Scott Sommers, a PGA Certified Professional in Instruction and General Management, is the PGA head professional at Saddleback Golf Club in Firestone, Colorado.

Working in conjunction with Robbie Finley, our marketing director here at Saddleback Golf Club, we made the conscious marketing decision in 2007-2008 to “go after golfers that we want to play with” in lieu of just shotgun-marketing to every golfer in our region. For example, Tuesdays were our absolute worst days for play. We chose to offer a Senior Day, but we made the conscious decision to create a fun angle to get people’s attention. The offer was for 18 holes of golf with a golf car, plus an all-you-can-eat Prune Buffet, and a 16oz. Metamucil. This was priced just shy of our rack rate for senior golf with golf car. We sent out a series of follow-up emails with fun jokes for the seniors that promoted our food & beverage selections for the events, which were big hits and helped boost our signups.

Tuesday overall play increased 400 percent in its debut week. Participation has remained pretty true to that number for the past 6-7 seasons.  It is not unusual to hear our Tuesday seniors walk in, mention the name of program, and proudly say “I want my event special!” That’s a key aspect: all of our marketing efforts are based on this ideal of going after players that you both want to play with and think will be interested in playing at your facility. Because the seniors have latched on, we’ve been able to extend the joke and offer various promotions, like a contest to guess how many $2 bills we will get on any given Tuesday. You would not believe the number of $2 bills these rascals have stored up. Of note: we hosted our 1st annual tournament (2-Person Best Ball) with this demographic recently. It preceded a huge afternoon shotgun that would have otherwise killed our morning public play. We had just shy of 50 seniors register for the event, making the morning a profitable one. My recommendation to other courses around the country would be: do not be afraid of your own shadow in your marketing efforts. If it appeals to you, it will appeal to the golfers you are trying to attract.

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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.