Release
They've done some good things there since I left, some positive things. I still keep in touch with the owner's son, consider him a good friend. He took over the operation shortly after I left, and he's actually increased revenue quite considerably over the years without increasing the rates. He's very business-savvy, and he's not afraid to try something different. It's a lot easier to raise the price of a beverage or a hotdog, where the profit margins are actually higher, than it is raising the rates. I'll pay a few extra bucks for a bite to eat, no problem. All the other restaurants in the area are doing it, so it's not like it's out of the ordinary. At least you can hide some of the price increases that way, unlike disclosing that your daily fee has gone up 3 bucks from last season to this season, which suddenly gets the typical budget-minded senior up in arms and revolts by taking his weekly group somewhere else.
And let's face it - the entire industry as a whole has been forced to rethink the way do business because of the economic recession back in '08. Those that didn't are either no longer around or on the verge of no longer being around.
But above and beyond the stats and figures, the endless number crunching and posturing - you still have to provide something valuable to the customer. I don't care who you are... Augusta National, Pebble Beach, or any other iconic golf facility you care to think of - the people ain't coming to your facility because of the drinks or the food, or the impressive gate entrances or stately clubhouses. They come to your facility because of the golf course. Not that good service and making people feel welcomed doesn't matter... but if the golf course fails to live up to expectations, and for a lot of golfers the conditions are a huge part of those expectations - nothing else really matters.
I communicated that to him shortly after he took over. I voiced my concerns about the manner in which they go about punching the greens and how doing it so late in the season, essentially, all but guaranteed that the greens would still be in a major state of disrepair for the first four months of the following season, when golfers are chumping at the bit to finally see the snow melt, get out of the house and hit the course!
And they don't (or didn't back then anyway) just do a single hollow-tine aeration, like every other course. They would actually punch the greens twice, with twice as many holes. Which obviously means nearly twice the length of time required for them to grow back in and completely recover! "But you don't understand - while everyone else is losing rounds in September and October because of aerated greens - we're gaining business." Yeah. And when do you do your spring aeration? May? And you double-punch them, which means you're looking at mid-June at the earliest before the greens are back to normal. You ever thought about how much business you lose in April, May and June? Two of those three months are the most active months of the golf season, and you're losing rounds. Furthermore - people who come here to play during those months, no discounts because of the conditions, no forewarning whatsoever when they call to make the tee time... four golfers come here, can't believe how bad the greens are, aren't interested in coming inside and having a beer or bite to eat, but rather getting in their cars, going back home and sending out mass emails to every golfer they know that your greens suck. That's how this goes.
For whatever reason, despite all of the other good things he's done, this continues to be an ongoing problem.
I just don't get it.
