Embrace Golf's Variety

Community Golf Fan,

It’s The (British) Open week, and the tournament returns to Carnoustie Golf Links. As you know, we at Staples Golf have a passion for links golf, and feel much of what we love about the game comes from the variety, the challenge, and the overall fun found in early golf course layouts.

With that in mind, we decided to touch on just a few reasons for loving this game, which can be used to supplement your current golf marketing message to potential clients. Here we go!

The Variety

No other game lets you walk along exceptionally landscaped grounds of such great variety than that of golf. It’s true no two holes in golf are the same, and there are A LOT of golf holes out there (over 535,000 golf holes globally, last we checked!). This diversity in golf design is what makes our playing fields memorable, interesting, and worthy of repeat play.

By embracing the uniqueness your course undoubtedly presents, differentiating it from your competition becomes just a little bit easier. Here’s a quick article from Joe Passov of Golf Magazine that emphasizes the importance of honing-in on what makes a golf course stand out.

The Challenge

Let’s face it; golf is hard! When watching The Open this week, you’ll figure out why they call Carnoustie, Car-Nasty! Wind, rain, and long grass will bring even the best players to their knees! Most of us avoid tough situations in life just generally, so to embrace the repeated challenges of golf, is to count ourselves among the few.

Hitting a golf ball just right takes a ton of practice, discipline, and commitment, and anyone hooked on the game will admit, when that amazing shot is made (or even comes close!), few feelings can match it. The pros pull-off some tough shots on TV, and the excitement of trying to replicate that on the course can certainly become addicting, especially as we improve. (With that said, hitting a wall in golf is to be expected, so check out this article if there’s a hitch you just can’t overcome!)

The Health & Wellness Benefits

Exercise is one of those benefits often overlooked by golf courses in recent times, mostly due to more reliable golf carts, and our ever-growing time constraints. It’s worth knowing that walking 18 holes of golf can burn up to 1,500 additional calories according to research done by the Walking Golfer Society.

Additionally, much research shows simply being outdoors in nature has near instant and positive effects on one’s physiology. We humans of course evolved amidst the elements, and our bodies know it. Here’s a summary of these great benefits from the Forest Service that is well sourced. It doesn’t hurt either that golf is a sport one can enjoy for a lifetime, with many golfers playing well into their 80's!

The Environmental Stewardship

The benefits of being in nature are awesome, but courses also serve tremendous value to our communities. We see this in the cultivation of plant life, and in protected habitats for wildlife, but also in more functional capacities such as stormwater management and carbon sequestration. The First Green is an organization whose mission is to provide environmental education to our youth about such deserving efforts, which your course could offer.

Also doing great work in this area is Audubon International and their initiatives with sustainability on golf courses. Chances are you've heard of them and we encourage all our all our municipal golf contacts to utilize them as a minimum if sustainability is a chief concern (which we believe it should be!). Another great organization however, which you may not be aware of, is the GEO (Golf Environmental Organization) out of North Berwick, Scotland. This group really goes above and beyond with their certification program, and is considered by most to be the "gold standard."

Here's What You Need To Know:

- Your course offers golf holes no other course in the world offers
- Be proud your course provides opportunity for residents to challenge themselves!
- Golf is a great way to maintain a healthier lifestyle
- Getting youngsters involved in golf has massive off-the-course benefits
- Golf significantly improves the quality of life in your community!

Timing is Everything

We realize more often than not, everything comes down to timing, so when you're ready for us, we'll be ready for you and your golf course!

Please remember, we present webinars at no charge to stakeholders who oversee facilities looking to improve. If that's of interest to you, please tell us about your golf course byclicking here.

Sincerely,

Andy Staples, ASGCA

PS- If you haven't gotten a chance to read our Community Links White Paper on Municipal Golf in America, you can download it here!