How can my golf course make money in the winter?
I own a par 3 course and would like suggestions on how it can make money in the winter. Our golf season is from late April until late October. What can we do in the winter to make a profit? We have plenty of land and a small clubhouse. Be creative.
Do you get enough snow to offer cross country ski trails? You could rent snow shoes as well.
You could invest in some exercize equipment in the clubhouse and sell memberships. Any lakes for ice fishing?
Enough room for snowmobiling? You could look into building Paddle Tennis courts. Or build a heated, covered hitting area for folks to keep their swings tuned. Pick up the balls when the snow melts.
Good Luck.
honestly i live in colorado and i have thought about his before, first of all get bright colored golf balls orange green something that would be easy to see in the snow ,second shovel your greens most people that are going to come to your course in the winter are pretty hard core and they will play if you shovel . (if you shovel it they will come ) lol ,also consider offering winter tournaments low entry fee and call them cool things like reindeer games, etc. it might be cool to add some decorations around the greens like boards with characters and light them up if you have enough of them the indirect light could serve as lighting for night golf poss have a tournament like that. if you have a club house you have access to companies that have alot of different colors of golf balls. maybe give those to your customers as a goodie bag for the entry fee so they do not have to buy them most will still buy them because nobody uses a sleeve per round. jk and look at it this way when the season is over or it warms up all of those golf balls that people hit and lost will be right there for you to recycle for the next years games now you have used balls to sell for cheaper to your returning customers just spitballing or snowballing i guess it would be.
Since you own a course you may be interested in the new rules, here’s a copy.GENTLEMEN, IT APPEARS THE DOCUMENT IS NOW OFFICIAL. SEND IT TO EVERY GOLFER YOU KNOW.
Image removed by sender.
THE USGA WOULD LIKE TO INFORM ALL GOLFERS
There is a possibility of MAJOR rule changes to the game of golf, this may occur sometime after November 4.
This is only a preview as the complete rule book is being written now.
Here are a couple of basic changes.
Golfers with handicaps:
– below 10 will have their green fees increase by 35%
– between 11 and 18 will see no increase in green fees
– above 18 will play for free and even get a check from the club/course played
The $ amount put in for bets will be as follows:
-for handicaps below 10 an additional $10
-between 11 and 18 no additional amount
-above 18 you will receive the total amount in the pot and you do not even have to play.
The term “gimme putt” will be changed to “entitlement”
and will be used as follows:
-handicaps below 10, no entitlements
-handicaps above 11 to 17, entitlements for putter length putts
-handicaps above 18, if on green, no need to ever putt, just pick it up
These entitlements are intended to bring about fairness in scoring so that the final scores of all players will be about the same.
In addition, a Player will be limited to a max of one birdie and/or six pars, any excess must be given to those fellow players who have not yet scored a birdie or par. Only after all players have received a birdie or par from the player making the birdie or par, can that Player begin to count his score again.
The current USGA handicap system will be used for the above purposes but the term “net score” will be available only for scoring those players with handicaps 18 and above.
This is intended to “redistribute” the success of winning by making sure that in every competition the above 18 handicap players will post only “net score” against every other player’s gross score.
These new Rules are intended to CHANGE the game of golf. Golf must be about Fairness Only, it should have nothing to do with Ability.
Build a driving range with heated, covered stalls. Designate part of it as a learning center, and invite all of your area club pros to teach there in the wintertime. Charge them a small rental fee while they use your facility and charge their clients for the range balls. If you already have the land the structure really shouldn’t cost that much. Figure you pay for it midway through the 3rd season. Range balls are cheap, a ball picker attachment for some of the equipment you already have won’t cost much, and the covered stalls are pretty easy to erect. You will be amazed at how much business you start to do by February, when everyone is going stir crazy to get back outside.
What I would do is to hold winter themed golf events/tournaments.
Like the first day of winter golf tournament.
Haunted Halloween Shoot out, must be in a costume. This is fun because it is played at midnight with glow sticks lining the fairways and attached to the flag stick, and with glow in the dark balls.
Turkey shoot-out for Thanksgiving(hit a ball inside a circle, size of your choice) for a turkey. Some turkey distributors will gladly help with the cost/supply of turkeys.
Happy ho-ho for christmas( have the kids come and make whatever they want, like the best looking Christmas tree, snow-people, ect, ect, ect….
Bringing in the New Year opening the new year with a round of golf and a New year party.
Just some thoughts for what I would do.
Well, here in Mississippi they make money by staying open year-round. I can’t imagine it getting too cold to play golf for very long.
I’ve heard that many golf courses up north basically turn into skiing areas during the winter. If you have the space-and it doesn’t sound like it, but I’ll say it anyway- a small indoor driving range would be a good idea. Just put up a net.