Focus on these five key areas when trying to improve your golf course. All of these ideas will lead to better satisfaction from your customers and vastly increase the morale of your staff.
1. Make Sure Your Golf Course is Fun
One of the biggest problems that most operators overlook is making sure that the course is fun to play. Listening to the feedback of your most frequent golfers and using that criticism to adjust the course can help improve the quality of the experience for your customers. Don’t forget about your senior golfers. They usually bring along their own golf balls and just want to unwind, especially if they just retired so give them the best course they can play with.
Yes, you can’t simply go out and move a bunker or cut down a tree, for example, but you can make notes that can be factored into possible long-term alterations that boost the enjoyment for players on your course.
2. Keep the Facilities Pristine
Even if your course and the surrounding facilities are older, you can still make sure that the grounds are in the best shape possible for golfers. Little things such as always making sure the blades of your mowers you use on the greens are sharp to provide consistent roll, go a long way in the look and feel of your golf course. Golfers will love to walk along the course using their best golf shoes without the hassle.
And if your facilities need a facelift, but the budget is stretched thin, then think outside the box for way to transform and brighten the interior areas.
3. Always Serve Great Food & Beverages
Finding a way to provide reasonably priced food and drink for your customers is paramount for creating additional revenue for the course.
One of the biggest mistakes that golf course operators make is a refusal to change the food that is served to golfers because of the potential for additional costs. But what these operators are refusing to see is that better food means more purchases and customers are happy to pay higher prices if the food is worthwhile.
4. Staff and Management Co-Exist in Professional Manner
The lifeblood of a golf course is a harmonious relationship between management and staff. Workers that you can rely on are hard to come by and too often, management will take advantage of their staff causing resentment and, ultimately, poor morale.
Keeping a steady approach to leadership and not showing favoritism is an excellent way to make sure that your staff stays happy and continues to work hard to keep the golf course looking spectacular.
5. Engage Customers Online
If you are not actively engaging customers online, then your course is set up for failure. Regardless of the median age of your typical customer, everyone spends hours each week looking through their social media accounts for new and exciting content.
Whether it be specials for lower green fees or having social gatherings at your course, make sure to promote your golf facility as a fun and enjoyable place to spend a day.