I am sure many of you have heard of that Education City Golf Club has completed the final installation of its Centre of Excellence that offers:
- V1 Analysis,
- TrackMan,
- FlightScope Golf,
- Biomechanics technology (including Gears and SAM Balance lab, K Vest and Boditrak performance),
- Zen Green stage, and
- Technogym equipment.
This is a very good example when a golf club is trying to develop customer experience by providing added value services and building explicit links to value.
Now, let’s jump back from Qatar to the Provance region in France to the Golf International Pont Royal.
Golf International Pont Royal – customer experience value creation
After investing in their golf academy, the Golf International Pont Royal (40 km north of Marseille Airport) was able to attract almost 37% more golfers (mainly from Northern Europe) year on year.
The 37-acre Durance Training Centre – the only one of its kind in the region – is just five minutes from the resort’s Seve Ballesteros-designed course ( the only one in France) and comprises a two-storey driving range, large putting green, a short-game practice area, a 1,039-yard, six-hole course, featuring five par-three holes and one par-four, and a David Leadbetter Academy.
It also helps them that Golf International Pont Royal has the largest junior section in the region and is also the base for the current French amateur champion, 20-year-old Camille Bordone.
Why should we link customer experience to value?
I see many customer experience programs that try to impress golf club members and guests. However, in many cases, the positive response is delaying or not arriving at all.
One of the reasons this is happening is that club managers or marketing managers forget to analyze and understand their guests’ needs and expectations.
Don’t assume! Research and analyze!!! Be data-driven!
Even if you cannot afford to hire a professional business analyst due to budget constraints, try to learn as much you can from your data at your disposal.
A popular way to humanize our data is by creating customer personas. By creating customer personas you will gain a better understanding of homogenous groups and recognize key traits within them.
This way you will realize soon that there is no such thing as “typical golf club member” or “typical golf club guest”.
We all know that customers are very self-centered and care only about their needs, goals, and desires. Therefore, we have not other choices but to understand how our new service or product will deliver benefits to them.
So now it is obvious why we should focus on our customers’ view of customer experience value. For instance, if you show them how their game will improve within X days if they take a certain golf lesson at our golf academy.
Let’s not forget to quantify the economic outcomes of differences in customer experiences! Otherwise, you will only have costs and unclear near-term results.
My recommendations for future customer experience improvement initiatives & success are:
- Have quantified links to value: this will provide you a clear view of what matters to customers, where to focus, and how to keep the customer experience high on the list of strategic priorities.
- Connect what customer say to their behavior.
- Have a sound business case.
- Value the value creators! Your employees have got the biggest impact on customer experience available at your golf club.
Golf International Pont Royal‘s investment in their golf academy is profitable for several reasons, e.g.:
- Their market position: close to the Marseille Airport, Durance Training Centre‘s uniqueness in the region, has the largest junior section in the region.
- By helping them to improve their game, you are fulfilling their desires and dreams. They’ll have positive memories of your golf club. Such positive memories will generate positive reviews, word-of-mouth referrals, and sharing in social media and more guests in the near future.
I believe customer experience value creation is the best way to differentiate your golf club from your competitors.
Finca Cortesin vs Golf International Pont Royal
As a final thought, I really miss those technology solutions that could help golfers to get even better like at Education City Golf Club or at the recently upgraded Jack Nicklaus Golf Academy at Finca Cortesin.
Among the impressive additions at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Academy is the installation of Foresight Sports’ world-acclaimed GCQuad launch monitor the most accurate and versatile launch monitor ever made.
Further investment includes the purchase of:
- new Swing Catalyst Video Analysis Software,
- a Swing Catalyst Balance Plate,
- 2 high-speed video cameras,
- and the hi-tech K-Coach Motion Learning System.