Looking to 2023: What comes next?

Image: Jacob Lund/Adobe Stock

Fall has arrived. For me just the word is magical. Besides the end of the hot days of summer, kids bouncing around the neighborhood, fall also brings the winding down of the golf season, with the revving up of planning the 2023 season. It truly never stops right? It finally feels as if the pandemic has stopped being the threat it once was. Life can now move along, without masks, sanitizer, and our next scheduled booster shot. There are now other concerns, however, that seem to be lurking in those trees, just beyond the 3^rd tee.

The game is coming off a tremendous period of activity, growth, and amazing exposure. In looking back a wee bit to the fall of 2019, the world of golf seems to have undergone major surgery, plastic surgery and a makeover, never before experienced. Rounds have achieved new highs, memberships have waiting lists, and many serving the business have earned lots of dollars from any numbers of different roles. No question, the game has been shining bright. It has been just about out of control with new golfers joining and old golfers returning.

Now the next great issue with be dealing with the recession and the unstable nature of the economy. With the pricing of many things moving beyond the comfort zone and inflation shrinking the power in our pockets, property leaders must develop a plan with a budget for 2023. Some leaders may take a “wait and see” position to learn more about how to position a plan for 2023. This post will suggest another point of view. Here, I will offer three opinions of how to push into the new year, doing all you can to build rounds, engage greater loyalty, and keep every sales function moving forward:

Communicate: Build a strategy of communicating to your golfers and staff for the coming year. When people are in the know, they feel like insiders. They like that feeling. Members want to know how theirclub is doing, and what’s in store for opening day and beyond. Team members, on the other hand, want to feel important and be recognized as a valued contributor, someone to be taken seriously by leadership.

Promote: Create a month-over-month calendar filled with events and special experiences for your members and your team. Make the events fun, competitive and very social. Get your team together a few times each month, if only to let everyone breathe and laugh during a bit of off time.

Be a willow: The world is changing, seemingly at hyperspeed. It is tough to hire staff and then retain that staff. It is time to build schedules that create shared sacrifice. It is time to provide all staff the opportunity to make the important events in their personal lives matter. Beyond getting compensation right, be certain to allow staff members the opportunity to grow their lives both inside and outside of the property. Time to build a new plan. Time to be a willow. Develop contemporary strategies for the benefit of both the members and the team. Anything less in this new world may come back to harm the club.

As you look to 2023, you’ll certainly want to keep the good times going. You want to keep members happy, grow the calendar and create experiences for every person on your property. Despite what looks to be a rough road ahead, look to be proactive and make the game and your club an essential part of daily life in the community. Those property leaders that decide to wait may be left with fewer employees, open tee sheets, and a property attitude lacking passion. Push ahead. Don’t be afraid to crack an egg or two. After all, how will you otherwise create the omelet? Choose two or three game-changing benchmarks to call your own. Whatever you decide, remember your product is your golf course, while the future depends on people. Choose well, keep pushing.

Jack Dillon is the author of the In My Opinion posts. Jack is a consultant, speaker, merchant, operator, sales leader and author of the upcoming book The Grand Tug of War: buying and selling in the real world. Jack can help you build your numbers, your team or your brand. Reach Jack at jackd@careerdividends.com or call him at: 407-973-6136. Jack lives in Orlando and on Zoom.