The connection between golf participation and family is a constant. In literally hundreds of research studies that I have conducted, we consistently see that those with the deepest emotional connection to golf and the longest participation tenure, were introduced to the game by some family member; typically a parent. It’s perhaps ironic that in some […]
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2019
2019 Golf, Inc. Strategy Summit Keynote Presentation
SLRG research on how changing demographics will continue to shape the golf market in coming years teed up this year’s summit, along with a panel discussion with American Golf/Century Golf CEO Jim Hinckley, Golf Life Navigators CEO Jason Becker and Arccos Founder/CEO Sal Syed.
See the slides here
A Fresh Look At Golfers As Customers
On Monday, I teed up the annual Golf, Inc. Strategies Summit at Reynolds Plantation in Georgia with a keynote presentation and panel discussion entitled “Demographics: A Fresh Look at Golfers as Customers.” Joining me were Jim Hinckley, CEO of American Golf/Century Golf, Jason Becker, the CEO of Golf Life Navigators and Sal Syed, the founder/CEO […]
Read More »Launch Monitors Have Become Critical Tech Innovation Surrogates
In countless focus groups and qualitative interviews that I have conducted with both golfers and golf retailers, it is commonplace for respondents to speak to how “technology” has transformed golf equipment. We need only look back a couple of decades to witness the rampant innovation that has altered the size, composition, construction and appearance of […]
Read More »September 2019
A Researcher Looks Back Fondly at Q-School
Beyond golf’s four major championships and The Ryder Cup, my two favorite professional golf tournaments no longer exist. The first was what was once known as The Manufacturer’s Hanover Westchester Classic, later the Buick Classic, contested on the West Course of Westchester Country Club in Harrison, New York. This was our only metro New York […]
Read More »Home Runs, Hero Worship: Is That Why We Can’t Pay Attention?
Could it be that media deification of sports stars is at the root of our purported attention deficit and the proclamation that sports like baseball are “too boring”?
Read More »My First Hands on Lessons in Golfer Loyalty Marketing
Over the past two columns, I’ve relayed some of the more salient ways in which golf facilities and other customer facing organizations can harness the power of databases and loyalty marketing principles to forge stronger relationships with best customers. Today, digital technology has made this process of behavioral and attitudinal integration so much simpler. Several […]
Read More »Build Customer Loyalty With A “2C2R” Approach
Last week in this space, I spoke to how behavioral databases are helping golf facilities and other industry players to better evaluate and identify their best customers. I outlined a popular approach called RFM analysis, by which one looks at each customer’s recency and frequency of transactions in context with total spending, scores each and […]
Read More »A Foundational Model For Identifying And Nurturing Best Customers
Thankfully, the golf facility industry, in recent years, has begun to make great strides in deploying database marketing best practices to manage inventory, deploy effective yield management strategies, quantify golfer behaviors and leverage these and attitudinal data points to create more effective marketing communications. Because our firm’s work extends beyond golf to encompass other sports, […]
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