Jeff Hall is the PGA Director of Sports Activities at Stonebridge Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida.
Jeff Hall on the importance of cross-promoting golf and fitness:
At Stonebridge Country Club, we believe in helping our members feel younger and live healthier lifestyles. During my time at Stonebridge, we have offered numerous golf fitness opportunities, including a six-week program that incorporates a TPI physical screen, FlightScope session, customized workout program with a fitness trainer, reassessment after three weeks to make the program more specialized and short game and full swing lessons. These programs were extremely successful and improved our members’ golf skills and their fitness awareness, as well. But I felt we could do more. I wanted to include fitness on the golf course and introduce golfers to our fitness trainers, while, at the same time, introducing the game of golf to members who had only focused on fitness up to that point. From this endeavor, “Fit Fore Golf”, a program featuring a 12-hole scramble, was born. The difference with this event is that there are only eight holes of golf and four holes of exercises. All players start on Hole No. 1, and once they get to Hole No. 3, one of the fitness trainers is waiting to conduct an exercise with them. The members are graded individually (1-needs improvement, 2-satisfactory, 3-excellent), and the fitness trainer averages all four players’ scores for that workout. This process is repeated three more times throughout the round. Once play is completed, the PGA Professional will take the eight-hole scramble score and subtract the average of the four fitness tests to come up with each team’s total. The winning golf team gets complimentary fitness instruction, and the winning fitness team earns gift certificates to use in the golf shop.
Jeff Hall on the business impact of cross-promoting golf and fitness:
This program has not only helped members get introduced to both golf and fitness but has also helped with merchandise sales. The golf shop at Stonebridge stocks golf, tennis, fitness and lifestyle apparel. We like to consider our shop a one-stop opportunity, and if we don’t have something in-house, we’ll get it for our members. After the first “Fit Fore Golf” event, we sold out of our fitness apparel and had to reorder to satisfy member demand. Golf apparel and golf club sales increased due to increased lessons, and many non-golfing members being introduced to the game through this unique and fun event. We look forward to hosting this event for years to come to help members feel younger and healthier through increased fitness engagement, and to continue to grow the game of golf by tapping into those members who haven’t been active golfers in the past.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email jhall@stonebridgefl.com.
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