Golf Essentials (for Weekend Warriors)

John Brown is talking with one particular golf course owner about operating expenses. 

It’s common practice to stick with vendors for long periods of time, especially if you feel like they’re “taking care of you”. 

Well, sometimes when you bid out the sale to other vendors, you’re going to be really surprised. Vendors are REALLY nice to clients that over pay for stuff. 

The challenge is that your team won’t like moving toward a bidding buying process. It’s a lot more work, and they might lose out on the perks they used to get thrown at them. That said, it’s a guaranteed way to bring money right to your bottom line. 

I use this drill every time I warm up. 

Super simple. Start with a short chip or pitch shot on the range. On your next shot, try to land the ball on top of the previous ball. It’ll roll out a little farther, then try to hit the 2nd ball with your 3rd shot, and so on. 

Each shot gets progressively longer, so every swing is unique, with a defined target. 

You’ll learn to control your distances and develop a great rhythm to your pitching game. 

By the way, it might be a good idea to tee the ball up for these shots at first. No need to dig them out of the dirt when you’re working on distance control and tempo. 

It’s human nature to squeeze the club and try to hit the ball harder when you need more distance. 

The problem is that the complete opposite will give you much better results. Hold the club as loosely as you can throughout the entire golf swing. 

You’ll feel the club swinging (rather than hitting) the ball. You’ll bring more clubhead speed. 

Added side benefits are that your tempo will be greatly improved automatically if you can manage to maintain loose arms and hands throughout your swing. This means more efficient contact and more consistency too. 

Sometimes logic leads us astray…hold that club softly and get some instant improvement. 

Lately, I’ve been really simplifying my practice. In my career, whenever I’ve been struggling, I’ve always found that the solutions were far more simple than I would have ever imagined. 

Take a step back and focus on the basics for a while. It’s human nature to chase the next quick fix, but you’re not ever going to be able to totally sidestep the work it takes to truly improve. 

Athletic stance, alignment, grip. That’s it for pre-swing. Then, just think about soft arms and balance in the swing. Do that for a month and let me know how you’re doing. 

We had a great 2019 PGA Show. 

KPI Golf struck an incredible collaboration deal with MG Orender and Hampton Golf to deliver their new Hampton Connect club management software to the market.

John Brown and I go over some of the cool things we did and saw last week at the Show as well. We found some really fun devices making golf more fun. We also got to meet with a ton of equipment vendors and hit all the new stuff. 

Give a listen and please share the podcast if we’re delivering any value at all! Cheers.  

Saw an article about Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler sharing the lead (after the first round) and also sharing a house out in Phoenix this week.

Brought back some old memories of traveling around with the boys on the Canadian PGA Tour some years back.

I’m sure our “rentals”…car, hotels, we nothing like Justin and Rickie. In fact, we had an “Over/Under” room policy.

Regardless, I encourage anyone who is trying to give professional golf to give it a shot. When you’re in your 20’s, that’s the time to go chase the dream.

Don’t settle for some crap job too early. You can always fall back to that later on. Go for the big win and at least later on you’ll be able to say you tried.

Gotta listen to the podcast to find out what the Over/Under is…it’s not what you think.

about-golf.org/podcast

Golf courses are hurting for demand. We’ve gone from 29 million golfers to 21 million since the last market downturn.

We’re losing between 100 and 200 golf courses per year, and data suggests there’s still another 9-15 years left of the same to reach market equilibrium.

I’ve run some numbers on how free golf lessons should be deployed at country clubs to bring in new business.

It’s a long term approach versus the “car salesman” quick win approach we’re used to.

We’re talking about the average annualized and lifetime value of your customers. How to get them out to your facility, and getting only a small number of them to convert into paying customers.

I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that the estimates and assumption I’m using are extremely conservative. A 5% conversion rate is very low for public facilities, but for private clubs may be very high (of course average customer values are also much higher).

In this example, after paying your Marketer/Teacher a flat $30,000 salary, the club will have generated $320,160 in future Total Gross Revenues (10x marketing spend).

Of course, your instructor will have plenty of time to teach avid golfers on the side for a fee. In fact, this program becomes a feeder system for your staff instructors charging their regular hourly fees.

The club has developed an enormous differentiator vs. the local set of golf facilities. Marketed well, the club will be able to attract the lion’s share of newcomers to the game in the area, indoctrinate them into the club, and develop a culture of giving/generosity/hospitality while they’re at it.

Guests feel more welcome over time because there are no hard sells or sale pitches. All staff members participate in marketing the club, and inviting new people out to try golf becomes ingrained in company culture.

Combined with the KPI Golf Membership Sales specific programming, clubs can further capitalize on the power of word of mouth, positive company culture, and membership referrals.

Reach out if you’d like to learn more: kpigolf.com

I get a lot of questions about ball position.

Why is it important? Where do I put the ball for the different clubs in my bag? How do I know if I’m doing it right?

There’s some simple physics involved. Once you understand, you’re good to go.

Without good ball position, you’re going to develop some bad habits.

Lastly, there’s a really cool trick that I use to make sure the ball is positioned exactly where I want it.

Good Luck!

I believe that casual golfers don’t need to spend money on golf lessons. 

All the information is out there for free - how to stand, hold the club, basic swing techniques. 

I also believe that golf courses should be giving away basic instruction for free. It’s the ideal gateway drug for bringing people into the game - it’s a great business decision for owners. 

That said, golf isn’t free. You’ll avoid a ton of headaches and disappointment if you own up to the fact that good golf takes work. 

After 2 months of running this podcast, I've figured out the tie that binds all my messaging together: 

Free Golf Lessons for All Beginners and Casual Golfers

In this session, I explain why it's great for facility owners (believe it or not), teachers and students. 

The golf industry hasn't woken up to this concept yet, but it's coming if I have anything to say about it.