Tommy Moore is the PGA head professional at Applecross Country Club in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
One easy thing you can to continue to show value to your members is to sneak in a surprise every once in a while. A PGA Merchandise Show experience helped lead to one of my best. While roaming the aisles on the one day of the Show I dedicate to that task, I found a vendor (Winston Collection) that will embroider a signature on a leather, logoed headcover. Thinking this was perfect for our 2016 3-Day Men’s Member-Member, I had every member during the first night of registration sign a template with a sharpie, not telling them what it was for but letting them know it had something to do with their tee gift. Three weeks later everyone was informed to stop by the golf shop and pick up their tee gift.
I received so many positive comments about this new and innovative idea. The membership was beside itself about how creative and innovative this was; a leather club logoed driver headcover with their signature embroidered! It turned out some signed their wife’s, kid’s or dog’s name, so the joy went beyond the participant. My cost for producing the gifts was included in the price of the event. The gift was so popular that while we only offered the driver headcover, we had many members subsequently special order additional headcovers to match the set, which increased golf shop merchandise sales. It’s also led to some increased corporate business due to recommendations spawned from happy customers. There are many opportunities to find new and innovative ideas at the PGA Merchandise Show. All it takes is some dedicated time and a willingness to search. Some of those tiny little booths all the way in the back sections with first year attendees have some really great ideas.