How was a festival of golf able to attract 700+ newcomers?


By: October 14, 2015


A little and less known golf course operator company in the UK, the Glendale Golf has achieved a remarkable result by attracting 700+ “new to golf course” people to its golf courses. Originally they set a more modest goal: attract at least 100 out-and-out first-time golfers to their center.

By the end of August over 2,000 people had made their first-ever visit to a Glendale Golf center, with approaching 1,000 of them trying golf for the very first time. 

Glendale_Golf_Festival_Success_Summer2015_300dpi_Print-1_send

Star performers of the festival were:

  • Tilgate Forest in West Sussex: over 200 new golfers,
  • Richmond Park in London, where 173 people hit a golf ball for the very first time.
  • In the north-west, Duxbury Park in Chorley attracted 149 first-timers,
  • Nottingham’s Edwalton Golf Centre also soared well past the 100 new golfer mark.
  • The Glendale Golf centers at Portsmouth, Beckenham and Castle Point in Essex each also attracted over 100 first-time visitors during the Festival.

If you think about organizing a festival or any event, it is worth to bear in mind the followings:

  • Create diversity – it’s about bringing richer content to the event.
  • The event should be mobile friendly.
  • Think about events from the user-experience perspective.
  • What do we want people to go away and remember?
  • People like to meet in an event who are similar to them.
  • Consider the usage of contextual technologies (see the latest Ryder Cup) like NFC (Near Field Communication), RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Periscope TV, Snapchat etc.
  • Don’t neglect the importance of online reviews and social sharings!
  • Evaluate social media throughout the event life cycle. It is important to detect who is/are talking about your event and what is his/their social influence capabilities (e.g. Klout score, mine is 52 out of 100). Look at location basedsharing and engagement data.
  • Crowdshaping: is the use of data generated by people in a defined space to adjust and customize, often in real time, the event or experience.