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Wanted: Women golfers. No experience necessary. Must be open to long-term commitment. Apply at nearest golf facility.
In 2003, 1.2 million women answered the industry’s call for female players, beating out men to become the fastest growing segment of golfers (defined as any person who’s played one regulation round in the past 12 months). They’re also quick to drop out, evidenced by the fact that the total number of women golfers is not increasing by the million-plus who try the sport each year.
Every woman who leaves the sport takes her purse with her, adding up to a huge financial loss for courses and ranges, says Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach and Increase Your Share of the Largest Market Segment. The 110 million adult women in the U.S. bring in more than half of the income in the majority of households, with wives out-earning their husbands in 30 percent of homes, she notes. “The woman is the chief purchasing officer in the household. She makes 80 percent of the buying decisions for the household, spending her paycheck and most of her husband’s as well.”
Even traditional male-focused sectors, such as automotive dealerships, home improvement stores and electronics retailers, have figured out that women have wallets. Both Lowe’s and Home Depot have refocused most of their marketing after finding that women initiated 80 percent of all home improvement projects. Do-It-Herself clinics and female-friendly shopping features such as brighter lights and wider aisles are among several ways these retail giants have retooled their efforts.
“Here is an industry founded in the muddy boots and tool belt mode, so the golf industry, which has its roots in the male mode, would do well to learn something from these industries,” says Barletta.
From conversations with industry members, she’s deduced that many people still see golf as a tradition, meaning a mainly male tradition. This point of view leaves little room to see the profit potential of women.
“There are some who say that women are not good customers and some people who analyze golf in terms of play-through rates, and some who look at that and say ‘[women] don’t stay with the game and don’t purchase enough so they’re not good customers,’” says Nancy Berkley, author of Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women’s Golf, her second book about women’s golf written for the National Golf Foundation. “That is a very misleading way to analyze the women’s segment. The value of a customer should always be measured against the cost of acquiring that customer.” On the whole, she notes, golf facilities don’t invest resources to acquire women customers, but the few that do find that they are able to attract women and more importantly retain them as customers.
Just as with men, time and money are barriers to attracting and retaining women golfers. But the biggest barrier, say Berkley and Barletta, is the lack of a social component.
“We know what attracts women and keeps them,” confirms Ruffin Beckwith, executive director of Golf 20/20, an industry-supported organization focused on growing the game. “While men are more interested in the competitive side, women are more interested with the social side. Group lessons where they can make friends or be around people at their level are important for ranges to take into consideration.”
The two-prong “Get in on the Game” initiative—a free seminar followed by paid structured group lessons—is welcoming women golfers at Forest Preserve Golf’s Chicago facilities. Last season, Forest Preserve Golf offered free one-day women’s golf clinics at Harry Semrow Driving Range in Des Plaines, as well as at its 10 Cook County public courses. The result was staggering, with 98 percent of participants in the first seminars signing up for a seven-week lesson series and the second seminar at Edgebrook Golf Course reaching capacity fewer than 10 days after its announcement.
“We built it so it’s not a super-competitive type of program,” says Chuck Kohut, regional director of marketing for Forest Preserve Golf. “It’s about learning the game with your friends, building relationships and having fun. The clinics are conducted purposefully in a group setting so that the women have a built-in golf partner when they’re done.”
In addition to classroom-style instruction, the all-day seminar includes breakfast, lunch, a free golf club and a mini-lesson on the range (or first tee) followed by an invitation for the women to take paid lessons with their “new friends.” After meeting much success in its inaugural year, the program has expanded for 2005, with monthly seminars (there’s a waiting list) and a separate sophomore program for last season’s students.
With 52 percent of former women golfers citing time as their reason for quitting the sport, organized programs can address the scheduling concerns of working women and those with children.
“Time is an issue for people,” says Sara Hume, executive director of the Executive Women’s Golf Association in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Having golf arranged, particularly for women, who may not feel comfortable going through the golf course to make a tee time, makes it easier for them to participate. PGA Magazine recently reported that while about 85 percent of EWGA’s 18,000-plus members work full time, they average 30 rounds per year, and 64 percent of members are avid golfers (those who play 25 or more rounds per year), which is considerably more than the total golf population’s avid golfer composition of 22 percent.
Organized programs “drive our members to play more golf,” says Hume. “They have people to play with, they have golf arranged for them—they just sign up and show up.”
EWGA also has a retention rate for new golfers (95 percent) more than double that of the general U.S. women golfer population (43 percent). One contributing factor, says Hume, is that the majority of events organized by EWGA’s 113 national chapters take place on the golf course—more evidence to support the finding by other player development programs such as Link Up 2 Golf that on-course experiences and programs with regular play features are critical to retaining golfers.
“The transition from the range to the course is a critical component, and we know that and we lose a lot of people there,” says Beckwith. “Ranges can be a vital component to bridging that gap.”
According to Golf 20/20’s 2001 Segmentation Study, range-only users accounted for 2 percent of the women’s market (compared to the 6 percent who were labeled golfers). “They don’t participate at regulation courses but they’re still a vital part of our game,” Beckwith says. He envisions ranges as a pipeline to industry growth, continually bringing in women golfers and graduating them to the course.
Ranges with short courses or practice holes have an obvious advantage in helping beginners make the leap, but even those without these amenities can offer transitional play.
“With a little imagination, an instructor can re-create real course experiences on a driving range,” says Berkley. “They say, ‘OK, you have a 300-yard hole. That ball went 100 yards. You have 200 yards left. What club are you going to use?’ Rather than hitting a bucket of balls with a driver, they’re hitting a bucket of balls as if they were advancing down a hole.”
Instructors can also create a real tee just by using tee markers on the practice mats, or use blue cones on the landing area to teach students how to hit over water, she notes.
“Being able to hit the ball is very crucial to women staying with the game,” Berkley says. “My vision is for golf ranges to carry the ball on this and come up with a teaching program and a checklist” that signals when a woman is ready to move to the course. This list might include her ability to hit the ball with a tee 75 to 100 yards two-thirds of the time and her understanding of basic etiquette. “A golf range can give you everything you need to have the confidence to go out on the course.”
Another option is for ranges to partner with a local golf course, where students and instructors can play during off-peak hours.
“I’m finding more ranges making reciprocal agreements with courses down the street and working together in each other’s best interest,” says Beckwith. And he allays the fear that transitioning women to the course will mean lost business for the range. Just the opposite. “If there is an allegiance there, that relationship will continue when the person wants to just practice or get out,” Beckwith says.
But first, ranges have to sell women on golf.
When promoting women-only events, Berkley says, there are several key components:
• a photo, drawing or clipart that clearly shows women are welcome,
• the word “fun,”
• a social reference such as “come and meet other women golfers,”
• the time needed (i.e., one-hour clinic) and
• “no equipment is required.” (“Golf ranges should supply the clubs,” she notes.)
Avoid using pastels, pinks and purples, the cliché female colors, which can come across as patronizing to women and can alienate male customers, experts say.
In marketing to the general audience, slight tweaks to a range’s existing advertisements and promotions will let women know they’re welcome. For example, it’s just as easy to select a montage of photos that show men and women or a group of men and women golfers having fun on the tee line and include some soft messages for women, Berkley says.
Look at the advertisements being created for the financial services market, she points out. That industry has figured out that framing offerings as a human benefit, story-telling and changing visuals to include people are soft messages that attract women.
Marketing also can cater to women’s multitasking inclinations. “When you’re competing for someone’s precious time, they’re looking for an experience as much as for something to do,” says Hume, whether it’s meeting new friends, having a good time or making a business connection.
“Golf can be positioned as a multitasking and a social thing,” adds Barletta. “Or write a human interest story that talks about a group of women friends who started at a golf clinic together and then see if the local paper will run it. Women would be surprised to think about golf in a different way,” she says.
Beckwith is hoping to get golf facilities thinking differently about women golfers. In early June, Golf 20/20 will sponsor the inaugural Women’s Golf Week to help focus the attention of the industry on what facilities can do to bring more women to the sport. “We’re targeting 300 facilities this first year, facilities that have been conducive in the past with women’s programs, and come up with a menu of programs they can offer to bring women in and from there sign them up for a sophisticated program like Link Up 2 Golf,” he says. The results will be available mid-summer, and if the program is expanded as planned in 2006, Beckwith says there will be a range component.
“There is certainly no reason for a stand-alone golf range to wait, to not implement a program on their own,” he says. “Ranges are a less intimidating place for someone to learn the game—a great environment for introductory programs to occur.”
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