Simon Buckle is the PGA head golf professional at Brook Hollow Golf Club in Dallas, Texas.
Three or four staff members from our club attend the PGA Merchandise Show each year. Our goal is to find new, innovative gift and prize ideas for our tournaments. Until three years ago, we had set ideas of what to buy. But when we realized members were not using the items, we changed our philosophy to one of keeping an open mind. Each of us makes a list of what we think will enhance our tournaments for the coming year. After walking the Show floor, each of us makes a list of items we think will enhance our tournaments for the coming year. At the end of the first day, we debrief to discuss our findings and consolidate our lists. On the second day, we go together to check out the items on our narrowed-down list, eliminating some things. We decided against coasters and barware, for example; we thought these weren’t different enough. We chose more distinctive gifts. One year for our men’s member-guest tournament, we selected a customized clock featuring a photo of our signature hole, No. 14. We purchased 110 of them, and they were well-received. Another example is the tournament prize we chose for our member-member tournament: 16 framed prints of our signature hole, one for each of the flight winners and overall champions.
Members like the hole prints, which we have on display in our shop. Due to the increase in sales, we are offering prints as hole-in-one mementos, with the player’s name, witnesses and yardage shown. The prints represent a small portion of our business, but they did increase our 2016 shop revenue by 10 percent.