Issuu

Newsletter Contents March 2013

ON THE COVER Best Practice of the Month

pg.

Connecting with Her

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Be More Valuable, Be More Relevant

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Player Development—Ready, Set, Promote

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INSIDE

In This Issue... 2013 PGA of America Schedule

pg 5

Complimentary Tournament Access Member Updates

pg 6

pg 10

Good neighbor EXTRA—State Farm

pg 9

omen account for MORE THAN 52 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION AND 50 PERCENT OF THE WORKFORCE, they fuel an economy that is bigger than many of the countries in the world. What that presents is a huge opportunity to engage an interested and powerful consumer group that can positively and productively continue the theme of change and growth in the golf industry.

Game changing insights generated in the Boston Consulting Groupâ€™s study show that 42 percent of the 90 million people who have expressed interest in golf are women. As a group, women have initiated a strategic response to help address and engage what could be the largest incremental growth potential.

DISCOVER The hows and whys of marketing to women. What drives their decisions, the power of their influence and how she acts, thinks, expects, engages and spends. LEARN How to apply the insights and learnings in order to create an experience and an environment that will attract and retain this new business in significant numbers. GROW Golf and your business. By executing a strategic plan targeted at women, it is reasonable to assume a double digit lift in revenue, with increasing net revenue growth from focused implementation. Nebraska Section PGA | 8700 Executive Woods Dr., Ste 100 | Lincoln, NE 68512 | Ph: (402) 489-7760 | Fx: (402) 489-1785 | www.nebraskapga.com

Is Your Beneficiary Designation Current? If you've recently experienced a life-changing event such as marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child, now is the time update the beneficiary designation on your life insurance. Click here.

PGA PGM 1.0 Level 2 FINAL CHECKPOINT COMING IN JUNE 2013 The final PGA PGM 1.0 Level 2 Checkpoint will be conducted June 10 - 13, 2013. The registration deadline is May 8, 2013. Therefore, the Level 2 Work Experience kit must be received no later than April 8, 2013. The 542 apprentices in this level were notified once again by a personalized letter that was dated and mailed on February 8, 2013. Should an apprentice not attend this final Checkpoint 2, he/she can transfer into the PGA PGM 2.0 program by paying a $300 transfer fee; thereby forfeiting the completion of any of the PGA PGM 1.0 Levels. The next step would be to successfully pass the PGA PGM 2.0 Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 within Acceptable Progress. All other will follow the Acceptable Progress guidelines and eventually be dropped for that reason.

C OMPLIMENTARY A CCESS

2013 MASTERS April 11 – 14, 2013 Augusta National GC, Augusta, GA

Class A PGA Members, Life Members and Master Professional Members (PGA Members only; this offer is not extended to Apprentices). No spouse or families (including Practice Rounds). Must show membership card and photo I.D. each day. Go to Gate 6A off of Berckmans Road then report to Gate C to receive daily ticket. NOTE: Daily tickets are not available to purchase for spouse. Ticket Information (706) 667-6700

Creative Tool Kit There are a variety of marketing resources available to you to help promote leading player development programs. Golf industry representatives are encouraged to download and utilize resources from the Creative Tool Kit to help drive golf participation. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS CREATIVE

2013 Senior PGA Championship May 21-26, 2013 Bellerive CC, St. Louis, MO C OMPLIMENTARY A CCESS PGA Members, Apprentices, PGM Students, and accompanying immediate family (spouse, children, and his and her parents—does not include member’s grandparents, brothers/sisters, spouse of children, etc.) Must show Membership Card and photo I.D. each day. PGA Members (only) may bring a guest instead of their spouse. Go to the Will Call trailer located near admission gate to pick up daily ticket. Ticket Information (800) 742-4653.

Ready, Set, PROMOTE! Now that April is almost here you are ready for the season, your master schedule has been set and all that is left to do to ensure your player development programs are a success is to PROMOTE. You are not only promoting your programs but also your facility, the game of golf and yourself. Word of mouth is still the most powerful form of marketing. What your customers say about you and your programs will directly influence others in the community. Start by securing some champions at the facility who have completed your program and are excited to recruit friends, family, social members and more. This has been working well at Wilderness Ridge Golf Club where new classes had to be formed to fill demand. Director of Golf, Chris Thomson, PGA shares “We started teaching the classes in April and once we got a few completed about 60% of our future students came from student referrals that completed the program. There was excitement to sign up and get started! Every class was sold out with 8 or more students each week.” It is also important to promote your programs online. In today’s marketplace you need to be online. It is important to reach customers using their computers, smart phones and tablets; the avenues through which they prefer to be communicated. As PGA Members & Apprentices you have the ability to post your schedules on nationally branded websites such as GetGolfReady.com, PlayGolfAmerica.com, PGA.com and now Active.com with over 8.5 million unique visitors per month. In 2013 it is more vital than ever that your player development programs be promoted on these websites. This year The PGA of America, our Allied Associations such as the PGA TOUR and your Nebraska Section Office are going to be promoting these websites more than ever. Consumers looking for programs will be driven to these web pages through online promotion, email campaigns, television & radio spots, consumer events and more. Posting programs on the industries various websites is easier than ever with two improved options. You can post your schedule using the new ACTIVEWorks Solution to take online payment, send emails with direct registration links, reach more online shoppers and other benefits. You can also post programs with an enhanced traditional tool that has customers contact the facility for registration. Chris Thompson uses the latter stating “I utilized the online tools to post programs to the public and register all players on Getgolfready.com. Then at the end of the season I just went online and confirmed all players to get my MSR. Extremely easy! The best part this year is Joe now works for the Nebraska Section and will serve as a local resource expert to assist our members that maybe don’t exactly know how to get the program rolling.” CLICK HERE to start posting your player development programs online. You can also contact me directly for support in posting programs, reporting results and any player development questions you may have. I can be reached by email at JCanny@pgahq.com or directly at (402) 730-8364. Nebraska Section PGA | 8700 Executive Woods Dr., Ste 100 | Lincoln, NE 68512 | Ph: (402) 489-7760 | Fx: (402) 489-1785 | www.nebraskapga.com

BEST PRACTICE

OF THE

MONTH

Hank McFarland, PGA Lochland Country Club Hastings, NE

At this year’s Nebraska Spring Meeting we learned about the importance of “Connecting with Her.” Hank McFarland at Lochland Country Club is living it! After seeing Lochland’s Women’s League drop to as low as 37 participants in 2011 he decided to switch the format to a best ball and highlight the social aspects of the game by letting the women pick their own groups. He also removed perceived barriers by developing a intro to golf booklet titled Ladies Golf Questions for Beginners. “For the first time ever we are hearing hooting and hollers from women on the course due to how much fun they are having” stated Hank. Participation jumped nearly 150%. To view Hank’s Ladies Golf Questions for Beginners, please click here.

Are You at a Private Facility? You can still report your Get Golf Ready, Introductory Golf and Junior Golf Classes to receive Golf 2.0 MSRs. Contact Joe Canny, PGA at JCanny@pgahq.com or (402) 489-7760 for more information.

Updates between 2/28 - 3/31

NEW TO THE NEBRASKA SECTION Name

Club

Class

Former Section

Joe Canny, PGA

Nebraska Section

A-11

South Florida

Thomas Parker

Dakota Dunes CC

B-8

Wisconsin

EMPLOYMENT CHANGES Name

Serves As

NEW Facility Name

Joseph J. Canny, PGA Evan R Erickson Robert D. Johnson, PGA Devon E Kastler Thomas G Parker Brian J Primavera

A-11 B-8 A-1 B-1 B-8 B-8

Nebraska Section Tara Hills Golf Course Highlands Golf Course Kearney Country Club Dakota Dunes Country Club Heritage Hills Golf Course

Terry Riordan, PGA Bob Walker, PGA Nick Wanderscheid Mike Schuchart, PGA Todd Boeve, PGA Scott Allacher, PGA Robert Thomason, PGA Joshua Kohn-Lindquist Hank McFarland, PGA Bill Scarborough, PGA Brett Evans, PGA Maureen Farrell, PGA Greg Gilg

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Tom Nelson, PGA Gerald Fitzpatrick, PGA Sean O'Neill, PGA Jim White, PGA Don Kruse, PGA Britt Ward, PGA Jeff Kuhn Jon Petersen, PGA David James, PGA Mitch Merrill, PGA Mike Cornell, PGA Jen Smith, PGA

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STAFF David Honnens, PGA Executive Director dhonnens@pgahq.com

Thomas Harmon, PGA Tournament Director tharmon@pgahq.com

Joe Canny, PGA NJGT Director/ Player Development Coordinator jcanny@pgahq.com

Renee Tyson Administrative Assistant rtyson@pgahq.com