THIS IS ONE OF THE FIVE AWARD-WINNING TOURNAMENT & OUTINGS BEST PRACTICES SPONSORED BY YAMAHA

Chris McQuatters, a two-time Northern Texas PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities, is the PGA head professional at Ratliff Ranch Golf Links in Odessa, Texas.

Ratliff Ranch runs approximately 35 tournament and outings annually, which draws thousands of folks to our public facility. I began to notice that upon conclusion of our events, participants were not spending their golf shop credit that day. What I began to implore was posting sales up to 25 percent on shirts, sunglasses and shoes on the scoreboard at the start of each tournament, so when contestants finished their rounds, they would have an incentive to spend that day. The success that we have seen as a result of scoreboard promotions has been so strong that we incorporated it at all of the tournaments and outings we run.

Typically I like to focus on items with higher profit margins, such as apparel, but I have done sales on shoes, golf bags and accessories appose to equipment for these promotions/sales. We usually offer between 10-25 percent off these select items. Since we started the tournament sale promotion, we have seen a 40 percent greater return on our issued golf shop credit per tournament. Furthermore, 80 to 95 percent of contestants are spending more than their allotted golf shop credit which always is a good thing! And finally, I have personally noticed the success with women golfers, as I have begun to stock our shop with additional options for women golfers.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email cmcquatters@odessa-tx.gov

Editor’s note: The above comments reflect the opinion and experiences of the submitting PGA Professional and are not endorsed by PGA Magazine or the PGA of America.