficiencies that can be addressed.
One thing Call has discovered over his 16-year career is that many
struggling courses spend far too little on marketing. “I’ve seen courses
spending $5,000 that should be spending 10 times that amount.” The accomplished
golfer, who’s played in both a U.S. Open and a PGA Championship,
also finds older courses often have bloated budgets that far exceed
common industry benchmarks. “It’s not a case of mismanagement, it just
builds up over the years,” he says.
Even with drastic help, some situations are untenable. “Most experts in
our industry say we’re 10 percent oversupplied,” Call says. “That’s 1,700
courses that have to close.”
As the industry recovers from the seismic shifts brought on by both
economic and demographic forces, Call says he’s still optimistic about the
future of the business and the sport. “I love this game—people will always
love this game,” he notes. “It’s not going anywhere.” —K.D.

© 2013 Photos by Dave Moser
Accelerate
Back To
her roots
Melanie Maslow returned to the
family business and is now climbing
a different ladder of success
W
By Rob Carey
hen Richard Maslow sold his metal and plastics
fabrication firm in the late 1980s, he went
about fulfilling a longtime dream of building his own
golf course. By 1993, Rees Jones had forged a scenic
layout on more than 400 acres of rolling terrain that
Maslow purchased, a combination of old farmland
and dense forest just outside Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Once the clubhouse opened the following year,
Huntsville Golf Club was among the most desirable
private facilities in northeastern Pennsylvania.
By early 2011, however, the club was fading,
much to the chagrin of not just Richard but also his
daughter Melanie. “The mentality of the club’s longtime
management team was stuck in the past,” she
recounts. “They felt that members should simply
be happy to be here. But it got to the point where
too many people didn’t really enjoy being here—we
weren’t treating them like guests.”
There was little reinvestment in the facility, as offerings
were reduced little by little, and member suggestions
were acknowledged but never acted upon.
Membership dwindled, and the ones who didn’t
Thanks to a change in operating philosophy,
Melanie Maslow is standing tall at Huntsville Golf Club.
leave “were resigned to the fact that this is the way
it is here,” Melanie says. Member dissatisfaction was
tempered mostly by the fact that the club had never
once levied an assessment. “If there was a shortfall
at year’s end, my dad would cover it,” Melanie notes.
With the club at a critical juncture, Melanie
stepped in to assume the role of club president from
her father. But this required a major adjustment
on her part; she’s also co-owner of a 15-employee

marketing and advertising agency, and a mother of four.
Maslow turned over most of her agency’s operations to
her “very understanding” partner, then threw herself
headlong into the club environment.
Given that her agency worked with clients from nearly
a dozen different industries, Maslow brought to Huntsville
a deep and cutting-edge perspective on determining
customer desires and then delivering satisfying experiences.
She used that knowledge to quickly begin asking
questions and making moves.
“First, I just walked around to observe what employees
in each area do,” she says. “Then I’d
ask, ‘Why do we do that, and why do
it that way’ If something was being
done because it worked for us but it
wasn’t adding value to the member experience,
we changed it.”
Maslow also asked employees what
they liked and disliked about their
jobs, and what they felt they could do
differently to be more effective. “That
was really invigorating for them—and
for me,” she says.
To strengthen bonds with members,
Maslow made herself visible, striking up
conversations so they would feel comfortable
enough to make suggestions to
her. And once Maslow heard a few, she
made things happen. For instance, what
was for years a muddy path between the
cart return area and the grillroom was
quickly transformed into a small stone
walkway. “I noticed it the first day I got
here, and members told me they’d been
griping about that forever,” she notes.
Enlisting the help of a member who
owns a quarry and another who’s a landscape
artist, she got the path installed
in days, at low cost.
“It was a small thing, but it made the
members so happy,” Maslow adds. “They
were starved for something positive.”
Next, the ladies’ locker room—
parts of which were used as storage
for pro shop inventory that staffers
did not want to haul to the basement—
was cleared out and spruced up. “The
women were overjoyed,” she notes.
Maslow learned from other informal
conversations that some older
members were having difficulty making
the climb to several elevated tees
from the cart path. To remedy this, the club laid down a
few gravel path extensions. The maintenance crew then
cleared away underbrush in typical trouble spots and installed
better signage, all to improve the playing experience
while maintaining the integrity of the course.
The halfway house was cleaned and painted, and “cheesy
and faded” old menus were replaced. Maslow also began to allow
food-and-beverage minimums to be used there. “The old
way of thinking here was that members would use the restaurant
less if we did that,” she says. “But if that were true, then
the problem was that our restaurant wasn’t good enough.”
continued on page 22
Communication Culture
When Melanie Maslow assumed the role of president at Huntsville Golf Club nearly two
years ago, she had no intention of actively managing the club for very long. Maslow,
co-owner of a successful marketing and advertising agency, figured she’d turn around
the operations at the club her father founded, then transfer authority to a general
manager. (An interim general manager has been in place for several months, with the
primary task of hiring someone to fill the position permanently.)
Those plans remain, but whoever becomes Huntsville’s next general manager will
have to follow the blueprint Maslow has developed for communicating with employees
and members alike. The overarching goal is to stay ahead of problems that arise in any
area, so that they don’t fester long enough to sully the atmosphere—and the bottom
line—of the club.
Maslow started her revised approach to club operations by establishing a new style
for employee meetings. As a board member in prior years, she observed how little the
staff spoke during these sessions. “The managers would ask them, ‘What do you have’
and that produced almost nothing,” she recalls. “Really, who knows how you’re supposed
to answer that”
Now, Maslow asks questions designed to draw observations from employees about
how they went about their duties and why, and also how members interacted with them
that week. “This gets people to understand why other departments do things the way
they do—and that we can change how things are done if that’s best for the members,”
she notes. “Just knowing more about what goes on around the club makes people better
at their job and more satisfied with it.”
To connect with members, Maslow shook up the status quo by handing out her business
cards, urging members to call or e-mail her directly whenever they have an idea
or a concern. Shortly thereafter, she created a member survey addressing different aspects
of their club experience—the first survey the club had done in 15 years, as it turns
out. Based on those results, Maslow implemented an annual orientation session to familiarize
members with all of the club’s offerings for men, women, teens and small children.
“We found that it removes a lot of intimidation for new members, especially women,”
notes Maslow, who promised a free dinner to any member who didn’t learn something
they didn’t know about the club as a means of generating interest in the orientation.
Meanwhile, management began extensive use of email and built a Facebook page
to inform and entertain members as well as the general public. It’s all part of a collective
effort to strengthen the relationship with members and potential members that
stems from Maslow’s experience in marketing and advertising.
“Communication with the customer is just about the most important thing,” says
Maslow, “because a business has to give people what they want—not just what you
want to give them.” —R.C.

continued from page 21
An enhanced food-and-beverage business
is one of the changes Melanie Maslow has
championed at Huntsville Golf Club.
From these modest changes, the atmosphere of the
club transformed quickly. “It had a much bigger effect
than I expected, which definitely told me something,”
Maslow says.
Finally, when the general manager grumbled about
members who didn’t come to the club’s 2011 holiday party,
Maslow reached her breaking point. “I said to him, ‘Are
you serious We have to make it so they want to come
here,’” she recalls. “He simply was not a people person,
and a GM can’t be that. So I let him go.”
Less than a year later, Maslow also terminated the
head professional of 17 years. “He took a liking to some
members and ignored others,” she says. “He didn’t put
himself out there like we needed him to.” And when a
group of about 20 angry members insisted that she reconsider,
“I told them, ‘I understand you love the way
he treats you, and I want you to be happy. But the way
you feel is the way everyone here should feel, so we’ll
find someone who does that.’” None of those members
left the club, while literally dozens of other members
thanked Maslow for making the move.
Yet that wasn’t the only big change at Huntsville in
2012. The club used every dollar of its line of credit to
remedy significant drainage problems on two fairways;
to create a new Web site featuring detailed information
for members and nonmembers alike, plus great course
photography; to add a large tent to
the outdoor patio for social events;
to improve the restaurant and
adjacent space; and to hire a topquality
chef. “All of these were investments,
not expenses,” Maslow
says. “They bring in more revenue
and make members want to be here
more often.”
The results strongly back
Maslow’s contention. First, the club
is now back in the running to host
local tournaments that had stayed
away due to unpredictable course
conditions. Second, the new Web
site proclaims that Maslow “has informed
members of things they did
not even know about the club.” It’s
also used to provide a communication
platform for members to set up
games individually and in groups,
while educating the public about the
club’s offerings. Third, the new patio
tent contributed to the booking of four weddings during
2012, with more set for 2013. And fourth, the newly
added Friday night “family dine” event has become a huge
success, combining fine-dining fare for adults, appealing
yet healthy choices for children, plus a kids’ club in a
nearby event room offering games and activities so parents
can mingle with other members. Average attendance
at Friday dinner rose from 40 to 240 in one year, and the
restaurant is now popular enough to stay open more often
in winter, further boosting revenue.
Even more impressive is that 35 new golf members
and 55 new social members joined during 2012—a 20
percent increase in total membership. In fact, Maslow
had to cap social memberships at 125 to maintain the
member experience.
“The driving philosophy for all our decision-making
now is ‘member-oriented,’” Maslow explains. “They
choose to spend their discretionary income here, and they
should get what they deserve for that money—which is
being very comfortable and forgetting whatever else was
on their mind that day. If you give them that, they come
back and bring family and friends, too. Some other clubs
in our area have folded, but we are on the way up. So we
know this works.”
Rob Carey is a freelance writer and principal of Meetings & Hospitality Insight, Inc.

THIS CAR HAS IT
ALL
BATTERIES WITH MORE
AMP
ACCELERATION WITH MORE
ZIP
To see what all the excitement is about, call your
local rep or go to YamahaGolfCar.com.
1.866.747.4027 ©2013 Yamaha Golf-Car Company

24 GOLFBUSINESS March 2013
© 2013 Illustrations by Steve Adams

hese days, you can’t grow revenue unless you
promote and “program” your course energetically.
But golf’s need to hustle up business is nothing
to be ashamed of—not when America’s most popular
form of entertainment is also forced to scramble. Yes,
that means television, which is now retaining viewership
through a wrinkle called “Personalized TV.”
The software giant Cisco, which makes technology to
support “DVR and time-shift TV,” published data recently
showing rapid growth for these platforms. Without them,
research proves the audience for cable and broadcast
would be sagging. “Reports of the decline of TV have been
greatly exaggerated,” Cisco reports, heaping praise on “services
that liberate consumers from the broadcast schedule
and allow them to watch programs whenever they choose.”
What’s that got to do with Sean Patterson, the professional
in charge of instruction at Hilton Head Lakes in
Hardeeville, South Carolina Go back to the phrase “timeshift.”
Patterson was thinking in those terms a year ago
when he devised an innovative instruction product: the
“dollar-a-minute tune-up.” This light bulb came on while
the 27-year-old pro was flipping through golf’s most
profitable instruction medium, monthly magazines.
“I was looking at one-page tips in Golf Digest and
GOLF Magazine,” Patterson recalls. “We all know how
popular they are with golfers, so it got me asking why
GOLFBUSINESS.COM 25

technology to help retain and build participation.
Patterson’s offer of quick-fix
instruction uses the added sizzle provided
by instant video analysis on a
smartphone or iPad using the V1 Golf
app. “Video analysis in five minutes,
for $5,” Patterson crows. “That hits a
legitimate need in the market, and my
experience shows me a teacher can use
it to really over-deliver.”
A dollars-and-sense point should
be made here: When you program
well, pricing suddenly makes more
sense. Hilton Head Lakes, home of
the dollar-a-minute swing tune-up,
uses a similar concept in selling offseason
green fees. The course markets
18-hole golf for $35, then drops
it to $25 after 2 p.m., posting ninehole
rates at the $22 and $18 price
points. It then posts a $15 rate for as
much golf as you’ve got time for on
its six-hole, par-3 short course. If the
golfer standing at the counter doesn’t
choose one of these options, it’s not
about time or money—he or she simply
isn’t in the mood to tee it up.
I
nnovation that builds interest
and heats up the game’s image
in peoples’ minds seemingly
has to do three things: address and
solve the time issue; bend or tweak
the game’s cultural norms; and either
teach a skill quickly or at least isolate
couldn’t we do the same thing, except
in person on the range”
Patterson publicized the idea at
his club and got immediate response.
Golfers at Hilton Head Lakes began
waving him over for short-and-sweet
pointers in exchange for sums as small
as $2. Some of his consults started out
minimally, but then stretched to 45
minutes. In one full year of packaging
instruction this way, Patterson has
“clicked” with 20 to 25 golfers during
quickie sessions and added these golfers
to his clientele for ongoing lessons.
Like television, sportfishing, cinema
and skateboarding, golf will need
a specific skill area in a fun, focused
way. Thus, we see golf by the hour,
five-hole green fees sold 90 minutes
before dusk, and “flip the classroom”
clinics in which students study video
lessons at home then show up to “go
through reps” as instructors provide
hands-on guidance.

Runs in:
Mar, Jul, Oct
Consider a golf practice complex
like Haggin Oaks in Sacramento,
California, which will cater to the
break-80 diehards by day, then turn
on floodlights at night to welcome
20-somethings who want to socialize
seriously and hit balls casually.
“It’s a different market and a new
revenue stream entirely,” says Mike
Woods, head golf professional.
Golf will always have to explain
and often downplay its long list
of constraints and prohibitions
(including the newest ban involving
anchored putter handles), but
course managers are finding that
it’s possible—and productive—to
turn these taboos selectively on
their head. Last summer, management
of the 36-hole Bay Creek Club
in Cape Charles, Virginia, showed
true programming versatility. In
the first week of August, the club
hosted a prestigious championship,
the Bay Creek Amateur, then it
closed out the month with a Cross-
Country Scramble tournament in
which Bay Creek’s tony Nicklaus
Course was rigged up with backward,
sideways and out-of-order
play for contestants paying just
$40 a team to enter. Point being,
it’s possible to be very buttonedup,
then let your hair down.
Success with the cross-country
idea at places like Bay Creek or at
Mill Creek Golf Club in Salado, Texas—where
they play one on Super
Bowl Sunday each year—isn’t new,
but it fits the present era notably.
If you recognize time-shifting and
culture-bending as key ingredients,
this format represents both. Given
a 125-acre field of play to set up creatively,
how long would a group of
competitors ideally want to be out
there If it’s 90 minutes, that can
be easily arranged and configured.
It’s likewise if contestants prefer an
outing of two hours or three hours.
And, unlike other time-shifted golf,
the cross-country structure spreads
players far and wide in a free-ranging,
rule-breaking manner.
This type of concept gets taken
to the limit during the Halloween
Cross-Country Scramble, a masquerade
event that’s contested at
The Lodge Resort in Cloudcroft,
New Mexico. A viral video of this
competition shows some formatting
details that are questionable
from a personal-injury perspective,
but rules and guidelines could be
adjusted to make them less freeform
for a course that wanted to
catch the enthusiasm of this approach
more conventionally.
There will always be championship
events and a five-pound
book to explain the Rules of Golf.
Beyond that, the old attitudes are
fading. For Joe Dahlstrom, CEO of
management group Paradigm Golf,
last year’s Ryder Cup contained a
moment that crystallized this notion.
“When Bubba Watson urged
the gallery to yell and cheer while
he was teeing off in his fourball
match, that was something very
new for golf,” says Dahlstrom, “and
it’s one of many signs that the
game’s culture is really changing.”
Indeed, what had been the satirical
premise of a “Happy Gilmore”
scene played out in real life at hightoned
Medinah Country Club. Dahlstrom
took particular notice because
his company’s portfolio has long
included properties in Las Vegas,
where innovation gets extra leeway.
“Las Vegas provides a looser environment
for programming golf in part
because the entertainment culture
affects the golf culture so strongly
there,” Dahlstrom notes. “But that’s
happening elsewhere, too.”
At Las Vegas facilities like Desert
Pines Golf Club, managers program
by bringing practice-range activ-
Call us today for a
FREE quote or catalog!
Phone: 1-800-562-5377
Fax: 1-800-562-5399

ity to the golf course. In one version,
golfers arrive at a hole and find they’re
asked to execute five different kinds
of bunker shots toward concentric
circles drawn around the
hole and representing different
point values. Desert Pines even
employs a contest to check a
golfer’s ability to skip a ball
across a water hazard to the
other side. Other events, designed
for groups that might
have some real golfers but
also some folks who’ve never
picked up a club, have included
a water balloon toss and
chipping into a kiddie pool
along with more traditional
golf challenges.
“Our business model
is about people enjoying
themselves,” Dahlstrom
says. This could mean a
mini-competition in which
golfers try to escape from
the 8-foot-deep Hell Bunker,
a replica of the famed
St. Andrews Old Course
feature, on Royal Links Golf
Course. Or it could mean setting
up a bar with a DJ to create
a block-party atmosphere
on the course or the range.
Amid all the seeming frivolity is a
push on the part of Vegas operators
to use instruction to turn tire-kickers
into golfers. It’s common at Paradigm-managed
facilities to build in
golf clinics with highly rated instructors
working the tee line energetically.
These teaching pros are dispensing
short-form instruction so as to build
at least a temporary golf swing and
result in some bona fide ball-striking.
After all, who knows where latent
talent lies—or where the next avid
golfer is coming from
A
s the golf instruction segment
draws on technology and new
diagnostic tools, there’s pressure
to translate this arsenal into makemy-day
fixes much like the dollar-a-minute
tune-up approach of Sean Patterson.
Laird Small, director of instruction at
the Pebble Beach Golf Academy at the
famed Monterey Peninsula resort, accepts
the burden of having to equip
semi-golfers with playing ability on
short notice. Corporate people who
don’t exactly know how to swing
need some kind of competence to
take onto the course. Otherwise, the
company’s investment won’t be seen
as providing a proper return.
“It’s tricky,” says Small, referring to
business-driven academy activity. “So
many people come to our schools with a
lot of rust on them. It’s our responsibility
to give them a chance out there.”
Top-rated Palm Beach teaching
professional Kellie Stenzel agrees.
She hosts an annual corporate event
in Boca Raton that gathers the country’s
leading minority CEOs. Stenzel’s
team of instructors “comes
with its A game” to make the golf
element a huge hit and keep the
event firing on all cylinders. “It’s
our job to make the golf part seamless
and enjoyable. People have to
play decent golf, they have to enjoy
themselves out there—that’s on us
to make it happen,” she notes. Every
launch monitor, portable “putting lab”
and biofeedback gadget on the market
gets deployed toward that goal.
Even with hours of lessons, better
ball-striking requires practice. And yet,
managers who work hard at programming
and cultural tone don’t want golfers
on their range to feel they’re grinding.
One answer is music, being played
over pricey speakers keenly positioned to
improve the overall mood without causing
a jarring distraction. Recently, a user
of the yelp.com Web site explained his
loyalty to the practice facility at Coyote

Hills Golf Course in Fullerton, California.
Along with its overall quality, “the driving
range has outdoor speakers and you can
listen to music while you practice, which
is a real plus,” the golfer wrote.
Last summer at Whistler, the iconic
resort in British Columbia, staff members
took pains to design an audio
system for the golf range that would
supply a true “background” effect—no
booming bass, just an ambient sound
bed of rock and pop tunes. Speaker
wattage was important because more
speakers at low volume would prevent
audio “hot spots” that tend to disturb
concentration rather than enhance it.
The Scottsdale-based golf course
architect Andy Staples has a proposal
on the table with the County of Los
Alamos, New Mexico, designed to make
golf a cultural crossroads where music,
socializing and the royal-and-ancient
game come together. The golf range
and learning center that Los Alamos
County officials asked Staples to build
would be a multi-purpose facility where
the landing area for striped balls would
flow into winter hiking and snowshoeing
trails, and become part of that network
in the golf off-season. Likewise,
the configuration of the landing zone
would be a bowl-type shape for outdoor
concerts in the summer.
“The larger building they had me
add to the site plan isn’t being called
a range office or golf clubhouse, it’s
a ‘community center,’” Staples adds.
“There’s a smaller and more intimatesized
building where they want golfers
to hang out and eat and drink while
they take practice breaks.”
A big welcome mat that involved
what’s been dubbed “creative programming
options,” plus live music, helped
officials at the Chicago-area Glenview
Park Golf Club rack up year-over-year
growth for the 2012 golf season in
several areas. Rounds were up approximately
6 percent, and overall revenue
grew 11 percent. Among the programming
twists were new mixed leagues
“designed for singles, couples, coworkers,
neighbors or friends who want to
enjoy a relaxing twilight round of golf,”
according to the district’s published golf
report. “The club also offered free live
entertainment on Friday nights, which
drew hundreds of people, both golfers
and non-golfers,” the report notes.
“During the summer months, live performances
from entertainers such as an
Elvis impersonator to steel drum bands
descended on the club’s outdoor gazebo
and patio for food, drinks, entertainment
and dancing.”
Even as conventional golf clubs—
semi-private or member-only—experiment
with their programming to
reshape and reformat the game, facilities
that are based on the reformatted,
time-shift idea demonstrate their viability.
Heading into its second decade,
the Harmon Golf and Fitness Club in
Rockland, Massachusetts, continues
to serve as a combined golf-learningand-enjoyment
center buttressed by
the fitness amenity that does wonders
to create the visitation habit so greatly
needed in the recreation space—be it
racquet sports, fitness or, yes, golf.
In the words of Ron LaVoie, whose
vision of this combined, programmed
approach helped the Harmon Club
find its way to success, “People have a
certain amount of time and a general
wish to improve their golf game, improve
their physical fitness, socialize
a little, and see what new ideas will
help them do any of that.”
David Gould is a Connecticut-based freelance writer
and frequent contributor to Golf Business.

30 GOLFBUSINESS March 2013

© 2013 Illustrations by David Cutler
S
now White’s seven
dwarfs famously
whistled while they
worked, but a different kind
of dwarf marching across the
Southeast has golf course superintendents
humming the
happy tunes these days. Ultradwarf
bermudagrasses, with
their fine leaf blades, are being
hailed for offering sportscar
performance without giving
up the tractor’s durability
of their clunky predecessors
like 328 or Tifdwarf.
That’s a compelling combination
for golf course operators
in the transition zone. As
a result, once-vaunted creeping
bentgrass—smooth like
ice cream though similarly
vulnerable to extreme heat—
is now retracting apace. None
of the growing numbers who
GOLFBUSINESS.COM 31

have converted their greens to an
ultradwarf in recent years sweat bullets
anymore worrying if their greens
are going to survive into September.
But the key word in all of this is
“offering.” Increasingly, operators are
learning that these grasses don’t give up
their best automatically, or even readily.
“Plant genetics will give you about 20
percent of what you need,” says Chris
Hartwiger, senior agronomist with the
USGA Green Section’s Southeast region.
“The other 80 percent still rests in the
hands of the superintendent.”
In that sense, converting to an
ultradwarf is a bit like getting the
same clubs as Tiger Woods—a wasted
exercise if you don’t have some
game to make the most of it.
Any operator who thinks simply
buying the right “equipment” will solve
everything is in for a rude, and potentially
costly, awakening. The ultradwarfs
take work, skill and resources
just as bentgrass does, albeit in different
ways. And they have their own
challenges. So much so that Clemson
University turf specialist Dr. Bert Mc-
Carty repeatedly tells inquiring
superintendents that the ultradwarfs
present less of a panacea
than they do a chance to “pick
your poison.”
North Carolina State University
crop science professor Grady
Miller is similarly moderating in
the face of all the enthusiasm
surrounding the ultradwarfs.
He gives one talk titled: “So
You Think You Want Bermudagrass”
It’s not that he or McCarty
are down on the ultradwarfs
in any way; it’s more that, like
Hartwiger, they want to be sure
that expectations are realistic.
No ultradwarf amounts to a silver
bullet. “Not by any stretch of
the imagination,” Miller says.
S
o why are so many
courses across the
Southeast making the
switch In a nutshell, because
the new generation of ultradwarfs
can provide a putting quality
comparable to bentgrass
while taking the risk of catastrophic
turf loss—at least in
summer—clear off the table.
More than any other factor,
that’s what has superintendents
whistling through July and August.
They know they won’t lose
their greens (or their jobs) to
heat and humidity, and owners are
free to host as many golfers as they
can muster.
Course operators are also attracted
by the short turnaround time that
no-till conversions allow. Killing off
the bentgrass and sprigging straight
on top with an ultradwarf can see a
course back in play in as little as 50
days. Last year, Sedgefield Country
Club, in Greensboro, North Carolina,
hosted the PGA Tour’s Wyndham
Championship just 90 days after closing
for a no-till conversion. Making

“You just
NEVER KNEW
when you
were going
to LOSE a
GREEN.”
that switch in the heat of the Sun
Belt summer further minimizes lost
revenue because spring and fall are
the peak playing seasons.
In spring 2011, Red Stick Golf
Club, a high-end private club located
in Vero Beach, Florida, with
approximately 250 members, replaced
its L-93 bentgrass with
Champion bermudagrass, which
along with Mini-Verde and TifEagle
dominates the ultradwarf
scene. Superintendent Scott Bell, a
self-confessed bentgrass “hold out”
to that point, soon underwent his
own conversion.
“I’m glad it’s over,” he says now,
recalling the stress of managing
what were the last bentgrass greens
in the state. “It was a lot of pressure.
It got to where I hated it. You
were out there wilt-watching until 6
o’clock every night. You just never
knew when you were going to lose a
green.” And that was with Red Stick
closed through each summer.
Bell admits that having the only
bentgrass greens around “was definitely
a selling point for the club
when it started” in 2000. “The TifEagle
and Champion were relatively
new back then, and people were still
working out how to manage them,”
he recounts. “But as the management
techniques were perfected, I
don’t think our greens were
much better, if at all. At that
point, it just didn’t make
sense to go through the battle
and all the expense that
came with it.”
Ah, the money. Early on,
proponents roundly declared
the ultradwarfs would save
facilities tens of thousands
of dollars every year. No
more labor-intensive syringing,
re-sodding or running
fans, along with dramatically
reduced fungicide bills,
would all help swell the bottom line.
Experience, however, reveals a fuzzier
savings picture. Like so much
else in golf course maintenance,
variables in geography, climate,
budget and countless other factors
make a folly of blanket statements
and one-size-fits-all programs.
Even so, a majority of facility operators
who converted have found
savings, although the amount or percentage
varies dramatically. In one
USGA survey, more than 90 percent
of courses with ultradwarfs reported
spending less on labor, fungicides,
insecticides and pesticides. Some can
afford to turn what has been a considerable
bounty to improving other
elements of the golf course. For others,
even a relatively few dollars saved
help to keep them above—or at least
closer to—the water line during a brutally
tough period for the industry.
“It’s the reason we’ve been able
to weather the storm without having
to shut the doors,” Dick Schulz,
owner of The Oaks Course in Covington,
Georgia, says of the Champion
ultradwarf bermudagrass he
switched to in 2005. Margins have
been so tight for so long because of
the recession, declining rounds and
“uncertainty in Washington (D.C.),”
Schulz says, his business could not
Bucking
THE TREND
THE HONOR, AND CHALLENGE, OF
GROWING the southernmost bentgrass
greens in the Southeast rests with Wade
Thomas, golf course superintendent at
the private Idle Hour Club in Macon,
Georgia. Despite the movement toward
ultradwarfs, he doesn’t see his club
making any such change from its nearly
20-year-old Crenshaw surfaces in
the foreseeable future. Thomas admits
that, as a golfer, he rates bentgrass “the
best putting surface available.” Perhaps
more importantly, he says resources
and know-how to get the best out of
bentgrass have never been greater.
“I’ve been here 18 years and we’ve
had our best three years in a row with
our greens,” Thomas says. “Our quality
has gone up without our costs going up.”
The reason Better research and
better tools. “Managing the amount of
water in your greens has always been
the major challenge,” says Thomas,
“but soil moisture metering is so much
better now, and we have much more
control with our irrigation systems.”
About 200 miles north in Greenville,
South Carolina, Kyle Traynham, superintendent
at Willow Creek Golf Club, is
another bentgrass adherent, whether
he’s playing on it or growing it. A semiprivate
facility, Willow Creek hosts
approximately 40,000 rounds annually,
which is a lot of punishment on barely
2 acres of greens. But Traynham says
it’s the bentgrass that helps keep the
course so busy.
“I think it’s just a truer surface and
is more consistent,” Traynham says. “I
know no one’s worrying about losing
their ultradwarfs in July and August, but
those are our slowest months. It’s as hot
as anything. It wouldn’t matter if we had
Astroturf—we couldn’t get any more
golfers who would want to be on the
course after 11:30 [a.m.].” —T.B.

have survived losing his old bentgrass
greens, and play, at any point. Moreover,
the ultradwarf has allowed more
playing days because he deep-aerifies
just once a year now versus three or four
times with the bentgrass. “We’re saving
money on that process and bringing
in more money because we have more
days where we’re not just charging a
cart fee until the greens recover.”
For some, though, a significant
offset to savings is the sheer volume
of management required in pushing
and prodding the ultradwarfs to
peak performance. That same USGA
survey found 100 percent of respondents
spent more on topdressing,
equipment, and equipment repair
and maintenance.
To that point, the very same
month Bell was taking up the bentgrass
at Red Stick, superintendent
Ken Mangum was speaking with a
reporter about his greens that were
about to host the 2011 PGA Championship,
the first major on an ultradwarf,
at Atlanta Athletic Club.
The reporter remarked how pure and
seemingly devoid of grain—a chief
complaint about the older varieties—
Mangum’s Champion greens were. He
laughed, then replied: “This is a really
hardy plant. They say if it looks perfect
today, then you should have done
something to it yesterday.”
I
f one broad declaration does
apply to the ultradwarfs, it is,
as Mangum intimated, they
need work: verticutting, topdressing,
brushing and more. Ultradwarfs
generate considerable thatch, which
left untended, produces a mattresslike
springiness that is a curse on
putting. Naturally, that type of work
consumes labor, equipment, supplies
and, of course, money.
In that context, NC State’s Miller
urges operators to make sure they
get on the same page with their superintendents
when it comes to their
expectations for their ultradwarf
greens. Regardless of whether the
course is private, public, high-end or
low-budget, those in charge need to
be clear on what resources are necessary
to achieve the desired result.
“No one likes surprises,” Miller says.
Hardy as they are in the heat of the
sun, the ultradwarfs are also vulnerable
to shade and cold. Course owners
who convert without a comprehensive
tree program allowing sunlight
to reach greens are in for disappointment.
Those who leave their greens
open to bitter cold also run a grave
risk, which is why many converts invest
in covers for their greens. Some
say the expense involved in covering
and uncovering greens in the winter
makes a wash of no longer having to
wilt-watch and syringe in summer.
The USGA’s Hartwiger likens the
ultradwarfs to a 7-foot-tall star athlete
who wanders up to the high school
basketball coach and says he’d like to
give the game a try. “Now that coach is
going to be excited because he’s really
got something to work with,” he says.
In that vein, Hartwiger says the ultradwarfs
have injected new enthusiasm
into a generation of veteran superintendents
who were otherwise jaded or
burned out on managing bentgrass as
if they were doctors in an ICU.
“Bentgrass has run a lot of good
people out of this business,” says Curtis
Singleton, superintendent at The Oaks
Course. “That’s a gamble that might
catch up with you any given year, no
matter how good a job you do. I think
the ultradwarfs might help us keep a lot
of good, smart people, and in this economy
and with all the challenges facing

“Bentgrass
has RUN a
lot of good
PEOPLE OUT
of this
business.”
the industry right now, we need all the
bright minds we can get.”
In the meantime, the ultradwarfs
are marching north beyond the Carolinas
and into Virginia, prompting
questions about just how far above
the Mason Dixon Line they can go
and still survive the colder winters.
“Well, if you want to keep them under
covers from November 15 to April 15
every year, you could probably keep
the grass alive in Chicago,” Hartwiger
responds. “The better question is,
‘How far north is practical’”
The grasses are also covering more
and more acreage in the Southeast, as
operators with little margin for error
look to remove that threat of a devastating
summer. Many of the wellheeled
and best-known clubs are also
changing, less out of a concern for
survivability than because they perceive
a very high ceiling for the ultradwarfs
in terms of straight puttability.
Much like Atlanta Athletic Club and
Sedgefield, Pinehurst Resort has embarked
on conversions among its eightcourse
stable, although the 2014 men’s
and women’s U.S. Opens will be played
on bentgrass on the famed No. 2 course.
Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North
Carolina, host of the PGA Tour’s Wells
Fargo Championship, has confirmed
it will also convert before hosting the
2017 PGA Championship.
For all that, Hartwiger says
it won’t be superintendents
or USGA agronomists who
dictate how comprehensive
or long-lasting the ultradwarf
takeover will be. That privilege
rests in the hands—or
more accurately, the wallet—
of golfers. “Bentgrass has
been successful in the Southeast,
and the ultradwarf bermudagrasses
are successful,”
he says. “But if golfers don’t
believe the ultradwarfs are at
least as good as, if not better
than, what they had with bentgrass,
then they won’t last.”
To date, no facility has made a
U-turn. If they have switched from
bentgrass to an ultradwarf, they have
stayed on that road. Hartwiger’s colleague
with the USGA Green Section,
the Southeast Region director Pat
O’Brien, doubts any will go back. It’s
fair to say that O’Brien’s early and
energetic two thumbs up on the ultradwarfs
has rankled some avid bentgrass
supporters over the past decade.
But the simple fact is there are fewer
and fewer of them left each year.
O’Brien says it’s hard for operators
to ignore the fact they can have
more days of suitable putting surfaces
with the ultradwarfs. Their resilience
in the heat means the golf
course maintenance staff can manage
for performance rather than mere
survival. They also require only one
core aerification per summer, compared
to two or three for bentgrass.
Reduced aerification means reduced
interruptions in play.
“Less disruption equals more revenue,”
O’Brien adds. “The ultradwarfs
offer a new business model, and it’s
becoming a new world order.”
“You just
NEVER KNEW
when you
were going
to LOSE a
GREEN.”
Trent Bouts is a South Carolina-based freelance
writer and editor of Palmetto Golfer.

Approach Shots
Not even a physical limitation has
hampered Robert Elwinger’s drive to
succeed at Over Lake Golf Course.
A Lifetime
of Lessons
through the highs and lows,
Robert Elwinger has soldiered on
at Over Lake Golf Course
By Kyle Darbyson
I
t’s one thing to turn your waterlogged farm into an
18-hole golf course, but another thing altogether
to run a course successfully for more than 50 years. If
you’re Robert Elwinger, however, you do both—even
without the use of one arm. This story might sound incredible,
yet it’s just another chapter in the fascinating
life of the bright, articulate, 81-year-old owner of Over
Lake Golf Course in Girard, Pennsylvania.
Elwinger’s tale begins decades earlier, when his family
owned a farm near the city of Erie. “We had a little use of his left arm, Elwinger realized the physical demands
of farming would be too much. “My mom and
fruit stand along the highway where we sold sweet corn,
pumpkins and all sorts of vegetables,” he recounts. “It dad were getting on in age, and we knew something
was a really special time.”
had to give,” he notes.
After serving in the Armed Forces, Elwinger returned
to Erie in 1952 to help his parents work the proposed converting the land into a golf course, an idea
So, without ever having picked up a club, Elwinger
land, a job he assumed he would have for the rest of his he believes “came in a dream.” His family agreed to the
life. But when an accident robbed him of nearly all the decision, but problems began to mount almost imme-

diately. When Elwinger approached his local bank to ask for
$24,000 to build the course, they responded by “laughing”
and saying, “No way.”
The rejection forced the resourceful farmer to get creative.
Elwinger couldn’t afford to hire an architect, so he joined the
local chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association
of America and leaned on his colleagues for advice so
he could design the course himself. “They explained drainage,
routing, not facing finishing holes into the sun, things like
that,” he says.
Without money, the only collateral Elwinger had was his
word. “I approached a local contractor to form the greens
and told him I couldn’t pay him, but he’d be the first person
I paid when the course opened,” he says. Less than one year
later, Elwinger paid the man in full.
Not surprisingly, the lean budget forced Elwinger and his
family to do much of the work themselves. He and his dad
seeded all the greens with hand rakes, dug six miles of drainage
ditches, and laid drain tile every 50 feet in particularly
wet fairways. The entire project took less than 12 months. “I
like to say we went from pumpkins to golf in a
year,” Elwinger quips.
Over Lake Golf Course opened its first nine holes
in 1960, with green fees priced at $9. A few years later,
Elwinger bought an adjacent 80-acre parcel, added
nine holes, and hasn’t looked back since.
Anyone searching for folksy wisdom or knowledge
gleaned over five decades of golf course
ownership will be disappointed to learn Elwinger
attributes his long-time success to one simple
thing: hard work. But a closer look at his operation
shows a few other things that have helped.
For starters, his bank’s original lack of foresight
turned out to be a blessing, as it allowed Elwinger
to navigate the early days of course ownership
without the stress and obligations of debt
hovering over him. “I’m not sure if I would have
survived [had he had to service a loan],” he says.
His timing was good, too. “When I started out,
there was one public golf course within 45 miles
of me; now, there are 50.”
The barriers to entry were also less burdensome
when Elwinger started in the golf industry
in 1961. “My first greensmower cost me $375
or something like that. Now, we go with a Toro
three-gang that costs close to $30,000.”
Though times have changed and the cost of just
about everything has risen, Elwinger has managed
to always keep his overhead low. “My full-time
staff is three,” he notes. His wife oversees the clubhouse,
runs carts and watches the bar during the
day, while Elwinger and his seasonal help maintain the course.
This no-frills approach might not fly for a lot of courses
built around superior service, but it’s allowed Over Lake to
survive downturns, recessions and stiff competition over
the years. Elwinger’s focus on premier conditions has also
enabled Over Lake to stand out in a crowded market.
“Without a doubt it’s one of the best-kept courses in the
area,” admits Rick Williams, general manager of the nearby
Elk Valley Golf Course. “He just does it right.”
After years of 16-hour days at Over Look, most would
expect Elwinger to take some well-earned rest, but this energetic
octogenarian shows no signs of slowing down. “I still
mow fairways seven days a week!” he proclaims.
What’s more, Elwinger has parlayed his financial success
with the golf course into several other businesses and allowed
him to buy what he calls “a nice play in the Florida Keys.” He
spends winters there now, but every spring Elwinger heads
back north to prep his labor of love for another season.
Kyle Darbyson is a Vancouver-based freelance writer.
Doing It HIS WAY
When Robert Elwinger decided to convert land that had long been used
as a family farm into what eventually became Over Lake Golf Course in
Girard, Pennsylvania, he didn’t ask for anyone’s permission. Instead, he
says he “just kind of started building.”
Elwinger would certainly face a very different regulatory environment
today, but Jake Welsh, director of the Erie County Department of Planning,
says he has no doubt the course could still be built. “These laws are
meant to protect both the public interest and the individual rights of the
landowner,” Welsh notes.
So what would Elwinger encounter today A lot more red tape and
environmental considerations, for sure.
Girard Township has zoned Elwinger’s land as A1-Agricultural. The
zoning bylaws list several “permitted uses” for land in this designation,
including “public parks and recreation.” A golf course would fit that
categorization, but zoning officers would refer to the Pennsylvania Natural
Diversity Index to see if any species of concern would be impacted by
the development.
“They’re mostly concerned with endangered animals or impacting
wetlands, that sort of thing,” says Welsh, who “doubts” a full-blown environmental
impact assessment would be needed.
Another possible bump in the road could be the local government’s
movement to preserve farmland. Erie County has placed 7,000 acres of
land into what it calls an “agricultural security area.” Landowners in this
protected area have the option of selling a conservation easement—basically
giving up their right to future development—in exchange for cash.
If Elwinger had done so, Over Look would have never happened.
It’s a hypothetical scenario that thousands of golfers, including Jake
Welsh, are glad never happened. —K.D.

Strategy
A Weighty Decision
With much still unknown, course
operators weigh their options on
the new healthcare mandate
By Steve Eubanks
© 2013 Illustration by Phil Wrigglesworth
One of the biggest adjustments is the new healthcare
law, most provisions of which will go into effect
in 2013 and 2014. The biggest and most concerning
for employers—the insurance mandate—takes effect
January 1, 2014.
The law is sweeping if not yet clear, even to those
who have read it. If an employer has more than 50 fulltime
employees, he or she must either provide health
insurance or pay a penalty of $2,000 per full-time worker,
minus the first 30 employees.
For many golf course operators, this mandate will have
little or no direct impact for the simple reason that individual
golf courses rarely employ more than 50 full-timers.
The problem arises with seasonal workers who stay on the
clock for more than 30 hours a week during the months of
their employment. The law is unclear as to whether these
he election is over. The agenda is set. Now it’s up employees, even though they only work limited months,
T to small business owners—a group that includes would be considered full time. Some lawyers say yes; others
say no. And the law itself is so large and unwieldy it’s
most golf course operators in the United States—to
prepare for the changes that will take place in the impossible to know the specifics until such time as the
coming months and years.
mandates go into effect or are challenged in court.

“I don’t think there will be much of an impact directly on our
business or the industry in general, but, unfortunately, you just
don’t know what you don’t know,” laments Glen Byrnes, manager
of Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Colonial Williamsburg,
Virginia. “I have to say that it will not affect our business or that
of most golf operations in a direct sense because there aren’t
many golf operations that employ more than 50 people. And
those that do already have attractive benefits packages that include
health insurance to attract and retain the best people.”
Byrnes’ last point is debatable, particularly given the
number of single-asset owners in the industry, but there’s
no denying that resorts and management companies will
face some major challenges under the new law. Many, if not
most, of these types of operations employ large restaurant
staffs, an area of the business where tips supplement an otherwise
low hourly wage and health insurance coverage is rare.
If an employer were near the 50-employee number, he or she
would likely be forced to shift those jobs from full-time to
part-time and cut everyone’s hours below 30 to help reduce
the financial burden the mandate promises to deliver.
Employers in other industries are already preparing for
just that kind of restructuring. Orlando-based Darden Restaurants,
owner of Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Longhorn
Steakhouse, has stopped offering full-time schedules to
hourly workers in select markets as an experiment prior to
the law’s full implementation. In an email statement, Darden
said the full-time-to-part-time test is “just one of the many
things we are evaluating to help us address the cost implications
healthcare reform will have on our business. There are
still many unanswered questions regarding the healthcare
regulations, and we simply do not have enough information
to make any decisions at this time.”
The food industry isn’t alone in its concerns.
According to a survey conducted by the Midwest
Business Group on Health, a nonprofit coalition
dealing with healthcare, the average business owner
expects costs to increase upwards of 5 percent
immediately, and as much as 10 percent to 15 percent
over the next five years.
“So many parts of the rules, regulations and provisions
have not been defined,” says Larry Boress,
president and CEO of Midwest Business Group on
Health. “For example, by next March (2013), employers
have to communicate to their employees
how they can buy [insurance] through exchanges,
and there are no exchanges yet. It’s a difficult situation
especially for small businesses, when anything
that adds to your costs may jeopardize survival.”
That fear has a trickle-down effect, as evidenced
by the universal concern among golf course operators
for the businesses of their customers.
“We’re in a perilous time,” says Butch Byrd, manager at Ballentrae
Golf Club in Pelham, Alabama. “While I don’t think
we’ll see the healthcare law affect our business on the cost side
of the ledger, at least not in the short term, I do think we’ll see
an immediate impact on the revenue side. That’s because small
business people are worried. And when they’re worried, they
aren’t spending money, especially on things like golf.”
Lawren Just, owner of Persimmon Ridge Golf Club in
Louisville, Kentucky, agrees, and she cites the example of one
member who just happens to own several fast-food franchise
outlets to underscore her point. “They’re already looking at
splitting the stores into separate companies and having their
employees work 20 hours at one store and 20 hours at another,
just so they can get around the fines and penalties and keep
their costs down,” she notes.
Ultimately, it’s the continued uncertainty that has many
owners stuck in something of a holding pattern, and one reason
many people aren’t particularly bullish on the future. “I travel
throughout our section, and I can’t tell you how many people
are telling me how concerned they are about the survival of
their businesses,” Byrd says. “That’s not a good thing to hear
when you’re in a business that relies on disposable income.
“Any time you take money out of the hands of the consumer,
whether it’s costs going up or wages going down,
the recreation and leisure industry gets hit first,” he adds.
“It’s unfortunate, and thankfully we have positioned ourselves
well to handle it. But I think it is a concern throughout
our industry.”
Steve Eubanks is an Atlanta-based freelance writer and former golf course owner.
The Rules
THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, COMMONLY KNOWN AS OBAMACARE,
dictates that employers with 50 or more full-time workers must provide
health insurance for all workers. Employers must pay at least 65 percent of
the cost of a family policy or 85 percent of the cost of an individual policy.
Those who refuse to do so must pay a penalty of $2,000 per full-time
worker, minus the first 30 employees.
But even those companies that already have insurance plans are not
immune from cost increases because the law also states that the insurance
provided must meet the federal government’s requirements in terms
of benefits. These benefits are a moving target, but include things some
employers find morally objectionable like contraception and the so-called
“morning after” pill.
Hobby Lobby recently lost a suit claiming that the owners’ religious beliefs
were being infringed by such mandates. Moral objections aside, many
businesses that offer insurance today will have to change to new, more
expensive plans tomorrow in order to comply with the myriad new regulations
as they are revealed. —S.E.

THANKS TO OUR
CONFERENCE SPONSORS
Premier Sponsor
Presenting Sponsors
Participating Sponsors
Supporting Sponsors
Supporters
THE POWER TO CHANGE
YOURSELF YOUR BUSINESS YOUR INDUSTRY
The 2013 NGCOA Annual Conference
Providing the tools and resources you need to effect positive change
Feb
3-8, 2013
San Diego,
CA
In conjunction with
www.ngcoa.org/conference

ommunity
A positive Outlook can
help promote personal and
professional success
IDEAS, INSIGHTS
[ & OPPORTUNITIES ]
Hope Springs Eternal
Y
ou’ve probably heard the ancient story of the
three blind men trying to describe an elephant.
One touches the tail and describes the elephant as a
snake. Another stumbles against the side and describes
the elephant as a wall. The other touches the leg and
describes the elephant as a tall tree.
The point Perhaps the issue in front of you is not
of as much significance as the angle from which you’re
experiencing it. Learning to positively position yourself
can make the difference between experiencing the best
or the worst of your current circumstances. There are
millions of things you can do to position yourself on
continued on page 42

Community
continued from page 41
the right side of a stressful situation,
but here are four simple mindsets that
can be used for any obstacle at hand:
1
Realize that nothing is permanent,
not even you. So if you’re
impermanent, how can your problems
be permanent While this might sound
negative, understanding that everything
in life is transitory will give you an empowering
viewpoint with respect
to your current challenges.
Reminding yourself that
whatever turbulence you’re
experiencing at this moment
is temporary will encourage
you to keep elevating yourself
in search of that perfect cruising
altitude.
On the other hand, even when things
are perfect, embracing a temporary
mindset can be very helpful. After all,
people’s zest for life is frequently dampened
not by misfortunes but by their inability
to appreciate what’s already great
around them. Therefore, if you begin to
remind yourself that this moment—no
A United Front
T
matter how perfect—will come to an
end, you’ll start appreciating all of the
positives in your life that you’ve been
taking for granted.
2
Embrace failure. Your failures
exist for one and only one reason:
to make your future successes possible.
Instead of complaining and asking life to
stop throwing things at you, start recognizing
your current dilemma as building
material. Life tosses bricks to all of us; it’s
up to you to build an artistic masterpiece
or to end up with a pile of rubble.
Keep this thought in mind by Ralph
Waldo Emerson: “Cultivate the habit of
being grateful for every good thing that
comes to you, and to give thanks continuously.
And because all things have contributed
to your advancement, you should
include all things in your gratitude.” Be
thankful even for failures, for they are an
indispensable component of your success.
Find the silver lining. Constantly
ask yourself one simple question:
3
Cultivate
the habit of
being grateful.
HERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SUCCEED AT MARKETING your course on the Internet.
Some facilities use email blasts, which contain information sent directly to the inboxes
of their loyal customers. Other clubs boost revenue with strategic, limited-time
sales that they offer at different times throughout the year. And many operators have
seen success by simply adding an online store to their Web site.
Autumn Ridge Golf Club in Valders, Wisconsin, combined all three approaches
and realized a substantial boost in business during the unlikeliest of times. In the
middle of winter, management sent out a one-day special to 8,000 customers in its
database, offering customers the opportunity to buy eight tee times and receive four
additional for free. This offer resulted in $32,000 in sales of prepaid golf.
Sweetening the deal for Autumn Ridge was the way the promotion yielded more
profit than originally meets the eye. Among those prepaid rounds, director of operations
Chad Harrington reported an eventual redemption rate of approximately
80 percent. Meanwhile, 60 percent of those rounds were redeemed in the shoulder
season, when the course’s rates were at their lowest.
On the surface, the discount seemed like 33 percent off; however, when it was
complete, the effective discount amounted to only 13 percent. Harrington believes
that’s not too much to sacrifice, considering the revenue boost the facility experienced.
Source: Course Trends
What great opportunity can come out of
my current circumstances Asking this
question will train you to look
for the hidden positives that lie
within your challenges and keep
you from wasting it on complaining
about the negatives.
Once you start seeing the
silver lining in every incident,
your challenges will cease to be
the heavy blocks that previously
burdened you; instead, they’ll
become stepping stones from where
you can stand just a little taller. It’s
at this point that you’ll experience a
new height, regardless of the negatives
thrown your way.
4
Trust the bigger plan. You no
doubt have big plans, but understand
that however large your plans may
be, the universe has much bigger plans
for you. When you’re discouraged and
things aren’t working according to your
plans, realize that there’s something else
guiding you and understand that what
you perceive as a detour might be the
actual road you must travel.
Don’t get so caught up on the way
things should’ve been, could’ve been
or would’ve been because looking from
where you stand you’ll never be able
to comprehend the magnitude of the
grand plan that’s in store for you. Trust
that you are where you are because
that’s where you need to be. Then you
might get a glimpse at how insignificant
your initial plan was and how grandiose
your current one is.
—By Andres Lara, an international-selling author and
motivational speaker (www.thecubanguy.com)

Keeping Guests Happy
s the battle to bring new custom-
through the doors rages at
Aers
clubs across the country, operators
have varying ideas on what the best
strategies may be. And if their approaches
to get players to the course
prove successful, the tactics then shift
to getting first-time visitors to return.
Golf Business recently polled several
operators about their strategies to
reel in new visitors—and turn them
into repeat customers.
Scott Jacques
western Skies GC
Gilbert, Arizona
“We’re helped by
the fact that we’re
right in the middle
of Gilbert and
there are homes Scott Jacques
all around us. We make sure the word
gets out to the customer base that we
have right at our front door. We have
an advantage, but it’s up to us to
make sure we take advantage of that
and keep the word-of-mouth positive.”
Scott Renner
White Columns CC
Milton, Georgia
“In our case (as a private club), it’s
reputation and tradition. We’re very
respected in the community. Our
first-time visitors are brought here as
guests, and I’m sure they’ve been
told good things before they even
see us. That’s an advantage to getting
them in the door. It’s important
for us to make sure that members are
spreading the word.”
Ed Selser
Atchafalaya GC at Idlewild
Patterson, Louisiana
“It’s easy to say word-of-mouth, but
that’s too general. You have to give
people something to talk about, and
it can’t just be the golf course. Our
word-of-mouth extends to our restaurant,
which results directly in first-time
merchandise sales, which translates into
first-time players. Like all businesses, the
more you give people to talk about, the
better word-of-mouth there will be.”
Renner: “I would say
customer service is important,
but so is the
quality of the product.
Price can be an issue,
of course, but if you
have good quality of
product, it makes the
Scott Renner
price less of a problem. We have a
relentless pursuit of perfection when it
comes to conditioning and the quality
of our product. You have to want to
be a leader, to always find a way to
get better.”
Jacques: “Customer service can be
consistent no matter what else is going
on. If the course is wet, if there are some
rough spots or whatever, good customer
service can leave a lasting good
impression on that first-time visitor. We
teach consistency to our staff. It doesn’t
matter what kind of mood you’re in, it’s
about the customer’s experience.
Selser: “What
keeps them coming
back is not glamorous
work—it’s in the
trenches. It’s giving
of yourself to make
the customer happy,
Ed Selser remembering that
it’s always about them and never about
you. Finding out why they’re there, what
they want, what will enhance their experience,
what they might want to buy
in the way of merchandise.” —Jeff Barr
Redefi ne the
golfi ng experience.
Expand your F&B
revenue stream.
Customizable
Delivery Locations
Maximize Profi ts
per Round
Push Notifi cation
GPS Tracking
of Customers
Live Tournament
Scoring
To Go Orders
214.668.5762

Golf Industry
Calendar
April 16
National Golf Day
Washington, DC
www.wearegolf.org
April 21-25
American Society of Golf
Course Architects Annual Meeting
Reynolds Plantation
Greensboro, Georgia
www.asgca.org
Throughout May
Welcome to Golf Month
Nationwide
Playgolfamerica.com
Throughout July
Family Golf Month
Nationwide
Playgolfamerica.com
July 8-14
Take Your Daughter
to the Course Week
Nationwide
Playgolfamerica.com
August 22-24
PGA FALL EXPO
Las Vegas, NV
August 30 - September 2
Patriot Golf Day
Nationwide
www.playgolfamerica.com
FOR MORE EVENTS, INCLUDING NGCOA
CHAPTER HAPPENINGS, VISIT WWW.NGCOA.ORG
Going Green On the Greens
Operators of The Vineyard have found
ways to go green on and off the course.
lthough the organic movement has
Atouched nearly every facet of modern
life, it’s been relatively slow (ironically)
in gaining widespread traction in the
golf industry. But one course on Martha’s
Vineyard is showing how golf courses can
go green—and still operate in the black.
The Vineyard, which opened in
2002, was met with fierce opposition
from locals when developers unveiled
plans for the private club located on
the island’s eastern tip. To allay locals’
concerns about the course’s impact
on the fragile aquifer, the investors
agreed to a series of strict restrictions
that included limitations on water use
(150,000 gallons a day) and bans on
chemical or synthetic products.
Superintendent Jeff Carlson was
charged with the unenviable task of
maintaining an elite-level private course
under these aggressive constraints.
Though he had worked at facilities in
New England with strict environmental
controls, the veteran turf care manager
admits he was “still pretty nervous”
about the challenge he faced at The
Vineyard. The early years, no doubt,
proved difficult.
“We had a lot of issues with dollar
spot in the beginning,” Carlson recounts.
“I actually thought it was going
to wipe out the course.”
But over the last
decade, Carlson and his
crew have adapted to their
circumstances. They’ve
had to alter nearly every
cultural practice, from
aeration to irrigation,
even nitrogen application.
Meanwhile, the industry
caught up as well, supplying
organic alternatives to
products he had been prohibited
from using. And
though most of the credit
goes to his hardworking
crew, Carlson says natural selection
is at work, too. “The grass that’s left is
the stuff that’s hardy enough to survive
in these conditions,” he notes.
Courses looking to go organic to cut
expenses will be disappointed; many
of the organic turf care solutions are
expensive and labor-intensive. “I could
have a full-time crew just doing weed
control,” Carlson quips.
Carlson does have advice for course
operators looking to lessen their environmental
impact: don’t focus on tees and
greens, as they’re only 5 percent to 10
percent of a course’s turf. Instead, start
with an organic management program
on large areas like the rough or fairways.
Moreover, the graduate of Drew
University stresses the importance of
communication. “Setting expectations is
key,” he says. “Don’t hide in your office—
get out there and talk to the members,
the greens committee, whoever it is.”
Carlson must be doing something
right. The course has hosted President
Obama on a number of occasions. That
presidential endorsement, and the approval
of the club’s demanding members,
makes all of Carlson’s hard work
worthwhile. “It’s even more rewarding
knowing we’re doing it without harming
the earth.” —Kyle Darbyson
44 GOLFBUSINESS March 2013

Playin’ In the Sand
he shortest distance from stodgy,
Tconventional, 18-hole golf to a
looser, more lively experience is
through the junior-golf activity manual.
So, if your staff is brainstorming about
how to boost business, add sizzle and
become more customer-friendly, invite
a talented junior-golf promoter to
the meeting. Recently, Kevin Weickel,
a golf professional at Walt Disney
World Resort, let the juices flow while
programming for the Orlando Minority
Youth Golf Association.
“We created ‘Bunker Day,’” says
Weickel, “which involves roughly 50
to 70 kids using our practice area for
the day. We had a Toro Workman
vehicle filled with sand, and then
shoveled mounds of sand all over
our range surrounding the target
greens, so we could practice bunker
shots out of the sand.”
Under this creative use of the
practice complex, each junior was
paired off with a partner, and participants
made semi-circles around
the four target greens. It was the
kids themselves who helped shovel
and form the sand beds into bunker-like
configurations—a part of
the process that proved enjoyable
on its own and a bonding experience
as well, in Weickel’s view. The
preparation activity “really eased
the stress for the juniors, and it took
away any intimidation or nervousness
they felt about playing from
sand,” he explains.
Ironically, golf’s rulebook prohibits
“testing the surface” of a sand
bunker because of the advantage
that provides when it’s time to play
an escape shot. The Rules of Golf are
onto something with that prohibition.
Enough so that they create a great
learning tool: Have golfers physically
shovel and rake sand—they’ll end up
knowing its consistency better than
ever at that point, and their golf shots
will show it, as Weickel discovered.
So, even the fussiest of golf’s traditions
and regulations can give rise to new
outreach efforts. —David Gould
Numbers of note
$4.3
million
Amount raised for Folds of
Honor Foundation through
Patriot Golf Day events in 2012
$17
million
Total raised for educational
scholarships through Patriot
Golf Day in six years

MEMBERS ONLY
THE MEETING PLACE
FOR ALL THINGS NGCOA
More Than a Pretty Face
Oak Quarry is Stunning, but it takes more than
looks to win the NGCOA Course of the Year award
G
olfers who arrive early enough at the Oak Quarry
Golf Club outside Riverside, California, enjoy a special
treat. A visual feast anytime of the day, mornings
reveal Oak Quarry
as a multicolored pinball
machine, with rays
of light shooting across
massive bunkers that
edge their way into the
sides of Mount Jurapa.
But guests need not despair
a late afternoon
tee time. As the sun goes
down, the light show
takes on different hues
while shadows lengthen
across what was once a
working quarry.
In fact, Oak Quarry
is a kaleidoscope of colors
and scenery any time
of the day and throughout the year. Normally a desert-style
course with sparse vegetation similar to what golfers encounter
farther south, Oak Quarry really shows off in the spring,
when yellow brittlebush dot the surrounding hillsides. If golf
had a national park, it would be the Oak Quarry Golf Club,
the winner of the NGCOA’s 2013 Course of the Year Award.
The picturesque course winds through the jagged terrain
of Riverside’s historic Jensen Quarry. Originally opened
during World War I as the Riverside Cement Company, the
quarry was a major source of marble, limestone and other
minerals used in the construction of buildings, freeways and
bridges in southern California. The quarry was abandoned
Oak Quarry, the 2013 NGCOA
Golf Course of the Year
in 1979 and the land
sat idle until the design
team of Schmidt-
Curley, with help from
PGA Tour player Dr.
Gil Morgan, built one
of California’s most
stunning courses. Oak
Quarry opened in 2000
and has since become a
destination for golfers
throughout the area as
well as for a number of
international guests.
“This is the one
course that I’ve managed
in my 20 years where every
day I hear people talk
about how amazing the views are, how great the holes are, and
how good the turf conditions are,” says Brent Perkins, the club’s
general manager. “The icing on the cake for us as operators is
when we hear people talking about the service they received.”
A lot of talk revolves around the award-winning No. 14
hole, known as Spinel Slide. Considered the best par-3 in

southern California by many, Spinel Slide plays 214 yards from
the back tees into the lowest part of the old quarry. A stunning
white wall of limestone rock towers nearly 400 feet above the hole,
shimmering in the afternoon sun. If Oak Quarry is golf’s national
park, Spinel Slide is its No. 1 attraction and most daring thrill ride.
Perhaps more impressive is the commitment to excellence displayed
by Oak Quarry’s owners. The course was purchased in 2003
by the Koh family, which has been involved in a number of different
businesses, from property management to wholesale art supplies
to financial services. In less than a decade, Oak Quarry president
Samuel Koh, management and staff have given the course
a resort-like ambiance without losing the family operated charm.
Koh calls the facility’s natural landscape, highly trained hospitality
team, carefully selected vendor partners and loyal customers the
“recipe for something truly unique.”
It does seem to be a successful concoction. In 2012, the daily
fee course hosted 48,000 rounds (up 6 percent over the prior year)
and ended the year with an 8 percent increase in revenues (green
fees, food and beverage and golf shop). Perkins credits the performance
to a simple philosophy of “great golf and great experience.”
Oak Quarry has assembled a diverse staff (80 percent are minorities)
to execute on its philosophy and deliver its distinctive
experience. Koreans, Hispanics, African-Americans and native
Hawaiian islanders are among those who cater to an equally diverse
clientele. “Our customers have a wide range of backgrounds,
and when they see a diverse staff and hear their own language, I
think that makes the course a little more inviting,” Perkins notes.
In addition to providing jobs, Oak Quarry supports its community
as a site for fundraisers that benefit organizations such as
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Loma Linda University
Children’s Hospital. Koh also serves as president of the Koh Charitable
Foundation and is active in fundraising programs that support
pediatric epilepsy research in southern California.
Meanwhile, Oak Quarry’s commitment to golf’s growth is
evidenced in Koh’s support of the California Golf Course Owners
Association, for whom he and the Oak Quarry staff help produce
marketing materials aimed at attracting new players to the sport.
Perkins also volunteers as an assistant coach for the University of
California-Riverside men’s and women’s golf teams.
Collectively, these efforts have helped Oak Quarry, which is
located between the golfing meccas of Palm Springs and Los Angeles/Orange
County, establish itself as a fixture on the California
landscape. “We’re a little bit of a drive for many of our guests,
but they seem to think of us as a destination that’s worth the
drive,” Perkins says.
Short Takes
From San Diego
THE DOORS HAVE LONG SINCE CLOSED on the
2013 NGCOA Annual Conference, yet the
event’s impact is still being felt far and wide.
Following the on-course educational
offerings of the Day
at the Golf Facility
(page 49) and the
thought-provoking
keynote address of
Mike Veeck (page
11), NGCOA Annual
Conference attendees
immersed
Donna Orender joined others to
discuss how to “connect with her.”
themselves in business-critical topics
ranging from employee engagement to
negotiation tactics to sales strategies for
success. Conference-goers seemed genuinely
pleased and intrigued by the entire
educational line-up, which alternated between
low-tech, high-takeaway presentations
like this year’s Golf Business Ideas of
the Year session and technology-laced interactive
sessions like the one devoted to
maximizing direct tee time bookings.
Equally compelling was the session
moderated by consultant Jim Baugh
that included a panel of industry experts
who were collective in their cry that if
the game is going to thrive, the industry
must step beyond its comfort zone to attract
what Baugh dubs “the low-hanging
fruit, which is women.” As Donna Orender
(above) explained, “Women speak a different
language and respond to different
cultural stimuli,” so the industry must
adapt accordingly.
From start to finish, the world’s largest
gathering of course owners and operators
lived up to its billing as an agent for positive
change—for individuals, their businesses
and the industry.

MEMBERS ONLY
Streamline
Your Search
Tap into your association’s incredible
network of golf industry suppliers
with the NGCOA Buyer’s Guide.
www.ngcoabuyersguide.com
FROM THE bright
ideas Archive
When Jim Pepple cleared out some storage space in the lower
level of the clubhouse at Wyncote Golf Club, he considered
putting in a pool table or possibly creating a members room.
Instead, seven years after finding another spot for a few stored
items and spending less than $1,000 to construct a wooden
partition, Pepple has beefed up his facility’s bottom line by forging a partnership
with the local Curves franchise.
“We had about 700 square feet that was basically just wasted space,” says
Pepple, president of the Oxford, Pennsylvania, facility. Now, he collects $1,300
per month in rent from Curves, the national women’s fitness chain.
Like Curves’ clients, sometimes things just, well, work out. A local physician
installed Nautilus equipment in 2004, but didn’t get much business and moved
out two years later. That’s when Curves moved in. The owners painted, installed
carpet and mirrors, and brought all the necessary equipment.
“We really didn’t think we’d be able to do this much with it,” Pepple admits.
The only issue that Pepple has with his partnership is that he has to deliver the
mail to his tenants each day because it comes to Wyncote’s front desk. Venturing
into the women’s-only workout enclave causes him to feel a bit like an interloper.
The Bright Ideas Archive is a collection of unique business-building strategies from golf course owners and operators gleaned from the pages
of Golf Business. For more ideas, visit GolfBusiness.com and search “Bright Ideas” as an article type within the archive. A NGCOA member
login is required to access this tool.
Instead of wading through endless
listings of distributors, manufacturers
and vendors to service your operation,
choose the NGCOA Buyer’s Guide.
Powered by Naylor, our Guide applies
the latest search engine functionality to
ensure that you quickly and easily find
the most relevant partners to deliver
what your facility needs to succeed.
POWERED BY
Start your search today at
www.ngcoabuyersguide.com
OPERATING SOLUTIONS
Operators can ensure that a member gets the most from a clubfitting by
having their professional take the newly fitted guest onto the course for an
evaluation. This approach has worked nicely at Woodcrest Country Club in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where teaching professional Don Allan examines a
client’s weak spot on the course before he completes a fitting.
Allan has been teaching at the club for five years and makes sure he
understands a player’s weaknesses while analyzing and recommending the
appropriate set of clubs. He goes through an interview process with each
student, examining setup and address, watching the swing, and asking
about problem shots.
“We want to know if there’s something they’re constantly running into,”
Allan says. “We’ll go on the course, look at the circumstances, take what we
fit, and see if it applies to the situation to make it better.”
Sometimes, the answer may be simple. Allan may suggest, for example, that
a player consider a hybrid instead of a 5-iron. Other times, he’ll notice a hardware
issue, such as the common problem of not having enough loft on a driver.
Allan believes there’s an important difference between what works on the
driving range or inside the hitting bay and the shots someone hits on the golf
course. Often, a fix on the range doesn’t translate to the fairways or tees.
“It’s about the golf course, not the driving range,” Allan notes. “You can have
the perfect fit and swing on the driving range, but where you apply it is on the
golf course. If what you’re doing on the range isn’t what you’re doing on the golf
course, you’ve got a problem.”
Taking the additional time to work with a student on the course also fosters
a bond with the instructor. It can build loyalty and add to referrals and sales.
OPERATING SOLUTIONS IS A MONTHLY FORUM PRESENTED BY NGCOA PREMIER PARTNER
CLUB CAR TO PROVIDE INNOVATIVE IDEAS THAT HAVE INCREASED REVENUES AND/OR RE-
DUCED OPERATING EXPENSES.

Creating a New Labor Model
Jeff Spangler offered insights on golf
course maintenance to Annual
Conference attendees.
Jeff Spangler, senior vice president
for science and agronomy
for Troon Golf, says it’s
time to “blow up” the golf
course labor model.
“The standard labor model that
golf courses operate on traditionally
is fundamentally flawed, broken and
unsustainable,” Spangler said during
a presentation to golf facility managers
during the NGCOA’s Day at the
Golf Facility: Best Practices Tour, held
in conjunction with the association’s
2013 Annual Conference.
Labor and associated benefits
have continued to increase over the
last two decades and significantly
affect profitability at most courses.
To combat these trends and reduce
labor costs, Spangler advocates
these unconventional approaches to
course maintenance:
A JOB CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM
that groups workers into one of three
categories: equipment operators,
greenkeeper 1 or greenkeeper 2. A
pay scale is associated with each classification
as a way to keep salaries
from increasing beyond the skill set
required of the job.
FRONT-LOADING LABOR early
in the day and reducing the number
of workers in the afternoon. Getting
more workers on the course earlier,
Spangler said, is “more efficient and
less disruptive for golfers.”
SEASONALLY FLEXED CREWS that
create opportunities for smaller crews
during less busy times of the year.
A NON-TRADITIONAL LABOR POOL
that includes firemen, housewives and
crew members from other courses.
On the day of Spangler’s presentation
at Maderas Golf Club in
Poway, California, just outside San
Diego, nine workers were tending to
the 18-hole facility that’s one of the
jewels in the Troon portfolio. In the
past, Spangler said, as many as 25
may have done the same work.
The approach is working. Maderas
has cut $400,000 from its maintenance
budget, which Spangler said,
“has given us an opportunity to return
some profits to the owners.”
Dave Nicholls, vice president of
science and agronomy for Scottsdale,
Arizona-based Troon, said the strategy
is based around one question:
“When do we need to be good”
“This whole industry has a tendency
to repeat things because that’s the way
we did it in the past,” Nicholls said. “We
need to re-evaluate that.” —Bill Bryant
More Lesson
From Maderas
GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE WASN’T THE ONLY
TOPIC being explored during the Day at the
Golf Facility at Maderas Golf Club. Participating
NGCOA Annual Conference attendees also
learned from a number of other facility managers
and business experts during the daylong
educational session. Among the highlights:
KELLY MCCAMMON, vice president of
business development for SNAG Golf, suggested
that operators borrow from other sports
when structuring their clinics and player-development
programs. Programs should last six
to eight weeks with sessions held twice per
week, he said. “That’s what programs outside
of golf are doing, and that’s what we need to
match to appeal to parents and kids.”
KRISTEN GOULET, director of retail operations
for Troon, suggested facility operators
create calendars that show the promotion
schedule for the next three to six months. “A
calendar of upcoming programs and promotions
promotes a proactive approach versus a
reactive approach to driving sales.”
RYAN WALLS, senior vice president for operations
for Troon, urged course operators to
employ a dedicated sales leader to increase
revenues. “If you can’t afford to hire a sales
leader, make sure you have someone who is
responsible for selling revenue at your club.”
JOHN MCNAIR, vice president of golf operations
for JC Resorts, mentioned several
trends affecting food-and-beverage sales, including
gluten-free and children’s menu options,
farm-to-table concepts and fair-trade
practices that encourage the support of local
suppliers and artisans. He also noted that Gen-
Xers and Millennials are flexible and willing to
try new food and beverage options.
But you have to make it fun for them,” he
said, “and you have to remember that they
exhibit no loyalty. But if we don’t figure out how
to get these groups into our facilities, we won’t
be around long.” —B.B.

[ In Focus ]
Horseshoe Bend
Country Club
Roswell, Georgia
Year Opened: 1974
Facility Type: Private
Designers: Joe Lee/Bob Cupp
Owner: Ben Kenny
NGCOA Member Since: 2011
MEMBERS ONLY
QUALITY OF THE COURSE
Originally designed by Joe Lee, the course has recently
undergone a major transformation under the direction
of Bob Cupp. With four holes along the historic
Chattahoochee River and more than two miles of
scenic river frontage, the natural beauty throughout
the course has been enhanced with lakes, streams
and dramatic water features.
QUALITY OF MANAGEMENT AND STAFF
The management and staff
strive for perfection in all
areas on a daily basis. According
to general manager
Jacqueline Jensen,
the staff “has shown to be
flexible in all situations and
continued to provide the exceptional customer service
experience our members have come to expect”
during the time of transition.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY
This year, Horseshoe Bend will partner with the Atlanta
Vietnam Veterans Business Association to host its annual
golf tournament. The tournament will benefit the Wounded
Warrior Project through Birdies for the Brave.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE GAME
The development of programs as such SNAG demo days,
beginner clinics, ladies clinics and specific junior play
times have helped introduce new players to the game.
NGCOA Welcomes New Members
The NGCOA welcomes the following new members Since December 2012
Apple Mountain
Golf & CC
Belvidere, NJ
Beech Creek GC
Sumter, SC
Brookwood GC
Fort Wayne, IN
Carlton Oaks CC
Santee, CA
Chaska GC
Appleton, WI
CC of Sapphire
Valley
Cashiers, NC
Cross Creek GC
Dallas, OR
Dellwood CC
Dellwood, MN
Echelon GC
Alpharetta, GA
Golf EMS, Inc.
Toronto, Ontario
Golf Links Prop.
Baldwinsville, NY
Great Bear Golf
& CC
Stroudsburg, PA
Harvest Hill Public
Golf & Recreation
Orchard Park, NY
Heartland Golf Dev.
Olathe, KS
Hidden Valley GC
Gaston, SC
Hillview CC
Franklin, IN
Indian River GC
West Columbia, SC
Indian Trail GC
Batesburg, SC
Ingleside Golf
Resort
Staunton, VA
Iron Lakes GC
Allentown, PA
JW Golf
Canton, GA
Keeton Park GC
Dallas, TX
Lex Group, LLC
Burnsville, MN
Magnolia Greens
Golf Plantation
Leland, NC
Mayfair CC
Uniontown, OH
Meadow Lake
Resort
Columbia Falls, MT
NavPoint Golf
Castle Rock, CO
Nonesuch
River GC
Scarborough, ME
Omni Hotels &
Resorts
Irving, TX
Overlook Golf Links
Lagrange, GA
Rail GC
Springfield, IL
Refuge G&CC
Lake Havasu, AZ
River View GC
Santa Ana, CA
Rivermont G&CC
Johns Creek, GA
RVR Golf, LLC
Carbondale, CO
Shadow Valley
Golf Course
Boise, ID
Sherbrooke G&CC
Englewood, CO
Split Rock GC
Lake Harmony, PA
SPS Golf Mgmt.
La Plata, MD
St. Mark Golf &
Resort
San Diego, CA
Stadium Golf
Center
San Diego, CA
Sun Hills GC
Layton, UT
The Legends GC
Temecula, CA
The Snag Course
at Burnt Cabin
Tahlequah, OK
The Springs
at Borrego
Borrego Springs,
CA
Toftrees Resort
State College, PA
Turtle Point Yacht &
Country Club
Killen, AL
ValleyCrest
Calabasas, CA
Victoria Club
Riverside, CA
Willow Creek GC
Greer, SC
Yuseong CC
Daejeon, South
Korea

MEMBERS IN MOTION
Purchasing
Network
Suppliers
Saved Members
more than $1 Million
Kicking things off
Attendees of the NGCOA Annual
Conference enjoy networking
time during the Super Bowl party
and opening reception at San
Diego’s Petco Park.
The industry’s leading suppliers of products and
services for golf operations and the NGCOA
have teamed up to extend members-only pricing,
rebates and value-added packages exclusively to
NGCOA members.
Last year, participating members received, on
average, $528 in rebates and collectively, saved
more than $1 million.
PREMIER PARTNER
Appealing to
Diverse Audiences
Anthony Netto, founder of Stand
Up and Play Foundation, offers
strategies to grow the game by
appealing to golfers with disabilities
during the NGCOA’s Day at the
Golf Facility.
PREFERRED SUPPLIERS
Fun Is Good
Annual Conference chair Allison
George, wizard of fun at Toad
Valley Golf Course in Pleasant
Hill, Iowa, shares a moment of fun
following keynote speaker Mike
Veeck’s morning presentation.
SMART BUY SUPPLIERS
Hitting the Links
Participants who took part in the
NGCOA/Club Car Golf Outing during
the 2013 Annual Conference
make their way to the first tee at
Maderas Golf Club.
Members:
Start Saving Today!
Visit www.ngcoa.org/purchasingnetwork
or contact Rutledge at rbaker@ngcoa.org
or (800) 933-4262 ext. 270.

Market Place
G O L F C O U R S E M A R K E T
FEATURED LISTINGS:
C O U R S E L I S T I N G S
Presenting Sponsor:
Stonebridge Golf Club | Lakeland, TN
Glenlakes Golf Club | Foley, AL
Ivy Hills Country Club | Cincinnati, OH
Ken Arimitsu
+1 949 390 5512
karimitsu@pmrg.com
Keith Cubba
+1 702 836 3733
keith.cubba@colliers.com
The Nation’s leader in Golf Course Real Estate
Supporting Sponsor:
Supporting Sponsor:
MMA GOLF
The Carolinas and TN brokerage leader
www.mmagolf.com
For Sale
Bright’s Creek Golf Club—Near Hendersonville,
NC - Bright’s Creek Golf Club-near Hendersonville, NC.
Includes golf course, equestrian and real estate. Call for
details. Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate
Inc., (888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Durham Lakes—Fairburn, GA - 18 holes conveniently
located just off of I-85 in metro Atlanta.
Voted one of GA’s Top 100 Must Play Courses by
Golf Styles Magazine. PRICE REDUCED. Contact
Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., (888)
324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Highland Rim Golf Course—Nashville, TN - This 18-
hole championship Tennessee course with limestone
bluffs, natural waterfalls, rolling hills, and Scottish style
bunkers is conveniently located just two miles off I-24
and only 20 minutes north of downtown Nashville. Designed
in consultation with US Open Champion Mary
Mills, it has been ranked among the “Top 100 Courses
for Women” by Golf for Women Magazine and “Top
Ten Courses in Tennessee” by Golf Link. This 158 acre
facility includes a large glass enclosed tournament
pavilion with seating for 150, recently renovated Pro
Shop with snack bar plus an indoor/outdoor teaching
bay. Course features new Mini Verde, Ultra dwarf Bermuda
greens and includes two large practice greens,
an extensive 6 acre driving range, maintenance building,
on-course shelter building, and three bedroom
home. Owners are retiring from business. Contact John
Doerr at Through the Green New Hope LP, (615) 594-
8010, jgdoerr.ttg@gmail.com.
Honey Creek Golf Club—Conyers, GA - Honey Creek
Golf Club is an affordable, friendly, family oriented golf,
swim and tennis club located 20 miles east of the perimeter
in Conyers, Georgia. The scenic, challenging but
fair course design features “true” TifEagle Bermuda
Greens and is enjoyable for golfers of all skill levels .
Honey Creek’s amenities include a 17,000 square foot
clubhouse with full-service lounge, dining and banquet
facilities, two lighted tennis courts and swimming pool.
Come see why Honey Creek was Voted “Conyers’ Best
Golf Course” ! RECENT PRICE REDUCTION. Contact
Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-
5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Jennings Mill CC—Bogart, GA - Ranked one of GA’s
top courses. A short drive from Athens. The 10,000sf
clubhouse anchors the 18-hole championship Bob Cupp
designed golf course and its amenities. Spectacular
landscape views. A must see to appreciate. Contact
Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-
5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Under loi
Limestone Springs Golf Club—Oneonta, AL - This
18-hole championship course is nestled throughout
225 acres of the Appalachian Mountains with a
plantation-style clubhouse. First-rate practice facility.
Consistently rated 4-1/2 stars by Golf Digest’s Places
to Play. Only 30 minutes from Birmingham. Contact
Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., (888)
324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Long Island National Golf Club—Riverhead, NY - 150
Acres of Beautifully Rolling Terrain in Long Island Wine
Country, Near the World Famous Hampton’s Beach Resort
Area!Contact Stacy Ferrone at Keen Realty Advisors, (646)
381-9208, sferrone@greatamerican.com.
Mattaponi Springs GC—Ruther Glen, VA - A world
class golf design sculpted from 330 acres of wildly undulating
countryside with natural freshwater springs
throughout the property. This course is a par 72 with 5
sets of tees and measuring 6,937 yards. The turf selection
is Zoysia for the fairways and L93 Bentgrass for the
greens. A must see to appreciate! Contact Hilda Allen
at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Mill Cove Golf Club—Jacksonville, FL - Mill Cove
Golf Club is one of Jacksonville, Florida’s premier public
golf courses. With a 71 par and slope rating of 129, this
championship golf course was designed by golf professional
Arnold Palmer. PRICE REDUCTION. Contact Hilda
Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-5020,
hildahwa@gmail.com.
Mossy Creek Golf Course—Cleveland, GA - An 18
hole, par 70 public golf course approximately 65 miles
northeast of Atlanta. Established in 1965 and is set on
a picturesque, rolling terrain with mountainous views.
Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc.,
(888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
North Carolina—Two 18 hole courses, One Eastern
and one Western. Priced $650,000 and $1,250,000.
Same owner, possible Owner finance help. Buy separately
or as a pair. Buyer Profile required. Go to www.
golfXchange.com. Deloris Gausch, (910) 754-4529.
Pine Ridge Golf Club—Brainerd Lakes Area, MN -
Picturesque setting. Year round revenue opportunities.
6449 yards of golf plus much more. On-site apartment;
current owner mentoring available at no extra charge.
Owner financing options. Century 21, New Horizons,
Tom or Elaine, (320) 632-4999. Contact Elaine Westerdahl-Delaney
at Century 21 New Horizons Realty, (320)
632-4983, ewd.real_estate@charter.net.
River Pointe Golf Club—Albany, GA - This challenging
18 hole golf course has been recognized by Atlanta
Golf Magazine as one of the top courses to play and was
voted “BEST OF THE BEST” golf course in the Albany area
for the past four years. River Pointe is one of the most
beautiful courses in the south. Wooded, watered and
meticulously groomed and totally in keeping with the
natural beauty of the historic Flint River. PRICE REDUCED
UNDER $1M Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real
Estate Inc., (888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Seven Lakes CC—Pinehurst area, NC - Development
parcel, 5+ acres inside gates Seven Lakes CC, NC

C L A S S I F I E D S
(Pinehurst area) water, roads in place. Great, established CC setting.
Contact for more info: Miller Management Associates, www.
mmagolf.com, (828) 775-7765, Brett Miller.
Smoky Mountain Country Club—Newport, TN - This turn key 18
hole championship course sits in the Great Smoky Mountains and its
10 million + visitors per year. Includes range, pool, development parcel,
all equipment and carts INCLUDED $1.275 million. Call us. Miller
Management Associates, www.mmagolf.com, brett@mmagolf.com,
(828) 775-7765, Brett Miller.
The Club at Surrey Hills—Yukon, OK - 18 Hole public course on
160 AC, additional 38 AC roughed in for Par 3 course, two story 8,200
SF Clubhouse with 2,100 SF Cart storage beneath clubhouse, large
kitchen and banquet area upstairs seats 150+, grill & enclosed Bar
downstairs seats 30 with Pro Shop, 3,280 SF covered Pavilion, 3,564
SF Maintenance Bldg., located in high end subdivision. Seller Financing
Available & Motivated Seller. Asking price $1,200,000.00 Contact
Tommy Cummings, CCIM at Golf Course Brokers, Inc. (936)788-4622
or tommy@golfcoursebrokersinc.com.
The GC of South Carolina at Crickentree—Blythewood, SC - Designed
by Ken Killian is consistently recognized by Golf Digest in its
rankings of the “Best Places to Play” in South Carolina. Its’s a par 72
and 7,022 yards from the black tees. It features a full service pro shop
and a grill room with a relaxed setting. Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W.
Allen Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Turtleback Mountain Resort—Elephant Butte, NM - For joint
venture or sale, a beautiful, 1,040-acre community development including
the Sierra del Rio Championship Golf, 1,644 entitled lots and
104 finished lots. Contact Daniel Poremba, Development Advisors/
NavPoint Golf Group, (720) 480-2139, dporemba@developco.com.
Twisted Oaks GC—Beverly Hills, FL - Relaxing, picturesque
setting in a rolling landscape situated in West Florida. Links-style
course with year round play. 6,773 yards from the black tees. Chipping
and putting areas. Semi-private. Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W.
Allen Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Two Louisiana Courses—(1)The GC at Stone Bridge-Bossier City,
LA. Stone Bridge features a beautiful 18-hole championship golf
course, designed by PGA Tour professional Fred Couples and awardwinning
architect Gene Bates. (2)Olde Oaks GC-Haughton, LA, near
Shreveport. Olde Oaks is a Hal Sutton signature design, 27 hole layout
that graces 340 beautiful acres just south of Bossier City. The
3 distinct nines give a tremendous variety in both shot values and
visual aesthetics. Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate
Inc., (888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Valleywood Golf Course—Swanton, OH - An 18-hole, par 71
golf course measuring 6,364 yards with Bent grass greens and
fairways. Built in 1929. Minutes from Toledo International Airport.
In conjunction with Robert C. Evans, OH Broker #700140386. Contact
Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., 888-324-5020.
hildahwa@gmail.com
Wakefield Valley Golf Club—Westminister, MD - Provides an
exhilarating golfing experience for everyone from the novice to the
pro. Wakefield Valley’s challenging course has repeatedly won rave
reviews from the critics. Has hosted U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur Qualifiers
as well as other USGA and MAPGA events. 27 championship holes.
Near Baltimore and Washington. Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen
Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
Wolf Creek Golf Club—Atlanta, GA - This Mike Young design
is a 7,026 yard, par 72 championship layout with four sets of
tees. Both low flatland holes and dramatic elevation changes
come into play. Just minutes from the Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport.
Contact Hilda Allen at Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc., (888) 324-
5020, hildahwa@gmail.com.
sale pending
Recent Transactions
Churchville, NY—Mill Creek Golf Club sold at auction for $1.5MM
by Michael Foster with Tranzon Auction Properties, (716) 507-9009.
Professional Planning and Supervision of Renovation Projects
Golf Course Superintendent Searches, Drainage Studies
Over 30 years of experience with Wadsworth Golf Construction
Visit our website: www.shaplandgolf.com
or call (815) 341-8139
Please visit
www.GolfCourseMarket.com
For real time listings or call to participate.
1 (877) 933-4499
SELL
THROUGH THE
GB CLASSIFIEDS
Call 800-933-4262, ext. 212
for information on placing your ad
BANKRUPTCY SALE
Subject to Bankruptcy Court Approval
Long Island National
Golf Club
Riverhead, Long Island, NY
Proitable Golf Clubhouse &
Course Designed by
Robert Trent Jones, Jr. /
Residential Development
Opportunity
150 Acres of Beautifully Rolling
Terrain in Long Island Wine
Country, Near the World Famous
Hampton’s Beach Resort Area!
GA Keen Realty Advisors
T: 646-381-9222
greatamerican.com/keen

ATTENTION:
THE INTERNET
MAY HAVE
REACHED
CAPACITY.
GolfBusiness.com has added more than 1,000 articles to its new archive.
Now nd case studies, industry trends, bright ideas, small business insights and more on
our site. The best articles from previous issues of our award-winning magazine, along
with entirely new material that can only be found online.
www.golfbusiness.com

d Index
Interact with the companies
whose products and services
are advertised in Golf Business
Subscribe Today or Requalify Now
To Continue Receiving Golf Business
ADVERTISER PAGE PHONE URL
CLUB CAR
ets
e-z-go
fore reservations
general cigar
golfbusiness.com
IFC,1
IBC
9
35
5
54
800.CLUBCAR
800.834.7790
630.230.4556
800.526.4653
clubcar.com
etsms.com
ezgo.com/realresults
forereservations.com
cigarworld.com
golfbusiness.com
All fields on this form are required fields . Please answer all questions.
q New Subscription q Subscription Renewal
Is this your personal copy of Golf Business q Yes q No
AFFIX LABEL HERE (signature still required) OR PRINT IN BLACK INK
Name__________________________________________________________
Title ___________________________________________________________
Company ______________________________________________________
Address ________________________________________________________
City ___________________________________________________________
State ______________________________ Zip ________________________
Phone _________________________________________________________
Fax ___________________________________________________________
Email (required)_________________________________________________
Are you a current member of the National Golf Course Owners Association
q Yes q No
1) Do you wish to receive/continue to receive Golf Business FREE
q Y es q No
®
Signature X ________________________________Date______________
hftp
lockers.com
ngcoa annual conference
NGCOA Buyers Guide
ngcoa purch. network
ngcoa membership
smartcart
TORO
trojan battery co.
wisp
6, 29
27
40
48
51
10
43
2-3
BC
45
hftp.org
800.562.5377 lockers.com
800.933.4262 ngcoa.org/conference
ngcoabuyersguide.com
800.933.4262x270 ngcoa.org/purchasingnetwork
800.933.4262x222 ngcoa.org
214.668.5762 smartcartapp.com
800.803.8676 toro.com/leaderboard
800.423.6569 trojanbattery.com
855.843.9477 ediquete.com
2) Which one option best character- 7) What is the aver age greens fee for a typical
izes your organization (check one only) round of golf at your facility If you work at
01 q Golf Course F acility/Group of F acilities
02 q Off-Course Golf Retailer
multiple facilities , please indicate the aver age
greens fee across all facilities .
03 q Golf Industry Manufacturer/V endor/Distributor
01 q nothing/private 05 q $75 - $99
04 q Golf Course Consultant
02 q o less than $25 06 q $100 - $149
03 q $25 - $49
3) What one option most closely matches
07 q $150 or more
your job function/title (select one only)
04 q $50 - $74 08 q not applicable
01 q President/CEO
02 q Owner/Oper ator
03 q Chairman of the Board
8) What is the total annual budget or
expenditures for which you are responsible
04 CFO/Financial Manager
q 50 q less than $99,000 53 q $500,000 - $999,000
05 q General Manager
51 q $100,000 - $249,000 54 q $1,000,000 - $2,499,000
06 q Club Manager
52 q $250,000 - $499,000 55 q $2,500,000 or more
07 q Director of Golf
08 q Executive/National/Regional Director/Manager 9) In which ways are you personally involved
09 q Purchasing Manager/Buyer
in your organization’ s purchasing decisions
10 q Golf Professional
60 q Determine annual budget expenditures
11 q Golf Superintendent
61 q Authorize final purchases
12 q Member , Board of Directors
62 q Determine needs of the operation
13 q Marketing/Sales Manager/Director
63 q Specify/recommend vendors or suppliers
15 q Other (please specify) _____________
4) Which one best describes the
nature of your organization
(select one only)
64 q Specify/recommend specific brands
65 q Evaluate brands for purchase
10) Which products/services listed below do
you specify, recommend, buy or approve the
purchase (select all that apply)
A q Golf Cars
10 q Private
11 q Privately-Owned Daily Fee
12 q Semi-Private
13 q Resort
B q Turf Equipment
14 q Municipal/State/County
C q Course Design/Construction/Renovation
16 q Military
D q Irrigation & Dr ainage
17 q University/College
E q Chemicals , F ertilizer & Seed
18 q Driving Range/Practice Facility
G q Clubhouse Design/Construction/Renov ation
20 q Development Company
H q Financial Services
28 q Golf Course Builder
T q Legal Services
21 q Other (please specify) _____________
F q Course Accessories
21 q Not Applicable
J q Insur ance
5) Are you affiliated with a golf course U q Mark eting Services
management company
L q Pro Shop Apparel
01 q yes 02 q no
M q Pro Shop Equipment
P q F ood & Bever age
6) How many facilities , in total, are R q Computers/T echnology
you personally responsible for V q Furniture/Fixtures
80 q less than 2 83 q 10 or more W q Human Resources/Staffing
81 q 2 - 4 99 q Not applicable K q Consulting
82 q 5 - 9
Incomplete forms cannot be processed or acknowledged. The publisher reserves the right to
serve only those individuals who meet the publication qualifications.
For Faster Service Go Online: www.golfbusiness.com
yamaha golf cars
23
866.747.4027
yamahagolfcar.com
Or mail to: Golf Business, PO Box 321, Congers, NY 10920-0321 • Or fax to: 845-267-3478
Change of address only Call 866-372-8658
B1303IN

Community
by Ronnie Musselwhite
Calling
Card
Setting the table
incorporating baskets into the
restaurants and catering allows
guests to see how the baskets can
be used for on-course beverages,
gifts and storage.
Cool Weaves
Longaberger Golf Club
Newark, Ohio
When your namesake parent company has made
millions making and selling baskets for nearly a century,
it only makes sense that you incorporate the
cash cow into your marketing efforts. Longaberger
Golf Club has taken that concept a few steps further
by integrating the basket theme throughout the club,
from displays in the shop to breadbaskets in the restaurant
to the course logo.
How long they’ve been featured: Baskets have been
incorporated into the guest experience since the
club opened in 1999.
What makes Them special: All the baskets are handmade
at the Longaberger Company, whose signature
basket headquarters can be seen from the golf course.
revenue-generating opportunities: Numerous. Corporate
groups can custom-design gift baskets for
outings and events, and individual guests can buy
a basket as a memento of their golf experience.
Longaberger Golf Club also generates significant
business from the 40,000 consultants and families
who visit the corporate headquarters annually.
WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING: Customers like how
the baskets provide a unique sense of place that
ties in with the region’s most famous landmark in
a personal way.
56 GOLFBUSINESS March 2013

[
Who Says
Three’s a Crowd ]
There’s a Reason why the Top 3 Golf and Utility
Manufacturers use Trojan Batteries in their Vehicles.
New
Check out our innovative
Golf Batteries
for better performance on and off the course.
When you calculate how well we perform against the competition, consider that
our battery technology is backed by over 200+ years of engineering expertise,
acknowledge our industry leading performance at 40,000+ tested ampere hours,*
plus the fact that we have been in business since 1925, it is easy to see why all
paths lead to Trojan Battery.
Also A v A ilA ble in:
Columbia Par Car | Cushman | e agle | Garia | Melex | s tar Car | Tomberlin
For More InF o M atI on:
(800) 423 - 6569 or +1 (562) 236 - 3000
trojanbattery.com
*Independent laboratory testing validates the sustained capacity and superior performance of Trojan Batteries.