Florida Range Adds Miniature Golf Course Complete With Local Wildlife
Monterey Pointe Golf & Practice Center in Stuart, Fla., has added an 18-hole championship adventure-style miniature golf course. The mountainous course, built by Wisconsin-based Cost of Wisconsin, which has an Orlando office, features three waterfalls—one of which towers 30 feet above sea level—meandering streams, palm trees and 5-foot-long life-like alligator sculptures. It also includes several challenging hole designs, such as the “jump hole,” a tri-level green, and nine holes that are handicap accessible, such as hole No. 4 where players hit their ball into the water sending it downstream and onto the green guarded by a putt-through alligator. A nearby covered picnic area allows onlookers to watch players and will be used to host group events.

Balls Bombard New Zealand Residents
According to a recent report in Different Strokes-The Golfhelp Newsletter, residents of the Knightsbridge Village retirement community in North Shore, New Zealand, are under siege. When the wind is at their backs, big hitters at the neighboring Impact 2000 driving range have been raining golf balls down on seven villas in such numbers that one resident has collected more than 600 balls. Despite the fact that the range fence is 280 yards from the tees, manager Francois Retif says, “It seems pretty impossible, but we do have a few John Dalys and Tiger Woodses.” Measures are under way to create a cease-fire.

USGA Passes Halfway Mark in Its ‘For the Good of the Game’ Program
When USGA launched its “For the Good of the Game” grants program in 1997, it pledged to provide $50 million in 10 years to make golf more affordable and accessible to people facing economic and physical challenges. Five years later, the association has passed the monetary halfway mark in the campaign. Nearly $2 million was awarded at the first grants committee meeting of 2002, bringing the total awarded to more than $27 million. A total of 62 grants were awarded to programs in 27 states totaling $1,809,925. A projected 37,000 economically disadvantaged youths in these USGA-supported programs will be given an opportunity to learn and grow through the game of golf. A complete list of the grants awarded is available on USGA's website.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
You don’t need to come up with a new idea to make more money at your range. All you need to do is keep your eyes and ears open. You never know when you’ll come across a good idea that you can implement at your facility.

Some small business owners will agonize over trying to create something new for their facility, such as a clever marketing strategy or an employee reward system. Rather than developing something new, why not just borrow a program that another company is already successfully employing?

Sure, it’s fun to develop your own ideas. But put your ego aside for a moment and focus on the real objective—increasing profits. Being a small business, you probably don’t have the research budget or brain trust that bigger corporations do. By emulating what other successful businesses—not just golf facilities—are doing, you bypass the experimentation stage and achieve positive results more quickly.

Pick a big company that you admire and figure out the key to its success. It’s a good exercise that gets you thinking and will quite likely make you a few extra bucks. And, best of all, it’s free. What a deal!

Make a Connection With Customers Over the Phone
In the course of a recent phone call to a major national company, we were put on hold several times in between navigating electronic menu prompts. The lesson learned: Don’t put your customers on hold for long—say, for more than 20 seconds. Keep them waiting much longer and you’ll turn customers into ex-customers. This isn’t a groundbreaking concept, just a reminder of what makes for good customer service.

Although the call didn’t start out well, after finally reaching a customer service representative, we were pleasantly surprised when the employee asked, “Did I give you 100 percent satisfactory service today?" Bingo! Smart move, because it accomplishes three objectives:

—If customers have a beef, there is an immediate opportunity to air it and deal with it so that customers don’t leave the encounter on a negative note.
—Customers are made aware that the business cares about the level of service given.
—And, finally, this program puts employees on notice that the company places the utmost importance on customer service. If customers are treated poorly, then employees are the ones who take the heat for it. Immediate feedback! That’ll get your employees’ attention.

Golf Range Times Publishes 2002 Buyers’ Guide and Directory
The 2002 edition of the Golf Range Times Buyers’ Guide and Directory will be available later this month. The directory includes an alphabetical listing of more than 200 companies whose products and services are specific to the golf range industry. Separate sections for products, personnel and Web and e-mail addresses are cross-referenced to the company listings. In addition, the directory includes a calendar of industry events for the coming year, contact information for golf-related organizations and a checklist of small equipment every range should have.

Each Golf Range Times subscriber will be mailed a copy of the directory. To order additional copies, call 804-217-8968 ext. 112 or download an order form online here.

About the Golf Range Times e-Newsletter
The Golf Range Times e-Newsletter is a free bimonthly publication sent to range owners and developers who have provided e-mail addresses. You can subscribe online here.

Don't hesitate to forward a copy of this newsletter to friends and associates or to let them know that they can subscribe at www.golfrangetimes.com.

Have a tip or idea?
Contact Marshall Norton Jr., Golf Range Times managing editor, at 804-272-9100, ext. 112, or by e-mail at marshall.norton@douglasmurphy.com.