INFOGRAPHIC: Golf Industry Landscape

Ever thought about the golf industry, in terms of market size, and which companies, organizations and brands make up the industry? Well to answer the first part, the market size is over $70 Billion annually. The latter we thought was best answered with an infographic seen below. Which brand do you think stands out above the rest?

5 Reasons Why Technology Is Reshaping the Golf Industry

We all know how conservative and stuffy the golf industry can be at times, and many would argue that technology and the digital revolution has put golf on the back foot, struggling to play catch up.

Other industries have seen the transformation happening and quickly joined the movement as a way to grow their respective businesses and position themselves for the future. With a saturated market, higher competition, greater barriers to entry and new ways to be discovered, it makes a digital presence a must rather than an option for any business. However an unwillingness to embrace the future coupled with changing market forces, has put the golf industry in a tough spot. Rounds are down; club membership is less attractive of an option giving way to the “transient” golfer that is destination focused, mobile and on-the-go. Most golf course operators ask: where are these new customers online? How do they need to be engaged differently than a local audience? Do I have the tools and the budget in order to connect with them?

This is why companies like golfscape have arrived to solve these issues that the golf courses are plagued with. Creating a bridge between golf courses and online channels, using online advertising models to attract users in their searches, will ultimately drive incremental new business to golf courses.

Taking golf into a new dimension of mobility and online booking, golfscapehelps golf courses in a simple and effortless manner. By using a extranet system, golf course operators can create an editorial page in minutes where they can replicate all the content displayed on their own websites, and in seconds if they wish, opt-in to the xPro Sales Channel to load various rate cards and display bookable inventory to the user in real-time to confirm instantly.

The 5 reasons why technology is reshaping the golf industry:

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Let’s Look Beyond Borders

Putting the Poor Domestic TV Ratings from The Masters in Perspective

CBS released ratings from The Masters Final Round coverage on Sunday where Bubba Watson cruised to victory in a rather subdued back nine to capture his second green jacket by three strokes.

On Tuesday Sport Media Watch reported the Final Round coverage earned a 7.8 overnight rating down 24% from last year (10.2), and the lowest overnight for a final round since 2004 (7.3) when another lefty, Phil Mickelson, captured his first green jacket. The rating equates to ‘million’s of viewers’ meaning this year attracted 7.8 million viewers. This is well off the record in 1997 when Tiger Woods took the world by storm capturing his first Masters that attracted 15.8 million viewers to tune in.

What was not reported to give this ratings story more balance was that The Masters is now televised in over 200 countries worldwide, and in regions where golf is growing like never before. Did you know there could be in just a few years time over 40 million core golfers in China?

While the data is spotty on how many viewers actually tuned in globally to watch The Masters, you can bet that a conservative estimate would be one or two times the domestic market. When accessing the most densely populated counties in the world where golf is growing the fastest it’s China, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina and India that come to mind. Furthermore, when you convert even a subset of new golfers in those respective countries into eyeballs it becomes a significant amount that were no doubt watching golf’s most celebrated Major this past weekend.

This is the reason Augusta National Golf Club is making such efforts abroad with the recent invitation to the Asian Amateur Champion to play The Masters as they look to extend their brand worldwide and grow the game concurrently.

These are constant reminders that golf is a global game and the industry encompassing it whether it is events, golf courses, resorts or travel companies must be continually looking at the current state of the game with this mind set. In the end it’s what is going to keep it healthy and evolving.

Play Global. Stay Local.

Transforming Golf Travel with the Shared Economy and Crowdsourcing 

I spoke with a golf journalist recently who shared a story with me. When he visited the International Golf Travel Market 2013, IAGTO’s flagship travel trade show in Marbella – Spain, he wanted to try an experiment. He booked his flight and transfers himself, but then tapped into a Peer-to-Peer community via Airbnb and other shared economy platforms to plan and book the remaining golf / accommodation components of his show visit.

He ended up locating and staying in a private residence he discovered through one of the platforms, played a handful of rounds at top courses in Marbella that the host arranged on his behalf and made a life long friend that shared other insight on the golf destination he never knew about (no easy feat for a know-it-all journalist that prides himself on being fully informed).

The transaction was secondary to the interaction. That’s community in my mind.

There’s no doubt that my friend’s previous knowledge of the region as a journalist from countless years covering the destination armed him with enough knowledge, and more importantly comfort, to go about planning and booking his trip in a self-directed manner. Some in golf might call him a vagabond, while others perhaps just calling him a normal 30-something using the shared economy to cultivate his own unique, personal and downright simple to organize golf travel experience that offered so much more.

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