Case Study

The golf club was in a strong position, with an active membership and a waiting list of golfers wishing to join. However, in spite of the positive situation, the club saw it as good practice to review key elements of the business and understand opportunities for development.

Following an initial consultation, we visited the club to review the facilities and experience awaiting customers, including playing the Haughton Course. 

Following a period of research, an in depth business audit focusing on the brand, promotion and customer experience was provided – with areas of focus including positioning and proposition, communications, promotional assets and identification and engagement with valuable customer types (both member and visitor). 

A digital audit was undertaken simultaneously to provide a comprehensive understanding of the website and digital communications, this included website traffic, search queries and keywords, landing pages, user experience, analytics and social media.

The audits were delivered in report format to the club, with each identifying recommendations for consideration for the short, medium and long terms. A meeting was held to discuss the findings with the Club Manager, Director of Golf and representatives of the club board.

The club made the decision to take forward initial recommendations and worked with strategic.golf to refine the brand (including logo, font and colour  palette), messaging and a full refresh of the imagery and film library. We then used these elements to develop a brand new website in partnership with digital agency Morgan Speirs, that positioned the club effectively and delivered high levels of communication and customer/user experience.

Scottish Golf is the national governing body for the sport of golf in Scotland. They provide support to Scotland’s 575 affiliated golf clubs, representing and adding value to around 209,000 golf club members.

The structure of golf courses and clubs vary greatly and normally operate as either a private, semi-private, pay-as-you-play or part of a resort. The resources available at each varies enormously with some employing a professional team to run each area of the business, whilst others mainly manage operations through a committee of volunteers. The majority of clubs do not have access to in-house expertise on specific areas, meaning marketing and sales activities are often undertaken without strategic foundation and delivered on an ad hoc basis. This means initiatives lack the planning and implementation to deliver a measurable ROI and often fail to put the measures in place to sustain and grow the business.

We developed a comprehensive document template covering some of the core aspects of effective customer engagement including brand positioning and messaging, identifying your customers, developing the customer experience (including customer/user journey), maximising the value of website and digital marketing channels, digital asset development (film and imagery), data collection and management, and B2C and B2B comms. The approach included meeting clubs individually to ensure the plan focused on the individual requirements of each club and the delivery resources available. Each bespoke plan provided a breakdown of recommendations for the club to deliver either independently or with support from our business.

In 2022, 50 clubs were awarded access to the support, with 38 successfully applying in 2023. The courses involved ranged from semi-private clubs turning over seven figures to local 9-hole community managed clubs located in the Western Isles of Scotland. Feedback from clubs was unanimously positive with Scottish Golf providing each club in the 2023 fund with a £500 grant for use towards marketing initiatives such as the capture of film and imagery, website audit and social media planning. 

Zest.Golf was founded by Lunatech Labs, an IT consulting and software engineering firm whose clients include Audi, ING and UPS. Zest.Golf was launched to bring channel manager technology to the golf industry for the first time. The platform offers real-time golf tee sheet integration at courses across the world with an online portal where sales channels worldwide can book tee-times electronically.

The management team had knowledge of the golf industry and had previously developed online tools for clubs, but the technology development team had little experience of the sector. Given the varied requirements of different user types and significant country-by-country variation in market operations, design and build requirements of the platform were complex. There was also a requirement to attract investment to support organisational growth and technological development.

We provided expertise to help the management team understand how the industry operated and offered insights to the development team to ensure the technology delivered an effective solution for key customer groups. We also managed development and delivery of the brand, website and digital marketing communications, and developed sales opportunities through our network. 

Our knowledge was utilised in development of the investment pitch deck, including developing the propositions and managing presence on online investment portals.

Supported by investment, Zest.Golf has witnessed a significant period of growth through technology development and connections with leading tee-sheet providers, golf tour operators and golf courses across the world, including Ryder and Solheim Cup venues and championship courses.

Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland and has a range of responsibilities that include the economy, education, health, justice, housing, transport, taxation and the environment.

The previous 2013 – 2020 golf tourism strategy transcended multiple Major Championships and the hosting on the Ryder and Solheim Cup’s at Gleneagles. The post-pandemic era required a different strategic approach that supported the rebuilding of the industry and took into account a number of macro and micro factors, including changes in customer behaviour, reduced government funding and the impact of Brexit on the workforce.

We recognised the strategy required to have a fully inclusive approach and support not just the golf sector, but also offered collaboration opportunities with the wider tourism industry. To achieve this, key themes were outlined, including developing destinations, education and upskilling, engaging with communities, maximising the value of golf events and protecting the environment.  To ensure the strategy themes were industry led, we developed a quantitative survey that was distributed by a number of organisations to their member businesses, including the Scottish Tourism Alliance, Local Authorities, VisitScotland, The PGA in Scotland and Scottish Golf.

We facilitated the development of a project group that included Scottish Golf, The PGA in Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Inbound Golf Tour Operators Association (SIGTOA) and other key industry stakeholders to feedback on the direction of the strategy and delivery pathways.

The strategy was completed on time and in budget with positive feedback from across the tourism industry. It has been central to the focus of the aims and objectives of the Scottish Golf Tourism Development Group and has supported initiatives undertaken by Scottish Golf and The PGA to support delivery of the strategy.

Fife Golf is a public/private partnership of Fife golf courses, accommodation providers, places to eat, golf travel trade and industry trade associations who work together to maintain and further develop Fife’s position as one of the most sought after golfing destinations in the world.

Fife Council recognised the opportunity to grow the £52m golf tourism industry in the region and benefit businesses across the region through capitalising on its global reputation as the ‘Home of Golf’. Given the diversity of the industry across the region, success of the project centred on ensuring an approach that benefitted a large variety of business types and increased spend in golf tourism related businesses across Fife.

We undertook a significant number of focused discussions with key stakeholders in the region, including golf courses, golf resorts, accommodation providers, tour operators and other sector related businesses operating in the private sector, and VisitScotland and Fife Council. This approach enabled us to understand the challenges faced and build a strategy that was fully industry focused

The long term strategy has focused on developing a range of benefits that enabled membership growth and the development, and a range of tools and initiatives to engage with key customers in B2B and B2C markets. Initiatives include website and social media development, asset development (film and imagery) digital campaign promotion, media promotion, international tour operator engagement, direct marketing and trade and consumer event promotion.

The approach has seen membership grow the 70 businesses and benefits continue to evolve to meet industry and societal needs. The organisation has a database of over 100 golf tour operators who we work with to develop products that focus on the lesser known and golf experiences – this is supported by attendance at IGTM and providing an online hub where tour operators can log-in and access targeted information, including net rates and downloadable rights free imagery and film for promotional use. We have successfully collaborated with the food and drink and wider tourism sector to cross market the destination through targeted print and digital campaigns. Experience awareness has been developed through exhibiting at key events including The Open Championship, The Women’s British Open Championship, Senior Open Championship, Helsinki Golf Expo and the Danish Golf Show.