[Patrick_Mucci]

marketing efforts quite like the one's I'm seeing today.

I was at a party at a country club the other night, had to go to the men's room and figured that I'd prefer to go to the men's room in the men's locker room since it was sure to have a TV where I could watch some of the ND vs BC game.

In the locker room there was a pile of brochures on the club, so I took one.

I was amazed at the quality of the brochure and the marketing effort they were embarking on.

The brochure was very well done, in content and quality.

It could certainly attract and influence prospective members.

Now, this club sits in a densely populated area and while there are other clubs in the general area, it's an area not saturated with clubs, so I was a little surprised by the effort.

I don't know the financial details, but, clearly, the club is being extremely pro-active in trying to attract members.

What other clubs have created high quality brochures in an attempt to attract new members.

P.S.  No tee times was a highlighted point.

[astavrides]

.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I saw the title of the thread and figured you were going to discuss being congenitally blind, and this would explain some of your posts, such as Dodd and Frank voting to repeal Glass-Steagall.

Astavrides,

Just wanted to preserve your post before it gets edited or deleted.

Do you want to revisit the Congressional vote on the repeal of Glass-Steagall or the respective pre-conference votes by the house and senate which carried no legal weight ?

But, the bigger, more important question is, why would you attempt to derail, divert or poison a decent thread by refering to another contentious thread.  What was your motive ?  Certainly not to discuss this topic and golf course architecture.

[Mark McKeever]

To pull the train back onto the tracks, my home club leaves membership information on a small table in the main entrance.  It's good if someone is casually interested, but doesnt want to take a beating from a membership director.

Mark

[Mike Sweeney]

What other clubs have created high quality brochures in an attempt to attract new members.

Patrick,

I would be curious to know how the brochure integrated into other marketing efforts that the club does? Specifically, the club's website and social media.

In this day and age, a brochure is probably a good closing document, but who gets to read it and how do they get it into the hands of a prospective member? The big question is who are they targeting for membership? Young or old?

The big resorts such as Pine Needles and Pinehurst (which both have memberships) seem to have the right combination of creating a community feel.

It seems the private clubs are struggling with how to present themselves as "private" yet open to new groups/members.

[Michael Herrmann]

Patrick,

I would be curious to know how the brochure integrated into other marketing efforts that the club does? Specifically, the club's website and social media.

In this day and age, a brochure is probably a good closing document, but who gets to read it and how do they get it into the hands of a prospective member? The big question is who are they targeting for membership? Young or old?

The big resorts such as Pine Needles and Pinehurst (which both have memberships) seem to have the right combination of creating a community feel.

It seems the private clubs are struggling with how to present themselves as "private" yet open to new groups/members.

Good point about how the course would use a brochure in relation to it’s other marketing tools, namely the website or other social media.

Case in point that this thread reminded me of:  There’s a nice Bendelow (later Ross redesign) in my area that I played back in August and then attended a breakfast meeting for work about a month ago.  The club is in the middle of building a new indoor facility to house winter practice options with a few open bays in the back that will open up to a re-designed practice range with multiple targets and a short game area.  They are also changing a few of the holes on the course to open more room for the standard range.  A local university will be using the course and winter practice building (not exclusively though, that will be open to members) and the school is paying I think for more than half of the construction cost of all the changes.

I picked up a nice one page sheet of information on the current cost for initiation fees and dues while at the breakfast meeting, and there was a very nice display in the clubhouse highlighting the indoor facility.  I was also pretty amazed to see that that it appeared they were under 250 members at this time (the sheet gave an initiation price for those joining between 225-250, another price for 250-275, then another price over 275.)

This thread jogged my memory to go look at their website.  Absolutely nothing on there concerning the indoor facility, changes to the course, or mention of reduced initiation fees.  While members of other courses around the area may have a decent idea of what is going on over there (I’m a member of a club about 20 minutes away) it sure seems like they are shooting themselves in the foot a bit by still making people write, email, or call in to find out what changes might be enticing to a prospective new member.

If you are under 250 members and want to get to, say, 325 or so, in my opinion you should be pretty forthcoming with information on what is changing for the better at the club and do so right on your website.

[Jason Thurman]

I agree with Michael about being forthcoming.

I recently joined my first private club. During my search, I was amazed at how few clubs were willing to publicize any details of their membership policies on their website. They had nice looking sites but with content that amounted to nothing but fluff.

I'm 28 years old. My generation is a pretty big target market for clubs right now with aging memberships. People my age and younger don't make many phone calls, or even send many e-mails outside of work. We get the bulk of our information via the Web and mostly prefer texting to calling. We don't pick up brochures often.

This isn't necessarily a good thing, but it is a market reality that clubs should embrace. The club whose membership information is readily accessible online has a big advantage in the market for younger members, even if they give up some of their traditional discretion in doing so.

It's probably a balancing act for now, but I would bet in the next 10 years the vast majority of clubs which are membership by application (as opposed to invitation) will find that they need to be more transparent with details to make sales.

[Mark McKeever]

Agreed Jason.  In addition to the literature I referenced above, pretty much all of the membership information is available online.  Its easy to see what a Junior memberhship costs as opposed to a full membership.  As a result, its easy to see why we have been adding a good bit of junior members.

Mark

[SBendelow]

Michael Herrmann,
What was the name of the "nice Bendelow" course you played in August?

[Kevin_Reilly]

They are also changing a few of the holes on the course to open more room for the standard range. 

This is off the thread topic, but that sentence caught my eye.  Hopefully the range expansion will not come at too high a price in terms of changes to the course.  That would be a bad trade, in my opinion.

[Sean_A]

I agree with Michael about being forthcoming.

I recently joined my first private club. During my search, I was amazed at how few clubs were willing to publicize any details of their membership policies on their website. They had nice looking sites but with content that amounted to nothing but fluff.

I'm 28 years old. My generation is a pretty big target market for clubs right now with aging memberships. People my age and younger don't make many phone calls, or even send many e-mails outside of work. We get the bulk of our information via the Web and mostly prefer texting to calling. We don't pick up brochures often.

This isn't necessarily a good thing, but it is a market reality that clubs should embrace. The club whose membership information is readily accessible online has a big advantage in the market for younger members, even if they give up some of their traditional discretion in doing so.

It's probably a balancing act for now, but I would bet in the next 10 years the vast majority of clubs which are membership by application (as opposed to invitation) will find that they need to be more transparent with details to make sales.

Jason

Its worse than that.  Even for visitor play, if a club site doesn't bang me with the pertinent info immediately, I often look elsewhere to play.  Its amazing how useless so many clubs sites are.  I don't know why clubs wouldn't be more forthcoming about dues, fees, and membership process. 

Ciao 

[Dan Herrmann]

Sean, It's probably because most club websites are designed by non-golfers. 

Our (non-equity) club has some awesome brochures, and we've gotten some new members who picked one up during a wedding or when playing with a member. 

PS - One of the reasons most clubs don't put financial specifics is that the "deal" can vary as much as your favorite car dealership.  This is an very challenging time, and deals are done all the time.  Fine with me if a newbie is playing less, because it contributes to the well-being of the club - eventually, that newbie will be paying the same as me, and that's a really good thing!

[Tim Martin]

I agree with Michael about being forthcoming.

I recently joined my first private club. During my search, I was amazed at how few clubs were willing to publicize any details of their membership policies on their website. They had nice looking sites but with content that amounted to nothing but fluff.

I'm 28 years old. My generation is a pretty big target market for clubs right now with aging memberships. People my age and younger don't make many phone calls, or even send many e-mails outside of work. We get the bulk of our information via the Web and mostly prefer texting to calling. We don't pick up brochures often.

This isn't necessarily a good thing, but it is a market reality that clubs should embrace. The club whose membership information is readily accessible online has a big advantage in the market for younger members, even if they give up some of their traditional discretion in doing so.

It's probably a balancing act for now, but I would bet in the next 10 years the vast majority of clubs which are membership by application (as opposed to invitation) will find that they need to be more transparent with details to make sales.

I think the reason a lot of clubs don't put pricing info on line is that they want to get you to call. Then the sales pitch comes. Additionally in this environment there can be some haggling on initiation fees, bonds and such that probably wasn't possible pre 2008. I have heard stories over the last couple of years about prospective members who walked toward the door only to have the deal sweetened by the GM/Membership Director at the last minute. I've also seen new members who are livid when finding out from another member who joined at roughly the same time that they got a better deal. The answer usually comes back from the club that "you didn't ask".

[Jeff Shelman]

I completely agree that many clubs have websites that aren't as robust as they could be (should be?).

I see both sides on how much info clubs should put up. My personal feeling is that if a club is actively looking for members and doesn't have a waiting list, I would err on the side of sharing a little more than many are comfortable with.

If there's a promo going on, put it out there. Cost -- both up front and on a monthly basis -- are big factors for many prospective members. I think providing prospective members with a pretty good idea of cost has benefits on both ends. I think it may have some people realize that the club is more affordable than they initially thought. And it also might eliminate some people who are just kicking tires.

My new club has some fancy brochures, but a public portion of the website that isn't super. I'd like to see that change a little bit.

[Sean_A]

Dan

So at the very least shouldn't the club tell the browser this?  Perhaps outline a typical deal then request the reader to call and later visit for specifics.  I am all for a member section of a site to be off-limits, but the site is still the face of the club for a huge percentage of prospective members and golf organizers (for charities etc).  Its incredible to me that clubs think this is the place to be cheap and/or not forthcoming.

Ciao

[David_Elvins]

I have never seen...

marketing efforts quite like the one's I'm seeing today.

Isn't that just a function of the courses you play, Pat?  

I notice that you did not admit to playing this course that needed marketing and were only visiting for a party.  Have you ever played a course without a waitlist?  

I look forward to your future discoveries of a course that allows outside play and 4 for the price of 3 coupon offers.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I have never seen...

marketing efforts quite like the one's I'm seeing today.

Isn't that just a function of the courses you play, Pat?  

Not at all, more and more of them have become proactive in their marketing efforts

I notice that you did not admit to playing this course that needed marketing and were only visiting for a party.  

David, that particular course does NOT permit play after dark, so I didn't play it that day, or rather, that evening.
But, I've played it on many occassions.

Have you ever played a course without a waitlist?  

The most impressive waitlist I ever saw was for Woodmont, a course just outside of Washington, DC that had a published waitlist of about 250 people.

That club also sold off vast amounts of surrounding land over the years.

I look forward to your future discoveries of a course that allows outside play and 4 for the price of 3 coupon offers.

Since the Haverhill case, I don't think you'll find any/many clubs offering outside play, at least not in MA.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()