Alan Oliver: What golf clubs can learn from top golfers

The secretary at Silloth on Solway GC in Cumbria says how top golfers prepare for tournaments is a good model for how golf clubs can market themselves better.

Ramsey McMaster is largely responsible for the way in which sports science is taught around golf. Ramsey was born in Scotland in 1962 and migrated to Australia where he set up the first-of-its-kind golf-specific injury clinic. He set up teaching systems and taught thousands of golfers from tour players to club golfers alike all around the world. He pioneered golf-specific physiotherapy screening and profiling, a technique used by most of the world’s top golfers.

Ramsey died in 2011, aged 49, but his legacy will live on for generations.

One of the many methods introduced by Ramsey was the understanding that a golfer couldn’t be at their peak all of the time and to peak for certain periods of the season required a detailed process.

He set up programme called periodisation which helps golfers to peak at specific times of the season through careful planning and implementation.

The steps for periodisation were as follows.

1. General preparation
2. Specific preparation
3. Pre competition
4. Competition
5. Transition.

The programme relied on the golfer understanding what their objective was and what they were trying to achieve. They knew what their strengths and weaknesses were and the golfer worked hard on their strengths but harder on their weaknesses. All of the steps in this process were essential to being able to peak at specific parts of the season.

The world’s best golfers try to peak for the majors and their whole season is geared up for these big events. Preparation and planning go into the whole process so they get the best results.

© Tristan Jones

So how can this sports science process help marketing?

The periodisation process seems to fit perfectly into how good marketing needs to be done.

In the same way that the world’s best golfers try to peak at certain times by careful planning and implementation, businesses need to do this too, this could be for the launch of a new product or service or approaching the main selling season for their business.

1. You need to identify what your objective is from the outset.
2. You must identify specific groups of customers to target and how you are going to attract them.
3. Once the right customers are identified you must interact with them and begin the sales process to sell your products and services.
4. You then must finish the sales process off to clinch the sale.
5. Finally measure the results of the campaign and see what the positives and negatives were so that the next campaign can be better.

Good marketing requires good detailed planning and implementation to achieve good results.

Silloth on Solway Golf Club is rated as one of the best golf courses in England. Visit: www.sillothgolfclub.co.uk