I believe that for European golf club managers there are few really important events that they should visit. One of them is the Golf Business & Industry Convention that will be held in 2017, between 17-19 January at the Harrogate International Centre.
The two-day event will feature a number of thought-provoking seminars and discussions, designed to aid golf course and range owners and operators to enhance their businesses, attract new members, grow the game of golf as well as providing a chance to network with other golf and range owners, operators and some of golf’s most influential figureheads.
Let me pick some of the most useful parts the program:
- Lessons from the US Golf Market – Jay Karen, CEO of the NGCOA
- Golf Retail – What’s best for your golf facility – Dan Gathercole, Head of Marketing, American Golf
- The Ryder Cup-Past, Present and Future debate with Jim McKenzie (Director of Golf Courses & Estates Management at The Celtic Manor Collection), Curtis Tyrrell (Director of Golf Course Operations at Medinah Country Club), Steve Chappell (Head Greenkeeper at PGA Centenary Course, Gleneagles), Chris Tritabaugh (Golf Course Superintendent at Hazeltine National Golf Club), Alejandro Reyes (Course Manager at Le Golf National).
- Forging the TEAM – Course manager, Staff, PGA Pro, manager, owner –> this should not be only about team building, but also what kind of technology solutions (e.g. wearables) could be used to facilitate an effective team work.
- Data-based decision making – Dr. Steve Otto (Director of Research & Testing at The R&A) will share with us his insights.
I hope more and more golf clubs will understand and embrace data-based decision making to be able to come up with personalized products and services. You cannot imagine how much data you already have about your guests and members. You only need to do is to start analyzin the data and utilize them.
My prediction that the innovative golf clubs will create soon data analyst position to facilitate this change. So open your Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Email software analytics, CRM software, etc. and see what can you learn from the available data.
What I cannot find or missing from the program is the customer experience management. Customer centricity should not be just a buzz word. Today customer experience is the branding that differentiates golf clubs and resorts. This is the epicenter of membership development and retention as well.
For the same reason, I was happy to find customer experience and customer journey development on the agenda of the EGCOA 2016 Golf Business Conference.
In overall, the Golf Business & Industry Convention can be a useful event for golf club managers.
The cost to attend the event is £50.00 for UKGCOA, OGRO and BIGGA members and £100.00 for non-members. Tickets can be purchased through the Continue to Learn booking page httpss://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
