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Black Light Course Supplies Fluorescent Fun
Mini-Golf Inc., a Jessup, Pa., miniature golf course manufacturer, offers several black light options for indoor play. The company’s traditional obstacles can be decorated with fluorescent paint, and tee areas, cups and the 2-foot by 2-foot rails that hold balls in play also can be painted with various fluorescent colors that glow in the dark. In addition, buyers can choose from seven different carpet colors and patterns, including neon designs that come alive under black light.
 For more information on Mini-Golf’s black light courses, call 570-489-8623 or visit www.minigolfinc.com.
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Calling All Innovative Marketers
Does your direct mail deliver more customers? Are your demo days a hit? Have you developed community partnerships to extend your reach? Tell us about your marketing ideas and win an award for your creativity. Golf Range Times’ inaugural Innovator Awards will recognize driving range owners and operators for their marketing achievements and celebrate the best practices that advance the industry. We’re looking for events, programs and on-site promotions that use creativity and ingenuity to produce success—measured by either the number of new customers captured or increased spending by existing customers. The best marketing practices will be published in the November/December 2006 issue of Golf Range Times, and online at www.golfrangetimes.com. Plus, the top five entrants will receive a copy of Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing for Free: Dozens of No-Cost Tactics to Promote Your Business and Energize Your Profits.
An entry form for the Innovator Awards can be downloaded here, or call 804-282-5760. Deadline is July 20.
Shotmaker Mats Provide Visual Aid
Developed by Bob Gilmartin, a professional golfer and teacher for more than 45 years, the Shotmaker swing path range mats help left- and right-handed golfing students learn six swing mechanic moves. The Shotmaker provides a place to tee the ball and embedded visual direction lines for the correct swing path—both backswing and downswing. An accompanying 16-minute video helps instructors show players how they can easily get the club in the right path by properly using their legs and lower body. The mat is available in two versions. Professionally sized at 20 inches by 48 inches, the Shotmaker II can be moved easily to offer private, one-to-one lessons, and anchor holes allow it to be secured to the turf. Shotmaker II also can be used as an overlay on the range’s existing artificial turf mats. The Shotmaker III mat is a premium grass-covered 48-inch by 60-inch mat.
For more information on Shotmaker Mats, go to www.golf-swing-trainers.com or e-mail nepga1@yahoo.com.
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Golf Industry Show Plays to Positive Reviews
Not even the prospects of being relocated twice could dampen the spirits of organizers, attendees and exhibitors of the 2006 Golf Industry Show, Feb. 9-11 in Atlanta. Originally slated for New Orleans, show hosts were forced to condense two years of planning into five months as the event was initially moved to Houston and then ultimately to Atlanta. Presented by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and the National Golf Course Owners Association, the show follows a geographic rotation of the east (Orlando), central (New Orleans) and west (Anaheim/San Diego) corridors.
“We gain feedback through informal and formal measures, but the early returns are overwhelmingly positive,” said GCSAA Chief Executive Officer Steve Mona, CAE, in a post-show news release.
Attendance for the event was 18,900, down from the 22,723 who were in Orlando last year, but up from the 18,146 who were in Atlanta in 2003 for the show’s predecessor, the GCSAA International Golf Course Conference and Show.
A total of 756 companies exhibited at Atlanta, covering 244,200 square feet of exhibition space. That compares to 826 exhibitors and 270,760 square feet in Orlando.
The 2007 Golf Industry Show will be held Feb. 22-24 in Anaheim, Calif.
For the latest show updates, go to www.golfindustryshow.com.
National Alliance for Accessible Golf Under New Management
Drohan Management Group in Reston, Va., has been selected to provide full-service management for the National Alliance for Accessible Golf. The alliance had been housed at Indiana University’s National Center on Accessibility since its inception in 2001. Drohan’s Carol Wynne will serve as executive director, and former Vice President Trey Holland succeeds Gary Robb as president of the alliance’s board. The alliance will continue to create programs, such as Project GAIN, that offer opportunities for individuals with disabilities to play golf. The alliance’s new address is 12100 Sunset Hills Road, Suite 130, Reston, VA 20190. The telephone number is 703-234-4136.
The First Tee Exceeds Five-Year Goals
In 2000, the First Tee set three five-year development and participation goals: create 250 golf learning facilities; shape the lives of 500,000 youth; and establish 500 affiliate relationships. At the end of 2005, the First Tee had surpassed those objectives by introducing the game to 675,000 juniors, opening 274 learning centers and forming 687 affiliate relationships with existing golf courses.
“By achieving these goals, the First Tee has emerged as a key initiative of the golf industry and a premier youth development program,” said Executive Director Joe Louis Barrow Jr. at the organization’s annual meeting earlier this year.
At that meeting, Barrow also announced objectives for the First Tee’s third phase of development, 2006-2010: introduce golf and the First Tee’s nine core values to 3.5 million youths; deliver a consistent life skills experience at each First Tee facility; grow the First Tee National School Program to 140 communities across the country; and establish a chapter in each U.S. state and have operations in 90 percent of the top 100 markets.
Follow the First Tee’s progress at www.thefirsttee.org.
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