Divots With Dividends
Why Golf Continues To Champion Winning Events
By Alison MitchellScot Duke, who wrote the book “How To Play Business Golf,” is the president/CEO of Innovative Business Golf Solutions LLC. He says he knows first-hand how important golf can be to the business world. “I racked up 31 years of experience in operations management, business marketing and years of organizing golf events. From this experience, I outlined my approach [in the book] to bring golf into business as an effective tool to use to gain success.”
3 Golf Destinations In The South: Orlando, Myrtle Beach & Houston By Marlane Bundock
While the South has thousands of golf courses scattered throughout the region and hundreds of destinations that offer multiple golf course options, Orlando, Fla., Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Houston are three cities noted for their myriad of options when it comes to golf and meetings. Here’s a closer look at what these destinations have to offer.
Orlando
Golfers seem to gravitate to Orlando, Fla., and its 176 golf courses. According to Golf Digest magazine, more than 50 PGA Tour golfers were raised in Orlando or have homes in the area, including Tiger Woods and Ernie Els.
According to www.orlandoinfo.com, the official website of Orlando Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau Inc., the area offers a range of courses from links-styled layouts reminiscent of Scotland to lake-strewn, narrow designs that require accuracy and ingenuity, and an array of golf academies, pro shops and PGA TOUR tournaments.
—Known for his guidance of PGA pros, David Leadbetter calls Orlando home at the world headquarters of David Leadbetter’s Golf Academy at ChampionsGate. Also at ChampionsGate is the Four-Diamond golf resort Omni Orlando Resort and two golf courses designed by Greg Norman, the National and the International, according to John Branciforte, the Omni’s director of marketing. Branciforte described the courses as being surrounded by orange groves and Florida wildlife. The Omni provides 720 guest rooms and diverse meeting space that’s able to accommodate nearly 3,000 attendees.
—At Ginn Reunion Resort, even the rough is a great place to be, said Nikki Lindgren, marketing and public relations manager. Home of the 2007 Ginn Open, Ginn Reunion Resort offers three golf course designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, plus The Annika Academy. “Complementing Ginn Reunion Resort's exquisite course designs are amenities that are sure to please, including luxurious, multi-room villas and homes with private pools,” Lindren said. “All this and more is nestled comfortably on a 2,300-acre, gated resort and just minutes from the Orlando International Airport.” For meetings, the 400-room resort offers 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor conference space.
—Mission Inn Resort and Club is approximately 30 minutes northwest of Orlando in Howey-in-the-Hills and offers 36 championship holes of golf and a golf academy. “Hills are rare to Florida,” said Peggy Beucher Clark, director of marketing and public relations. “Mission Inn Resort’s natural topography is blessed with rare and gentle hills and sparkling lakes. And, 27 of 36 holes have water, and elevations from tee to green are 85 feet. Golf here is legendary, dating back to 1917. [This is] one of Florida's oldest courses and ideally located in the heart of Central Florida.” The 200-room resort and club is also ideal for meetings, Clark said, adding that 30,000 square feet of flexible function space is available.
—The Grande Lakes Golf Club and its Greg Norman-designed course features a Caddie Concierge program that provides a professional attendant to assist golfers with course strategy and education, golf club cleaning, and ball location. The course is located adjacent to a nature reserve, the 1,000-room JW Marriott Orlando and the 584-room Ritz-Carlton, Orlando.
—The David Harman-designed Shingle Creek Golf Club is located less than one mile east of the Orange County Convention Center. The course serves as the centerpiece recreation amenity for Rosen Shingle Creek resort, which offers 1,500 guest rooms and more than 100 meeting rooms able to accommodate groups of approximately 10,000.
Myrtle Beach
Each year, the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area hosts nearly 1 million golfers throughout its 100 plus courses, according to Danna Lilly, CMP, director of sales for the Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Of this wide variety of courses, 36 hold a ranking of four stars or higher, ” said Lilly, adding that the diversity of the courses almost equals the diversity of the accommodations and meeting facilities, offering a price point and level of play for everyone. “Just add in the many choices of evening entertainment, and your day is complete.”
—Kingston Plantation offers the 18-hole Arcadian Shores designed by Rees Jones. “It features an outstanding blend of natural beauty and challenges for every level of player,” said Sabena Robinson, director of sales and marketing. “From its strategically placed bunkers to its tree-lined fairways and the distinctive contouring of its Tifton Bermuda Greens, Arcadian Shores is a combination of the very best golf challenges nature has to offer.” The Hilton Golf Academy is located at the adjacent Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort in Kingston Shores, which is currently building a 14,400-square-foot conference center. For meetings, Kingston Plantation offers 105,000 square feet of meeting space and more than 1,100 accommodation choices.
—Golf Magazine’s “Top 25 Best Golf Schools” in America placed the Phil Ritson-Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, S.C., as number five on the list and said it was the best value among the 25 schools, according to Jann Walker, director of marketing at Pawleys Plantation. “The golf school is available to meeting attendees and Mel Sole can also design special clinics for unique and memorable meeting breaks.” The 582-acre resort is also home to a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course and an on-site conference center.
—The Litchfield Country Club in Pawleys Island, S.C., offers temporary membership to guests of the Litchfield Beach and Golf Resort, said Kathi Grace, director of marketing. “This membership includes the opportunity to play golf at the resort’s championship golf courses: the River Club, Willbrook Plantation Golf Club and Litchfield Country Club, the latter having been recently named one of the ‘World’s 50 Best Golf Resorts’ by Conde Nast Traveler magazine. All three courses feature 18 holes of golf with rates that vary seasonally. Special discount rates are available as well as specially tailored golf packages when booked through the resort’s golf department. Personalized golf instruction is also available through the resort’s own pros.” For meetings, the resort offers 700 guest rooms and 20,000 square feet of meeting space.
—Two on-site courses are available at the 66-room Marina Inn at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach, which offers 15,000 square feet of meeting space. The par-72 Grande Dunes Resort Course was created by Roger Rulewich and features seven holes that play along the Intracoastal Waterway. Designed by the team of PGA Hall of Famer Nick Price and architect Craig Schreiner, the Members Course is available to Marina Inn guests.
—And, in North Myrtle Beach, the 355-room Bay Watch Resort provides access to the region’s numerous golf courses. Groups of up to 300 can be accommodated in the resort’s 11 function rooms.
Houston
Houston offers more than 165 public and private golf courses to choose from, according to Ken Middleton, vice president of convention sales for the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, who said the variety of golf options will have attendees wishing their meeting was “just a little bit longer.” While Middleton said golf is a large part of the draw to Houston, groups will also find a cosmopolitan city with a small-town feel and added, “As the fourth largest city in America, Houston has emerged as one of the nation’s premier meetings destinations.”
—The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center is the only hotel in the Houston area with 36 holes of on-property championship golf played on The Oaks and the Panther Trail courses, said Tory Enriquez, director of sales and marketing. “Just steps from luxurious accommodations, guests enjoy amenities of this first-rate golf facility including a driving range and lighted putting green, a staff of PGA professionals available for lessons and clinics, tournament coordination, and a full-service pro shop stocked with the latest apparel and equipment.” With 440 guest rooms and 60,000 square feet of meeting space, Enriquez said the resort can accommodate all sizes and types of groups.
—South Shore Harbour Resort and Conference Center in League City, Texas, offers 27 holes of golf, according to Wray Lindersmith, director of marketing. “Our resort has the ideal facilities to combine business with pleasure. The Scottish link-styled golf course was designed by Jay Riviere and Dave Marr. It has water on 16 of its 27 holes, and usually there is a breeze coming off of Clear Lake.” Golf is just one of the many amenities available at the resort, which has 30,000 square feet of meeting space and 240 guest rooms.
—The Redstone Golf Club in Humble, Texas, is where the PGA’s Shell Houston Open is played each spring. According to property officials, the Tournament Course is one of only 11 courses in the country open to the public that hosts a PGA TOUR event. Rees Jones designed the course with PGA Professional David Toms serving as a consultant. On-site is a 33,000-square-foot clubhouse available to groups of up to 220.
—Located 20 minutes south of Houston Hobby Airport in Clear Lake City community, Bay Oaks Country Club offers a 18-hole golf course designed by Arthur Hills with a dual driving range, practice sand trap, putting green and chipping green. Club officials said the clubhouse provides event services through a main dining room with two adjacent private dining areas. |
And, even during times of constrained budgets and agendas, many in the meetings industry recommend that golf is more beneficial to the success of an event when kept on the itinerary.
“Golf has become an integral part of many meetings, conferences and retreats,” said Kelli Bruer, public relations manager for Cherokee Nation Enterprises, which runs the
Cherokee Casino and Resort near Tulsa, Okla. “At a time when many attendees are cutting back on business travel and out-of-office meetings, adding a golf event to the agenda can make or break the decision to attend.”
The resort features the Cherokee Hills Golf Club, an 18-hole, par-70 course that encompasses 172 acres with tree-lined fairways, rolling greens and views of Tulsa’s skyline. Originally designed in 1924 by Perry Maxwell, the course was redesigned in 2003 by golf architects Tripp Davis and Associates.
According to Bruer, golf is a “must-have” on the agenda for golf enthusiasts and beginner golfers. “Even for the novice or non-player, many business people are blurring the lines between busy work lives and recreational time and will choose a meeting destination that offers recreational activities and events, like golf, over more non-descript locales.”
A promise of a round of golf at a nice facility entices people to attend a meeting, said Michael Clark, general manager of
The Bluffs Country Club and Resort in St. Francisville, La. “A prime example is a pharmaceutical sales meeting for a group of doctors. You will almost always have full attendance for a golf/lunch meeting, but less than half for a dinner meeting only,” Clark said.
Located just north of the state capital of Baton Rouge, The Bluffs features a unique topography of rolling hills that defines its golf course, Clark said. “The Bluffs could just as easily be located in a mountainous state. It is very challenging, yet playable for all ability levels. Its design creates a different round of golf each time you play.”
Having a scheduled time period for golf can help keep attendees in their sessions rather than skipping out to play golf on their own, said Dana Hrubik, convention sales manager at
Sea Trail Golf Resort and Convention Center in Sunset Beach, N.C. “It’s hard to resist playing golf when you love the game,” Hrubik said. “That resistance to temptation is especially hard when you are in a break between meetings and see others enjoying the beautiful courses at a facility like Sea Trail. Planned golf outings in a meeting’s schedule can help reward attendees for diligently working through their meetings.”
Situated along the Carolina coastline, between Wilmington, N.C., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sea Trail offers three golf courses designed by Rees Jones, Willard Byrd and Dan Maples along with 60,000 square feet of meeting and function space, among other amenities.
In addition to boosting attendance, another reason to include golf on the agenda is to relieve stress and increase productivity, said Scott Selvaggi, director of sales at the
Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla. “Golf relieves stress; when you incorporate golf into a three- or four-day meeting, you are not looking at being in a boardroom or ballroom the whole time without having any fun.”
Selvaggi said he believes that if meeting planners incorporate something fun, such as a golf event, into a speaker presentation or product rollout, then attendees will be more relaxed overall and more able to focus on the topic at hand.
The Renaissance Resort offers more than 86,000 square feet of function space, including venues at the World Golf Village and the World Golf Hall of Fame. Attendees have access to two championship golf courses, King and Bear, designed by golf greats Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and Slammer and Squire, designed with input from golf legends “Slammin’” Sammy Snead and Gene “The Squire” Sarazen.
“Incorporating golf or any recreational event for a half-day of fun makes for a more productive experience at the meeting,” said Tory Enriquez, director of sales and marketing at
The Woodlands (Texas) Resort and Conference Center. “Attendees can go into the meeting room and grind something out if they have something to look forward to.”
Enriquez, whose resort boasts two championship courses, Panther Trail and The Oaks, both set among deep woods and enticing water features, said there are many ways to incorporate short golf events into a meeting to give attendees a bit of fun and stress relief.
“During meetings you can give attendees a break, do a putting contest or bring some sort of golf event into the meeting rooms, like chipping or putting lessons. Depending on the topic being covered during the meeting, a 30-minute break can rejuvenate and get the blood flowing,” she said.
Don’t forget golf’s teambuilding, bonding and networking abilities, said Bonnie Hall, director of sales at the
Holiday Inn University Plaza Hotel in Bowling Green, Ky. The hotel is attached to a public golf course and the city-owned convention center and is one of only two meeting properties in Kentucky with an on-site golf course.
“Groups choose to play golf because it is a group activity,” said Mary Munday, sales manager at the
Auburn Marriott Opelika (Ala.) Hotel and Conference Center at Grand National. “It’s a bonding experience.”
The 5-year-old hotel, which is situated on 2,000 acres of lakefront countryside in eastern Alabama, features 54 holes of golf, part of the award- winning Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. The executive conference center offers 15,000 square feet of meeting space.
“People play in foursomes, so they have to use teamwork and are playing very closely together,” said Ryan Merritt, group sales manager for
Villas-By-The-Sea Condominium Hotel and Conference Center in Jekyll Island, Ga.
Jekyll Island features a number of popular 18- and nine-hole golf courses, and Merritt said Villas-By-The-Sea can arrange island golf packages for guests.
Enriquez of The Woodlands said that when colleagues play golf together, they have a chance to see each other in a new light far from only what they see everyday in the office. “Just playing golf, you can experience the person in a new environment and get to know them in a new way,” she said.
Think about how golf differs from other activities, said Bill Hackelton, executive director of communications for the
Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fla. “The golf ball stays still and you chase it with the cart,” he said. “You are not going to network and socialize over a tennis court or while sailing. But, when you have four hours of uninterrupted time with a client, subordinate or supervisor, then you have an opportunity for bonding.”
Ocean Reef Club’s two 18-hole golf courses can be reached within five minutes of leaving the property’s 30,000 square feet of meeting facilities. The par-71 Hammock Course winds through a natural hardwood hammock and features water hazards on 14 of the 18 holes. The par-71 Dolphin Course allows for a bigger margin of errors with its wide fairways, yet its undulating greens require careful reads.
A round of golf is about a four-hour commitment, said Michael Garrow, director of sales and services at
Kingsmill Resort and Conference Center in Williamsburg, Va., explaining that the time it takes to play is longer than many other sports and ideal for attendees to develop relationships. “Some meeting planners take advantage of that fact and organize teambuilding events around golf on one of our three world-class courses,” he said. “An afternoon on Kingsmill’s River Course, for example, is a four-hour retreat that often leads to stronger bonds and shared memories.”
However, golf can also be played in other ways besides four-hour foursomes. Enriquez recommends a golf scramble or best ball tournament. “Everyone tees and hits, then the best ball is used and you all tee up from that spot. It is a team effort,” she said. “You may have someone in the foursome who is a good driver but is not good at his short game, which is chipping and putting.”
Enriquez said this type of event can foster camaraderie because the foursome can discover what each person’s strength is and can all contribute somehow.
Enriquez also reminds planners not to forget the time after the golf event. “The best networking is done after the tournament. You spend time together playing golf, then you have the award ceremony immediately after,” she said. “It is a good networking time because you have a common thing to talk about and everyone is relaxed and open with each other.”
