Get Golf Ready

Bi-Monthly Facility

E-Newsletter

Give us five days and we'll give you a sport for a lifetime.

June 10, 2010

Introduce a Friend to Golf through Get Golf Ready!

As advertised on Golf Channel, the above flyer is now available for your use and distribution on the Get Golf Ready website at the "Host Facility Info & Application" page! Just click on the picture above to link directly to the flyer. We have also made the flyer available in Microsoft Word format so that you can make any necessary changes or additions to the flyer that accommodate your facility's needs.

Get Golf Ready is on Facebook!

With the 2010 golf season underway, Get Golf Ready's Facebook page continues to gain fans of both teaching professionals and students alike. If you have yet to join Facebook or our fan page, just click on the logo above or the link to the right to get started. Get Golf Ready on Facebook is a great way to bring the golf community together to share experiences, get best practices ideas, and learn what students and professionals are saying. Some of your very own students have joined our fan page to let us know how much they have enjoyed the program and how influential you, the instructor, have been to their learning and enjoyment of the game! Join us today!

Participant Appreciation

What the Get Golf Ready program did for Sue Collins

I just completed the 5 lesson "Get Golf Ready" program at a golf course close to where I work, The Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park. I had always wanted to learn to play golf, but never had the opportunity. After these 5 lessons, I do feel that I am ready to play on a golf course (I've even been on a driving range for the first time in my life and hit some really nice shots (if I do say so myself)!) ! Our instructor, Shane Rice, went over all aspects of play, gave a good blend of theory and practice, and at the same time made it enjoyable. I would recommend him to anyone as an instructor.

I understand that not all golf courses offer this "Get Golf Ready" program. That is a shame, for I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn to play. I believe this program should be expanded. I thoroughly enjoyed my lessons, and felt they were a true bargain.

See you on the links-FORE!!

Sincerely,
Sue Collins
Pittsburgh, PA

Get Golf Ready: Keys to Success

1. Make ALL golf programs fun

2. Maximize on-course activities

3. Engage your staff, keep them informed and involved

4. Promote locally:

a. Offer niche classes- Women, Families, Seniors

b. Promote to local businesses/organizations

c. Cross-promote with other Play Golf America Programs

5. Maintain schedule on PlayGolfAmerica.com/ggr

6. Stay in contact with your students after graduation

Golf's Drive Toward Sustainability

Golf course facilities are engaged in proactive, voluntary efforts to advance the compatibility of golf with the environment.

For years, the golf industry has been dedicated to environmental responsibility in the design, construction and management of golf courses. Some of the game’s leading organizations have invested considerable resources in this effort and are now leading golf’s drive toward sustainability. The shared goal of the industry is to offer a sustainable asset to the community that is managed with a focus on water conservation, water quality protection, energy conservation and pollution prevention.

Golf courses in the U.S. averaged five different environmental improvements since 1996. Among them were:

Irrigation system upgrades
Installing native plantings
Creating wildlife habitat areas
Erosion control measures
Enhancing wetlands
Installing buffer strips

To learn more about golf’s drive toward sustainability, go to www.eifg.org

Facility Stories

The intent of the Get Golf Ready curriculum is to take a new golfer through a series of lessons in such a way that they could complete five lessons and feel ready to continue playing. The program is designed to create life time golfers.

Mike Attara, Vice President of appliedgolf management is seeing just those results as he watches a new golfer go from a beginner to becoming a regular golfer and all the way to joining the club. “Eagle Ridge Golf Club has been reaching out into the local community through the Ocean County Community College,” said Attara. “Eagle Ridge is hosting around 18 Get Golf Ready programs per year and has enjoyed watching golfers transition from new player all the way to a new member.” Mike and Sherri McDonald, the club’s Director of Instruction, started the Eagle Ridge Golf Academy many years ago and are strong proponents of the Play Golf America Programs. All of their academy programs are listed online and their students can register for instructional program through a link on their website that connects directly to the PLAYGOLFAMERICA website. “Get Golf R eady was the perfect fit and since the inception of the program we have hosted over 263 new players, many of whom have become regular players and members at our club,” said Mike Attara.

Their Get Golf Ready Program’s success has helped create a new league specifically designed to transition new players to regular players and members through their Novice League. They looked at their tee sheet and found that Wednesday evenings were a good time to offer the program. They used that time to offer new graduates of Get Golf Ready an opportunity to play 9-holes with a cart for $25 while having instructors out helping them with rules, etiquette, pace of play and the different golf shots. One great success story they have from the program is the Meinert family. Both mom (Beth) and dad (Matt) started in their program together as new players. Since then, their three children have enrolled in their programs and they purchased a five- person family membership. Mike Attara believes that “teaching is such an important part of our facilities overall business plans and it has always been a key factor of our growth strategy. It has never been more important than now to have a strong instructional program in place and if you haven’t already done so, I would urge everyone to begin hosting Get Golf Ready Programs at their club”.

Share Your Stories with Us

Get Golf Ready wants to hear from you! We’ve created a fan page on Facebook so that you can share your success stories with us and others who are involved with the program. Follow us at www.Facebook.com/GetGolfReady. A few topics that we’d love to hear about:

How golf has changed a participant’s life or lifestyle
A recent event that has encouraged more rounds of golf
Dates or schedules for your Get Golf Ready Program
Tips that have helped participants
News articles that feature your local program or golf course

New Stipend Incentive
Post an event on-line and register 8 students by June 30 to receive a $500 stipend payment in July*.

Current Stats
1353 Certified Get Golf Ready Facilities
373 Facilities have events posted on-line

*This is an increase from the original $200 stipend

In This Issue

Participant Appreciation

Get Golf Ready: Keys to Success

Golf's Drive Toward Sustainability

Facility Stories

Share your Stories with Us

Quick Links

Get Golf Ready

Get Golf Ready on Facebook

Play Golf America

GOLF 20/20

PGA of America

World Golf Foundation

Sponsors
This month's featured sponsor is Callaway.

Click here to view the website.

Callaway Golf Company began to take form in 1983, after Ely Callaway, Jr. sold Callaway Vineyards and Winery. “Callaway noticed that most golf equipment had changed very little since the 1920’s and believed that, due to the difficulty of the game of golf recreational golfers would be willing to invest in high-tech, premium-price clubs if such clubs could improve their game by being more forgiving of a less-than-optimum swing.”

Big Bertha gets Callaway Golf swinging with its flagship driver named after a WWI Cannon. Callaway makes premium-priced golf clubs that are popular with amateurs and professionals alike. The company’s other drivers, as well as its fairway woods, irons, wedges, hybrids and putters, are sold under the Top-Flite Callaway, Ben Hogan, and Odyssey names. It also makes Top-Flite and Callaway golf balls and uPro-branded GPS range finders. Callaway also designs apparel and shoes. Its products are sold by golf pro shops in more than 100 countries.

Callaway Golf Company is dedicated to the enjoyment of golf and to growing the game as is evidenced by this quote from George Fellows, President and CEO of Callaway Golf Company, “I firmly believe that golf is a game of positive expectations. Every round, every hole, every shot represents a new chance for a moment you remember for the rest of your life.”