STROKE OF THE DAY |
"Golf… a young man’s vice and an old man’s penance." |
-Irvin S. Cobb |
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 Since I think of golf as entertainment, I checked on how courses are doing during these belt-tightening times. "Actually, the driving range is doing very well and business is up," said Tom Barber about the practice facility in Moorpark that bears his name. Then he put on another golf hat. "But our golf course business is flat," said Barber, who's also the head professional and operator of Griffith Park Golf Club in Los Angeles. "Which I guess is a blessing because I hear that lots of courses are having down years." Barber cited courses that are too hard and slow pace of play as contributors to why golfers are playing less. "But I suspect business will get better for all of us because when people start watching their wallets, they cut out traveling vacations and that kind of discretionary spending, and stay closer to home," he said. Then Barber quoted his father, the late Jerry Barber, who won seven times on the PGA Tour, including the 1961 PGA Championship. "Dad always said, 'Nothing lasts forever, the good times or the bad,'" he said. Some golf course operators head off the charging bears of a bad market with clever marketing of their own. Tierra Rejada head professional Mark Peifer recently sent an e-mail blast that offered a $10 gift certificate with every round. The Moorpark course also has added benefits to its Players Program, which now includes $8 in food credit each time a golfer plays, with every eighth round free. "That once-a-month player was showing up once every two months," Peifer said about the impetus to offer the golfing specials. But he added that "our regulars are all over us" when it comes to taking advantage of the offers. David Kramer, the general manager at Los Serranos Golf and Country Club in Chino Hills, also has a famous father - tennis Hall of Famer Jack Kramer. The family has seen lots of economic ups and downs in its more than 50 years owning the course. "Dad has always believed when times get tough, people play more golf," David Kramer said while acknowledging that "we are significantly more quiet than I'd like to be." Kramer also said people play golf to have fun, "so we make sure they have a good time no matter how they play." When players finish a round at Los Serranos, they get a chance for "sudden victory" on the putting green, where making a long putt earns a free round. Then it really gets interesting. A player who makes the putt then gets to try the "Shot of a Lifetime" at the club's real 19th hole - a 128-yarder near the clubhouse. Anyone who records a hole-in-one gets free golf for life. "Golf is a game you can play for life," Kramer said, "and we'd love to have you playing our place for life, for free." Now that's how you get repeat customers. Eric Tracy is also known as The Mulligan Man. He can be reached at eric@themulliganman.com. |
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