David Impastato, the 2003 PGA Merchandiser of the Year for Private Facilities, is the PGA director of golf at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Illinois.

David Impastato on the importance of creating unique brand discount certificates:
Cog Hill created an outing gift certificate to hand out to every outing participant who played throughout the summer. The gift certificate was for $25 off any Nike product in the golf shops, excluding accessories and balls, and was valid until December 31. We were able to leverage our tournament buys and discounts, along with markups, to make this a win-win for us as well as our customers.

After we instituted this program, Nike soon became the No. 1 vendor in our shops with gross sales upwards of $300,000 for the year. Our outing chairs thought the idea was a nice touch, and we received positive feedback as a facility. I am working on a buying program with other vendors to do a Cog Hill gift certificate for the upcoming season that will work the same for all vendors involved in our buying plan. This will give our customers more options and bring awareness to other brands.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email dimpastato@coghillgolf.com

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.