I find that the best ideas have already been invented by a PGA Professional somewhere.

When I talk with golf club management, especially club marketing teams, there is often skepticism about using the PGA Professional to generate membership leads and close membership sales. Yet Peter Myers and Michael Heisterkamp both educated us on how to do it effectively.

Peter Myers, now in Scotland. If ever you want to know how to create fun engagement, then reach out to Peter.

Peter, quite literally, saved a golf club. Hainsworth Park. And not only that, he restored a joining fee in an area where the ‘professional marketers’ were discounting membership.

Peter added over 100 new members in a year without discounting a single membership, and he did it using old fashioned viral marketing. Peter showed us how, by creating a schedule of ‘fun guest events’– with the emphasis on the social connection and fun – he was able to create hundreds of leads and convert over 50% into becoming members.

The message from Peter was – “In a membership of 600, there are probably at least 6,000 relatively local golfers connected to that
membership. Those are the hottest leads you can create”.

Michael Heisterkamp, General Manager / Director of Golf Chagrin Valley Country Club.

Meeting Michael, and his then GM, was hugely beneficial to our
understanding of the consumer and their needs. Times were tough then in Cleveland.

They had data showing that a golfer was 8 (EIGHT) TIMES more likely to sign the check for membership if Michael played 18-holes with them as part of the application process, than if they just processed an inquiry without inviting the interested golfer to a game with the club professional. Michael educated us on why:

“The greatest concerns of almost everyone joining a golf club are: 'will I fit in and will I be cared for?' That shouldn’t be surprising because a membership is about ‘belonging’. At the end of 4 – 5 hours with me, they know they’re going to be looked after and have someone on the inside who will care for them”.

Both of these solutions now seem so obvious to us. Both of these PGA Professionals had created really compelling data sets. We’ve been able to help many professionals replicate the ideas two great PGA Professionals gifted us. Thank you, Peter and Michael.

There are so many PGA Professionals with so many good ideas. We try and do two things with any good idea we see. First ‘playbook’ and
systemize it, so that it can be replicated. Then we check that we can replicate it before adding it to our ‘active customer management’ model. It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to add members, rounds, coaching students and revenue, or retail sales. This model works because it exploits the ability of a PGA Professional to deliver expertise that improves the playing experience and a relationship that creates greater social connection. And that is what golfers want.

As Peter Myers says, “the most basic human needs are shelter, food, AND BELONGING”. If you want to learn more, please

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