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Kernersville golf courses have new leader
By SCOTT MARTIN
Kernersville might not be the sexiest golf destination in North Carolina
but to Peter Carpenter and the thousands of golfers he’s attracting to the quiet
Triad town, that’s just fine. At Pine Tree and now Pine Knolls, Carpenter has
dramatically increased interest and play by leveraging his golf management and
advertising experience to produce a marketing success story that many daily-fee
operators and owners will surely want to emulate.
Carpenter took over the management of Pine Tree in early 2002. The Gene
Hamm-designed course, which opened in 1971, is a hidden gem that has sometimes
been lost among the giants of Triad public golf: put Pine Tree in Charlotte or
the Triangle and it’s instantly one of the better and more popular public
courses; in the Triad, with its surfeit of superb and even world-class daily-fee
courses, Pine Tree has not always had the play and conditioning it deserves.
In just over a year, Pine Tree has enjoyed a renaissance as Carpenter
and his company initiated several programs to generate play, improve the quality
of the golf, and earn repeat visits. Tactics have included frequent play
discounts, a wide portfolio of price breaks, plus print, TV, and radio
advertising. One simple but successful program, called Dine and Divot, gives
Wednesday golfers a green fee, drink, sandwich, and bag of chips, all for around
$22. But there’s more to marketing Pine Tree than coupons and copy.
“One of the most important things
we’ve achieved at Pine Tree is simply giving golfers a sense that they belong
here and that they are valued,” says Carpenter. “Everyone from the guy who
operates the weed whacker to the pro shop staff works very hard to make the
golfer feel welcome.”
Pine Tree’s price point hovers in the
$20 to $30 a round range so generating significant traffic is crucial to the
success of the course. The marketing work is clearly effective: from late spring
to early fall, Pine Tree has booked approximately 3400 rounds a month, a number
that would make any golf course operator anywhere extremely happy, especially in
today’s golf climate. Carpenter has also aggressively courted group and outing
business, stressing a full turnkey program that makes life simple for the
organizer.
“Another key is that everyone can
take advantage of the discounts just about every day,” says Carpenter. “It’s
much more than just targeting one demographic.”
Success at Pine Tree led the
investment group that owns nearby Pine Knolls to hire Carpenter’s group to run
the 6287-yard course that opened in 1969. Carpenter took over Pine Knolls in
November and has already increased daily-fee traffic by 10-15 rounds a day by
employing some of the same tactics that have been successful across town. He
started advertising a week before his management contract began. One promotion
offers a same day replay for $15, giving golfers the opportunity to play Pine
Tree after Pine Knolls or Pine Knolls after Pine Tree. It’s a lot of pines but
not a lot of cash.
Unlike Pine Tree, Pine Knolls has a
membership base of about 100 and an active Men’s Golf Association with over 170
golfers. Very quickly, Carpenter got the lawnmowers out and changed the set-up,
making it more player-friendly, thus speeding up play and reducing golfers’
blood pressure.
“The fairways were a bit too tight
and the rough, at four inches in places, was too long,” says Carpenter. “Golfers
want to have fun, they want to get around in about four hours, and they want to
feel like they got good value for their money.”
At Pine Knolls, Carpenter has also
moved quickly to improve conditioning, sewing approximately 9,000 pounds of rye
to define the fairways during the winter. Annual rounds at Pine Knolls total
22,000 now but Carpenter hopes to increase this to the 35,000 range by summer
2004.
Ironically, by the time Pine Knolls
is teeming with happy golfers, Pine Tree may be succumbing to the bulldozer and
earth scraper as it morphs into a yet-to-be-named 935-acre golf community that
architect Kurt Sandness, who has worked with Lee Trevino and Tom Lehman, will
design. The community will feature a variety of homes and home sites, a
30,000-square foot clubhouse, plus an equestrian center.
With the new community, Carpenter
plans to be as innovative as possible, providing new members, guests, and
daily-fee golfers with a level of service found at the better resorts and
country clubs while emphasizing Kernersville’s location right in the center of
the Triad.
“People in this area love their golf
and they respond to owners and operators who go the extra mile to make them feel
welcome,” says Carpenter.
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Scott Martin wrote the Insider’s
Guide to Golf in the Carolinas.
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