Remaking the Clubhouse Golf Center & Grille has been a months-long process, but one that’s paying off for new range owners Sam and Kate Altiero.

The couple purchased the 17-year-old facility, formerly Randolph Driving Range, in April 2003—a year after they learned the business was for sale and started envisioning what they would do as its owners. For the first five months, it was business as usual, then the partners shut down operations to remake the facility. In March 2004, the range was still closed, but the Altieros were anxious to get it open before the New Jersey golfing season was in full swing. Although renovations weren’t complete—and still aren’t—they opened the range’s doors with 10 of the 20 newly heated tee stations ready for use. It was a decisive business move.

“We only had half the heaters installed, but the first weekend…without any press whatsoever, we had people lined up waiting to hit balls,” recalls Sam. “That’s a good sign.”

The makeover has been largely physical, with the Altieros making a sizable investment in a near total reconstruction of the worn-down 13-acre range. Improvements to the landscaping, greens and clubhouse, and construction of a state-of-the-art teaching facility are among the updates that have been made, and the Altieros are now rolling up their sleeves to redesign the miniature golf course. Less physically tangible but no less important, Sam has infused a new enthusiasm into the range, bringing a business acumen and sales savvy that has the center setting a torrid sales pace in the industry, with about a $1 million in total sales last year and an aggressive plan to double revenues in 2005. Sam says bookkeeper Joann McElwee helps track those sales and provides administrative support to what is a growing operation.

“We want to be the best we can be in all of the areas we focus in,” says Sam, who’s also a partner in Accenture, an international consulting and outsourcing firm. “Our business plan is dissected into the instructional side of the business and then the pro shop, miniature golf, the grille and then parties and other events, not just for kids, but reaching out to corporations. We’re really zeroing in on how we can be successful and provide the best service.”

Bringing in the Best
This past year, with renovations in the home stretch, the Altieros turned their attention to personnel, and made two key hires that have come to define the entire operation. For the center’s instructional arm, the couple signed a partnership in November with David Glenz, a well-known golf instructor in the state.

The center is an official second site for the David Glenz Golf Academy, and the name recognition is already paying dividends for the facility. “David is one of the top 20 or 30 instructors in the entire country,” says Sam, adding that Glenz’s academy at Crystal Springs Golf & Spa Resort in Vernon, N.J., is “well respected and well known.”
Glenz was the 1998 PGA National Teacher of the Year and has been voted New Jersey PGA Teacher of the Year nine times. He also is a six-time New Jersey PGA Player of the Year and has authored instructional books and videos, in addition to establishing his acclaimed academy.

“The bottom line is guys aren’t going to travel too far to a range just to hit balls and maybe take a lesson,” says Sam. “They’re certainly not going to drive past other ranges, especially if they’re comparable in quality. By coming up with basically the best instructor in New Jersey, now we offer something others can’t offer, and that separates us in the market.”

Glenz, who was once a pro at the nearby Morris County Country Club, still spends most of his time at Crystal Springs. He’s in Florida during the winter, but he offers some lessons out of the center, and Glenz’s influence there is already being felt in an aggressive off-season golf health and fitness program and in the certified instructors he has staffed, including Tom Clos as lead instructor and Dan Hintzen. “I can already see the tremendous value that Tom and the other instructors are bringing to the clubhouse,” says Sam.

Four months prior to establishing the academy with Glenz, the Altieros hired Steve Humphrey, a golf range veteran and golf retail consultant, to the facility as director of pro shop sales. Humphrey was previously working with the couple as a consultant. His first order of business was to make the pro shop a buyers’ destination. Humphrey, who’s been in the golf business for 19 years, also has some bold ideas about retail marketing and sales.

“Steve is a very, very knowledgeable guy,” says Sam. “He has been in the industry all these years, and the combination of his knowledge and expertise and my business background is working very well for us.”

Humphrey uses simple strategies to reach customers on a more personal level. For example, when a new driver arrives in the pro shop, Humphrey loves to take it right out to the tee line and tell patrons, “Hey, you have to try this.” Such tactics allow Humphrey and the center’s staff to learn customers’ names and build relationships.
“Our customer service is first-class,” says Humphrey. “You’re not just walking into the range to drive a bucket of balls. You’re coming to see your buddies behind the counter.”

One of those “buddies” is long-time employee Lou Pallotta, who has worked at the range for 10-plus years. “He’s the guy a lot of people love to come in and see, and he’s a big part of the team,” says Sam.

Pallotta, who works in the pro shop, builds customer loyalty by providing same-day club repair and giving regular golfers discounts, a smart move that’s won over new customers and won old ones back.

“A lot of people who used to come here years ago who stopped are now coming back,” says Kate. “People who haven’t been here in a while are coming back and continue to come back. That’s probably the best testimony we have.”

Adding a Little Seasoning
With an analytical mind for business, the thing that bothered Sam most about the golf industry in New Jersey was the seasonal nature of the business, relying heavily on good weather in the spring and summer to provide most of the sales to support the facility year-round.

He set out to extend the season by refurbishing the covered tee line and heating it, adding an indoor golf training center and promoting off-season fitness programs. First, the double-deck tee line was stripped down to just the steel supporting structure and completely rebuilt and outfitted with new Fiberbuilt golf mats and Sun Systems infrared heaters. In golf-crazy Morris County, 20 covered, heated tees are a great way to encourage off-season business.

“We had to shut down the range in late October [2003] and that’s when we really started the rebuilding process,” Sam recalls. “We rebuilt the tee line and we get a lot of compliments on the way things look now.”

The Altieros enhanced the 340-yard-long by 315-yard-wide landing area with five synthetic target greens, ranging from 100 to 225 yards. The bright green of the artificial turf is an eye-catching contrast to the primarily bentgrass and rye blend throughout the landing area and grass hitting tees.

Next, the Altieros took an existing building on the far end of the range and turned the 700-square-foot structure into a teaching center, dividing two sides of the building into two large indoor teaching bays. Heated and with garage doors that open up to the landing area, the space is ideal for instruction.

“We can do private lessons in there or have groups,” explains Kate. “I haven’t seen many training centers like it around the country. From what I understand it would be comparable to what you see down south a lot. With the heater in there, we can use it year-round.”

Inside, there’s video and computer equipment for swing analysis and instruction, comfortable seating and a new area for club repair. Club fitting, one of the facility’s true specialties, also has a home in the building.

In addition, part of the space is being used for instruction in a new physiology regimen of golf training, the Flexor Golf Fitness Program. Scientific studies have shown that the program improves performance by reprogramming the central nervous system to make a correct golf swing by simultaneously identifying muscle imbalances and imprinting self-corrections.

Golf professional Wendy Ferrara, the third teaching pro through the Glenz academy, is also a licensed physical therapist and the leading instructor in the Flexor program. The program has already developed such a following that in a recent clubhouse renovation, space was carved out to give Ferrara a dedicated area there.

“Flexor involves the whole fitness of golf and what golfers need to do to get more fit to improve their game,” explains Sam. “There’s science behind it and I think that puts us at the cutting edge of instruction. No one else, at least to my knowledge, in this area is offering it and serious golfers seem to really like it.”

Glenz endorses the program, too, so it fits hand-in-golf-glove with his instructional ideals, in addition to being a great off-season offering. The specialized golf instruction doesn’t stop there, though. Because of Ferrara’s diverse background, she also regularly works with golfers who have back, neck or elbow problems, helping them adjust their swings to improve and get more out of the game.

A Pro’s Pro Shop
Of all the improvements, the Altieros are most proud of the pro shop—one of Kate’s lead design projects. The 1,200-square-foot area has new shelving, new walls, a new ceiling, fresh paint and a whole new attitude.

Humphrey is the buyer for the pro shop and says the secrets behind a successful golf retail operation are “customer service and good buying practices.”

“We tend to leverage buy a little bit,” he says. “We may buy a little deep in something to be able to take advantage of discounts. If we get something on a discount, we show it to our customers, too.”

Unlike many golf range pro shops that don’t try to compete with the big-box retail stores, Humphrey uses the opposite tack. He offers a full range of products in all lines of clubs, irons and putters, and a wide selection of apparel. Humphrey leverages his strong connections in the industry to pick up good buys at deep discounts that he then passes on in savings to his customers.

And, as Humphrey points out, there are advantages to selling clubs on the range: Customers can take a club out to the tee line for a demo; golf range customers are committed to their game, as evidenced by their coming out to practice; and the range’s informal atmosphere provides a comfortable place to shop.

As far as club fitting is concerned, the center is already a Top 100 account for Titleist, and also specializes in Cleveland, Callaway, TaylorMade and Ping clubs, among others. All pro shop employees have attended at least one fitting school, and Humphrey, as a regional fitting instructor for Titleist, is there to lend his expertise as needed on all brands.

The Altieros quickly saw the advantages of bringing Humphrey on board. Where other range owners might squirm at bringing in a large inventory, Humphrey has a proven track record of gauging golf customers and their buying habits. He also has golf retail and marketing contacts that give the center a leg up in the region.

The facility has already branched into corporate logo apparel, providing local companies with logo balls or windbreakers, which Humphrey has been able to pick up at a discount, have embroidered, sell to the businesses and turn a nice profit while still offering his customers savings. “It’s all about building relationships,” says Humphrey, echoing Altiero’s business sentiments. “You have to nurture your business and look for opportunities.”

New Range, New Ideas
Making the range more upscale than the previous facility has attracted serious golfers, but the business also is using multiple marketing strategies to attract a wide array of customers.

Summertime Ladies Night Out clinics have become especially popular. On Friday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30, the range has drawn between 40 and 60 women for the discounted night, including a bucket of balls, wine and cheese and free instruction, all for $15 per person. “Basically, they’re paying for a jumbo bucket,” says Kate. “We give them a free clinic and it’s gotten big because they bring their friends. You get all those women out there—from 18 to 70—and it’s a lot of fun.”

The Altieros have implemented another innovative idea by tapping the seven local high school golf teams. Though many ranges offer practice time and space for teams, the center has designed a special instructional program for individual team members and aspiring high school players. Discount lesson rates and specialized instructional programs in the off-season better gear varsity players and potential players for their spring golfing season.

The biggest advocates, and thus sales partners, in the program are the local high school coaches. They push the concept with the parents, who book the lessons at the facility. “A lot of these teams come here and practice once official practice starts, but we got to thinking that we could help them more,” says Kate. “A lot of those coaches aren’t necessarily golf pros so we thought it might be a good idea to offer more structured instruction. It’s taken off really well.”

Kate says about 18 students come in for a regular clinic once a week and others end up taking more private lessons.

Other marketing maneuvers are designed to fill the tee line during slower hours. For example, the center offers half-price jumbo buckets (150 balls) from 8 to11 a.m., and then again from 2 to 4 p.m. Seniors 60 and older, usually early-morning golfers, can buy a $50 card that gives them $100 of service, and Kate says she’ll open the range before 8 in the morning if she sees more seniors coming in early.

The facility also offers five levels of membership with debit cards that customers use at the Range Servant America ball dispenser. The highest level membership is the Champions Club Card, which for $400 annually, provides unlimited range balls and use of the 150-yard-long by 50-yard-deep grass teeing area and new 5,000-square-foot putting and chipping green. Kate says the center has already sold 50 such memberships, not a tough sell in a county with 17 golf courses and an average household income of more than $97,000.

“That’s been a very big moneymaker for us,” she says.
The grass areas on the range are reserved for all card-carrying members, a way to limit traffic on the new grass and give these loyal customers more value.

Finishing Touches
There’s been no traffic on the 18-hole miniature golf course, which is closed while the Altieros redesign it. Again looking to the future and the course’s longevity, they don’t want to create the traditional miniature golf look. “I don’t think people get so excited about dinosaurs and animals anymore,” Sam says. “I think we want to appeal to the customers of today. My thinking is more high tech, combining music and lighting, things that children, teens and adults might all like. We’re restricted by the space we have, but whatever we come up with, I want it to be high quality.”

The miniature golf course will be a finishing touch to the total renovation of the facility, which is nearing completion. The Altieros just wrapped up a remodeling project in the clubhouse, where the dining area was split in half to make room for a second Flexor teaching area.

Kate, who used to run a restaurant, is applying her food service skills to the center’s grille, making it a comfortable place for golfers as well as groups. The grille, offering a full-service kitchen, seats 40 people inside, and a huge, refurbished patio in the back has 12 outdoor tables with umbrellas. When the weather’s nice, the patio is a popular spot for morning coffee drinkers and for a small, but steady lunchtime crowd.

Renovations to the clubhouse and miniature golf course are the last of what the Altieros characterize as “the basics.”

“You walk in here now and you just think you’re in a brand-new place,” says Sam. “If you hadn’t been here before, you’d have no idea how old this place was.”

The facility was “tired,” he adds.

But not anymore. This range is ready to play.