Ask most golfers directly whether the fact that a certain Tour player’s use of specific brands or models of equipment makes a difference in their purchase decisions, and you’ll likely get a negative response or flat out denial. After all, it seems intuitive to golf fans and rank-and-file amateurs alike, that those at the apex […]
Read More » Over the past decade, golf equipment marketing has moved in lockstep with general product marketing trends to rely increasingly on digital video as a means to educate consumers and tell a compelling story. The benefits of sight, motion and sound are obvious, particularly in a format that is accessible anywhere, any time. But as I’ve […]
Read More » Ask the average non-golfer about trends in golf participation, and they may likely defer to a number of mainstream media articles from a few years ago, that like so much of today’s sensationalistic mainstream media coverage, sought to paint a gloom and doom death knell for golf. As one who has spent the bulk of […]
Read More » If you look at sports coverage, today we are surrounded by unsubstantiated superlatives. Players and media are so quick to crown the latest G.O.A.T. in a constant battle for our attention. Zion Williamson remains the latest in a litany of pre-ordained NBA superstars, and he is yet to set foot on the court in a […]
Read More » I’ve often made the point that one of the fundamental hurdles that any marketer in a niche product category must face, is recognizing that there is a wide gap between their own mindset and purchase process and the focus of the target customer. This is particularly acute in an often insular vertical like golf equipment, […]
Read More » For at least the past five years, it seems that there has hardly been a golf industry conference that hasn’t posited some vision of the disrupted and transformed golf facility. Surely you’ve heard the bluster: “Golf as we know it will not exist in 20 years; five years, 30 seconds.” Many of these prognostications strike […]
Read More » Golf fans should be pretty excited by some news that they may have missed last week. Somewhat quietly, the PGA TOUR announced that they would be offering streaming coverage of every shot at next year’s Tournament Player’s Championship. One has to think that this may be a precursor to the not too distant future of […]
Read More » At the Golf, Inc. strategies conference two weeks ago, both my keynote presentation and numerous entities around the exhibit hall sought to provide insights and solutions towards the goal of improving golfer satisfaction. In previous columns, I’ve spoken about what our research has consistently shown to be some of the key drivers of satisfaction in […]
Read More » 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 » 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 […]
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