Never a Lack of Ideas

What a Week While playing golf in Texas a few weeks ago, my uncle made two holes-in-one within four days. Incredible! (That's him on the right after the first one.) According to Callaway, there are fewer than 150 people who have done this while using Callaway golf balls, like my uncle was. And that includes professional golfers. (My uncle is not a professional golfer.) That got me thinking: Have you ever seen an ad for golf equipment? Every single one of them features a pro golfer. Every single one. Why doesn't one golf manufacturer take a different approach and focus on everyday golfers with incredible stories like my uncle? That's much more appealing and approachable to the vast majority of people who play the game. Sure, there's something to be said for inspiring amateur golfers by showing them that professionals play with their equipment — and I'm not saying golf manufacturers should ditch their professional player sponsorships. I'm just saying that t...

It’s Like a Lemonade Stand, but Without Costs Kids who grow up on golf courses tend to try to sell passing golfers the golf balls that they find in their yards. The average proposition is something like: “$0.50 per golf ball” or “10 balls for $4.” I saw the greatest backyard golf ball stand while playing Ruffled Feathers Golf Course in Lemont, IL (pictured above). It’s a fancy course, and it’s the fanciest setup that I’ve ever seen. Yes, We Have That Take a look at the golf balls that these boys were selling from their backyard (pictured, left to right): Titleist ProV1s – $2 each Calloways – $1 each Titleists (non-ProV1s) – $1 each Nikes – $1 each Bags of Assorted Balls (lesser quality) – $5 for 12 balls These boys cater to every type of golfer. Great golfers are going to go for the $1-2 balls. Hackers (like me), who don’t care what type of ball they play, will go for the dozen balls for just $5. They have an impressive line of products and a great, easy-to-understand display. I bo...

Greens Fees Require a Lot of Green Golf is expensive. And so are golf outings – especially when they serve as fundraisers. I’ve never heard of a golf outing fundraiser costing less than $75 per person. That’s a lot of green. But mini-golf is not expensive. And it appeals to a much wider audience than golf. So we’re holding a mini-golf outing for a church fundraiser. The mini-golf course is charging us $4 per person for 18 holes as long as we get 50 players. If we charge at least $10 a person and get the required 50 golfers, we’ll raise $300. We’re going to have people attending the outing bring prizes for things like lowest score and making a hole-in-one on specific holes, so we won’t have to buy any prizes. And we’ll have some people bring some tubs of ice cream so we can complete the outing with a nice treat at the end. Add This to Your To-Do List Mini-golf appeals to the young and old, and to men and women. It takes much less time to play than a traditional round of golf, and no pre...