Keep Discovering Golf

Golf

As a dream destination for golf visitors, Ireland can be a huge asset for your business.

DISCOVER INSIDE

Get a deeper understanding of the Irish Golf Visitor

Top tips to promote your business to golf visitors

Enhance your social media with downloadable assets

Value of golf for your business

Ireland, long recognised for the beauty of its landscapes and seascapes, now stands as one of the world’s greatest and most distinguished golfing destinations. Spread through every corner of the Island, there are more than 400 courses waiting to be explored.

Golfers coming to Ireland typically spend 3 times more than other visitors, and often their itineraries are on the 4 to 5-star level.

Incorporating golf visitors into your marketing strategy is a fantastic way to capitalise on the global

interest in playing golf in Ireland.

In this guide, you’ll find actionable advice to help you attract more golf visitors and downloadable assets to help promote your business throughout this year’s key golf events and beyond.

KEY DATES AND EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

PGA’s 2023 Challenge Tour –

27th – 30th July 2023:

Headfort Golf Club, Kells, Co. Meath.

Horizons Irish Open –

6th – 10th September 2023:

The K-Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare

The Ryder Cup 2027: Adare Manor, Co. Limerick

CONCRA WOOD, GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB, CO MONAGHAN

Understanding the golf visitor in Ireland

Ireland’s unique golf heritage is one of the key motivating factors why visitors come here to play golf. When golfers talk about bucket list destinations, Ireland usually tops the list.

Ireland is home to one-third of the world’s natural links courses. This is very important to many visitors as the majority come from either land-locked countries or countries with very few links courses.

Most of Ireland’s courses, especially links, are open all year round.

74% of golfers stay over 5 nights making golf visitors an extremely valuable customer for your business.

K CLUB, CO. KILDARE

Visitor experience

Trends of the average golf visitor in Ireland

On average, visitors from further locations, such as North America, spend at least 7 days in Ireland, whereas groups from the UK and Europe visit for shorter times but travel more frequently.

Many travel with non-golfers and have spare time built into their itinerary. For these visitors activities and attractions are pivotal to enjoying their time in Ireland. They want to experience the local history and culture, so including activities that highlight this such as whiskey tasting, sightseeing and bespoke touring options could be very popular.

Only 21% of the golfer’s holiday budget is actually on golf, 79%

of their total spend is used on hotels, transport, food and beverage and touring.

Golf visitors tend to travel in group sizes of 8–16 players and as it can take 9–12 months to secure a tee time it is a great opportunity to secure large bookings ahead of time. In terms of developing repeat customers, North Americans tend to stay for an average of 7 days, while those from the UK often stay for a shorter time but more frequently.

Players like to go where the big events are held and with the Open Championship returning to Portrush in 2025 and the Ryder Cup coming to Adare Manor in 2027,

Ireland will be a prime focus for most golfing visitors before these events and long after.

TULLAMORE D.E.W. DISTILLERY VISITOR EXPERIENCE, CO OFFALY

Create compelling offers with local partnerships

Make sure your offer is unique and compelling

Think about what sets it apart from the rest. Thinking creatively can really help here, using clear language and focusing on unique holes or locations with nice imagery.

You can widen the appeal for young golfers with family packages, local itineraries or after-golf partner packages.

You can download sample golf offers template to use below.

What extras are relevant to the golfer

Be ready to recommend, crosspromote, and combine golfers’ passions, this could be in the form of creating a golf and distillery tour, or a golf and sightseeing tour package.

EXAMPLES OF DEALS

Find the right partners

If you do not have a course on-site, see the Golf Guide for local courses and find the right fit for you.

After 18 holes, make your own spirit at the nearby distillery. 2 night golf package with breakfast, and 2 rounds of golf in neighbouring golf courses. Hotel stay with 18 holes at a championship golf course and 20% discount at a designer outlet. Get

Create a unique offer that will catch the eye, even agree to a mini marketing campaign through e-zines or partner media outlet.

IRISH

Top tips for promoting golf on social media

Incorporate these steps into your social media strategy to help promote golf, while connecting with visitors and online users in a unique way. Check out our sample social post that ticks all these boxes, it will guide you through the process of creating the perfect golf post.

Step 1: Make sure to use snappy copy on social posts

Use copy that can help connect you with potential visitors and encourage them to visit Ireland for our fantastic golf offering. You can download a sample copy to use here.

Step 2: Create engaging visuals

Creating eye-catching visuals is a great way to grab people’s attention on social media. You can download customisable frames for social media from Fáilte Ireland’s Marketing Toolbox to enhance your posts and stories.

Also, try Ireland’s Content Pool if you are looking for nice imagery.

POPULAR HASHTAGS

#golfing

#golflife

#KeepDiscovering

#DiscoverIreland

#IrelandsHiddenHeartlands

#WildAtlanticWay

#IrelandsAncientEast

#LoveDublin

Step 3: Use relevant hashtags, tag suitable organisations and influencers:

We love when you tag us so don’t forget to tag us @discoverireland. ie and your region when you share your posts. Tagging relevant accounts in your posts can help increase visibility and engagement. Your local partners, neighbouring golf clubs and relevant PGA professionals can help amplify your posts to their audience.

#KEEPDISCOVERING

© FÁILTE IRELAND 2023