Business & Tech

Golf Director Outlines Plans for 2012

The Arboretum and the Buffalo Grove golf courses will turn to e-marketing to attract golfers next season.

Buffalo Grove officials reviewed plans Monday for the village’s two golf courses, which include new golf carts, a detailed marketing plan and prayers that the upcoming season will be drier than the last.

The was closed for 19 days last summer due to flooding, after rain pounded the area, and the course was partially closed for another 12 days. 

In an average summer month, the course is affected by weather only three times, according to golf director Carmen Molinaro

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The course typically hosts 300 rounds per day and brings in $150,000 to $200,000 per month, he said, so it lost a full month of revenue due to the rain.

“That is not a normal situation — not one that we are projecting in 2012,” he said during a financial report last month. “Normally, Buffalo Grove is fairly self-sustaining.”

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Molinaro said Monday that the course saw a 7 percent decrease in paid rounds during the 2011 season, which he attributed to the flooded course. His 2012 goals include boosting the number of paid rounds at the Buffalo Grove course and increasing green fee revenue by 5 percent at the .

At the Arboretum, officials will work to host more corporate golf outings and offer discounts for early bookings. The course will again offer its Gold Card program, which provides discounts to 325 golfers who purchase cards for $150. The cards will be available beginning Jan. 3, and golfers have already expressed interest in the 2012 program, Molinaro said.

At the Buffalo Grove course, shorter lessons and clinics will be offered in a nod to time-strapped golfers. “Sometimes it’s not the cost of the program, it’s the time involved,” Molinaro said.

Electronic marketing will be a priority in promoting both courses, he said. Plans include using the village’s e-newsletter, exploring e-marketing programs and trying new forms of outreach, such as offering special rates to golfers who make reservations on slow-booking days. The deals will be promoted via text message to golfers at the Buffalo Grove course, alerting them to openings later that week.

Limited print advertising is scheduled for both courses, and the Arboretum will be promoted at a consumer golf show. Overall, Molinaro said, e-marketing will be the program’s emphasis in the coming year as the courses work to retain current golfers, attract new ones and improve communication.

The efforts come as the golf industry struggles in a weak economy, which has led to the closure of some courses, Molinaro said. He noted that both Buffalo Grove courses have competitive weekday and weekend rates, with prices falling about in the middle of those charged by 25 other courses in the area.

"Fortunately, 10 or 15 years ago we didn’t need a marketing plan but now we do, and it’s nice to see you’re approaching it the way you are," Village President Jeff Braiman said.

Trustee Jeff Berman praised Molinaro’s "proactive and aggressive" plan, telling him, “I remember it wasn't all that long ago, maybe a decade or so, when the marketing plan was pretty much, ‘pray for sunshine.’”

While golf leaders are taking a more hands-on approach this year, Braiman assured them, “We still pray for sunshine.”

“No matter what your marketing plan is, if you don’t get a little cooperation from Mother Nature, it’s not going to be successful,” Molinaro acknowledged.

Some officials offered other ways in which the courses might attract more golfers, with Berman advocating use of Facebook and Trustee Steve Trilling suggesting that the Arboretum's lunch menu could be enhanced. Molinaro said both suggestions would be taken into consideration.

In other golf-related news, the Village Board approved Monday a contract with Nadler Golf Car Sales, which will lease 65 2012 gasoline golf carts to the Buffalo Grove Golf Course and 80 electric golf carts to the Arboretum Golf Course.

While there are currently 85 cars at the Arboretum course, “there are very few days when we have all the cars out at one time,” Molinaro said. 

Nadler Golf Car Sales will receive 20 percent of revenue from cart use at the Buffalo Grove course, and 28 percent of the revenue from the Arboretum, according to the contract.


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