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Public Golf Courses – Making The Right Choice

June 3, 2008 on 2:39 am | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

Chances are, if you’re just starting out, you haven’t decided to apply to a fancy country club yet so you can play their outstanding course, right? That’s a very good idea, because there are probably several public golf courses close to you that are just as terrific and much cheaper too! Do you think Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson started out on private courses? I doubt it! Even though we can’t all have the status of a Woods or Mickelson, we can make sure that we don’t have an argument with our wallet every time we want to hit the course for some practice time on the driving range or to get in a leisurely round.

Of course, the first thing you want to check at a public golf course is the course itself. Find out how many holes it has – some courses only have 9 and, to play a full 18 holes of golf, you just go around twice. Walk a few holes and take a look at the course. Check to see whether it appears well maintained. Are the greens plush and even? Is the rough bearable? Does it look like they regularly mend divot holes? There’s nothing more discouraging for a novice golfer than playing a course that ends up being too tough just because of poor maintenance. While poorly maintained courses can provide lots of entertainment value – you know you look funny when you’re swinging away in a bunker – they don’t provide as much “good” experience for a novice golfer as a well cared for course will.

That brings up another thing to check, the cost of a round. You’ll find some big differences in cost from course to course, and many public golf courses offer reduced rates at certain times of the day and during the off-season. For example, public golf courses in Phoenix, Arizona, known as the City of Golf, sometimes discount their rates by as much as 50 percent during the hot summer months.

Next, some extras can be really helpful to your game! Most beginners spend far too much time on the practice putting green and not nearly enough time on the driving range. Make sure the course you pick has an adequate driving range. It doesn’t matter if you can putt like a pro if it takes you six strokes to get onto the green at a par 3 hole. Along with the driving range and practice green, you might find a public golf course that has a chipping green or a practice bunker. These can all be great features to help you improve particular problem areas in your game. And that’s what it’s all about.

Finally, check out the clubhouse. No, I don’t mean discover whether the bartender is handsome or the waitress is cute. Learn whether the course has a pro shop, and whether a golf pro runs it. Ask about his or her qualifications – most of us think of the words “golf pro” and immediately think PGA, but not all golf pros are registered with the PGA. For that matter, not all golf pros are particularly well qualified for teaching. Ask if lessons are offered or if a golf school is associated with the course. This can be a big selling point if you’re trying to improve your golf swing and just can’t figure out what’s wrong. And of course, find out the cost of the lessons.

The secret to finding a good public golf course is to shop around. Check out several courses in your area and don’t worry about whether they are listed in some Who’s Who of public courses. Just do your homework and pick the one that best suits your own needs. It will make for a much more enjoyable experience and might even lower your score!

And remember – a bad choice can get you the same results as Hank Aaron, the world-renowned baseball player who once said, “It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits, but I did it in one afternoon on the golf course!”

Copyright 2005 – Donald Saunders

If you’re relatively new to the world of golf then choosing a suitable golf course can be a daunting task. So, after you’ve picked up your discount golf equipment take a look at the public golf courses in your area.

A Good Marketer: What’s the Measurement?

June 3, 2008 on 2:35 am | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

As a business owner, you know how valuable being good at marketing is. Yet, I have found working with business owners for the past 20 plus years that 99.9% of them have never defined what a good marketer is — what it means in their terms.

Let’s take a moment right now and think about what you are measuring yourself against. Without a measurement, you can’t possibly know what you are shooting for and this will lead to a misconstrued representation or always believing you are never good enough or doing enough.

Yes, the best measurement of good marketing is the revenue you are receiving. Yes, there’s nothing like the confirmation that people are opening their wallets to your business. There’s also feedback — the testimonials — they are good for pats on the back or to show other people that someone cares about what you offer. Is that it though? To most big companies it always the bottom line — profit after taxes. It’s how much the stockholders make or some other reference to money.

Yet for entrepreneurs who purposes when their own direction because they “wanted something more” what is the measurement. What is the “something more?” Okay, you want to be happy and have fun along way. Oops and before I forget to have balance between the business and the rest of your life.

Hey, I think we’ve made good progress so far in starting to define what your measurement definition of a “good marketer” is, didn’t we? Not actually, we defined what you want for the whole business most of the time with a few exceptions, like the revenue. But what makes up a “good marketer” in your definition.

Great, I love challenges, don’t you? Today, let’s take a few minutes out sometime and ask ourselves, “What is my measurement of who I would be if I were a good marketer?” Here is a list of questions to guide you as you think through and create our own definition. On a scale of 1-10, give each of these a measurement of where you know you stand right at this moment.

1. How well do you think you know who you are selling to or who has purchased from you in the past?

2. How well do you KNOW the principles of marketing?

3. How well do you practice those principles?

4. How well does the public understand what you do?

5. How do you teach them what they need to know to understand what you do?

6. Are you leaving it up to someone else to do this, or have you taken it upon yourself to make sure you educate at every possible opportunity?

7. How well do you know what you are selling – your uniqueness, your product’s uniqueness?

6. Do you change your marketing strategy frequently whenever you get tired of it?

7. Is the change timing when the market has changed or when you are tired of it?

8. Are you enjoying what you have accomplishments or beating yourself up for what is left to do?

9. Are you enjoying the learning process as fun or frustrating? Are you allowing additional time to learn and grow? Are you including the learning time to be included in with the “this needs to give me results” time? How are you measuring that growth?

10. Do you repeat your offers frequently? Did you know that the “open” rate of emails is only 48% on a good day and 8% on a bad day? The 48% rate is for opt-in material. This means that there are a low number of people taking the time to read your material most of the time. This is why it is important to repeat your messages. Yes, a few will read it several times, however, they will use the delete key quickly.

11.Are you commitment 100% to marketing when you do it? Are you playing full out when you are in marketing mode, or is your heart only half in it?

12.Is it making the money you expected?

13.Do you take “no” personally?

14.Do you take good care of your health and other parts of your life as well?

There are lots more questions that you may want to ask yourself. What you want to come up with are 5-7 measurements for you to measure yourself against. If you still are having problems with defining this for yourself, ask other people who you feel meet that description.

Is all of it dependent on “results” only? When I get” when I’m over there” when I have $X dollars in the bank, then I will be a good marketer.

When you know what you are shooting for you will not ever come short or overshoot. This will keep you focused, clear and very attractive in the universe. Especially since most of it is competing against you.

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com