Golf Pro Delivered Academy
Article by Herb Rubenstein
Introduction
Golf Pro Delivered was started to provide mobile golf stations as a viable means for golf pros to “go to the customer” rather than have the customer have to come to a golf course. The prime mission of the company evolved to meet the demand for these mobile golf studios to be part of “events” where entertainment was raised to equal value as “golf instruction” and five minute lessons were offered when KPMG, PXG, Ferrari, Ritz-Carlton, houses at the Masters, and many other clients became clients of Golf Pro Delivered.
This idea compliments this transition to events by adding a low capital, and potentially profitable component to the offerings of Golf Pro Delivered. This model is built on a model from another industry – the public policy sector. At the Brookings Institution, researchers and research managers pay a fee to Brookings to be a Brookings “Fellow,” a term not often used in the golf industry.
If GPD wants to serve “golf instructors,” it should find a way to add value to golf instructors well before a golf instructor has to pay $10,000 or $20,000 or even $50,000 for a GPD mobile golf simulator. To sell one of these simulators today by GPD requires including a training package on how to set it up, take it down, use the software and electronics, make the sale of the unit for events or golf training, and how to manage events where the mobile unit is surrounded by many people who want their turn at the five minute golf lesson perfected by Golf Pro Delivered.
What do golf pros need to sell more lessons and be more financially successful? And what do we have that we can sell from Golf Pro Delivered that is less expensive than our golf simulators that would help golf pros be more successful and expand the game.
Certification and Membership
If Golf Pro Delivered creates a “Golf Pro Delivered or GPD Academy,” then selected golf instructors can become “Fellows” in our Academy, the way they become “Fellows” at the Brookings Institution. What does a golf instructor pay to become a “Fellow” of the Golf Pro Delivered Academy, and what do they get out of it. Let’s talk first about what the benefits they get.
1. Placement on our website
2. Publication of their videos and writings
3. Promotion
4. Credibility
5. Lesson Plans for short lessons
6. Discounts on renting or purchasing GPD equipment
7. Low priced staff support when they hold events using GPD equipment
8. Free training for GPD equipment and sales training
9. Free entrepreneurship training and coaching on how to run a business
10. Free marketing materials
11. Free economic modeling to help show how to make money using GPD equipment
12. Free “GPD Academy” clothing
13. Discounts on all forms of golf equipment
14. Free hotline to answer questions about sticky instructional challenges and consultation with other golf instructors
15. Private “golf instructors only” chatroom to promote the sharing of innovations in golf instruction
16. Invitation to special meeting at the annual PGA show
17. Free podcast opportunities hosted by GPD
18. Tax advice for dealing with golf instructor income
19. Cash handling and financial management advice for golf instructors
20. Invitation to participate and earn fees in the GPD Golf Academy Virtual Instruction Program (VIP)
21. Location specific marketing for your golf instruction through our Golf Pro Delivered Website
22. Branding advice suited to the golf instructor’s special skills, knowledge, location, and target market
23. Equal treatment of women and minorities in the game
24. Assistance in getting sponsorships and scholarships for low income people to take lessons from our Golf Pro Delivered Academy Fellows
25. Assistance in creating a business plan for your new “Golf Instruction/Golf Entertainment” (GIGE) business
26. Special deals on credit cards, lines of credit, business loans through our financial referral network (FRN)
27. Free subscriptions to golf publications
28. Provide marketing advice to golf instructors
29. Provide advice on data analytics
30. Provide advice on how to manage golf students between lessons using five means of communication
31. Advice on creating permanent “Performance FilesTM for your students to insure customer loyalty
32. Advice on teaching “scoring” by a proprietary system of analyzing the scorecards of the exact courses your students are playing
33. Advice for instructors on how to take excellent golfers and golfers who want to improve into the “tournament world” or the team competition world and how to provide “tournament scheduling” assistance to golfers
34. A system of services for your students/clients that the student pays for and for which you receive a commission (to be developed).
The New Era of Golf Instruction
This is a new business model we call B2I, business to instructor. The golf world is changing. For most student hour long golf lessons on the driving range or two hour lessons on the golf course will be replaced by 15 and 30 minute lessons in simulators, and mobile, synthetic grass putting greens and chipping areas. The range of golf services an excellent golf instructor now has to provide to be competitive in the instructional marketplace include:
• Video analysis
• Golf shot data analysis
• Guide to purchasing appropriate golf equipment at an appropriate price
• Physical fitness and injury avoidance training
• Psychological training
• Course management training
• Tournament preparation
• How to apply for golf scholarships and golf sponsorships
• How to manage golf events
• How to manage group lessons and clinics
• How to achieve excellent lifetime customer value for the customer
• Instruction on golf etiquette
• Instruction on golf rules
The GPD Academy will provide instruction in all of these key golf areas to golf instructors.
How This Golf Academy is Different From Anything That Exists In the Market Today
Becoming a member of the faculty of the GPD Academy and being a Senior Instructor or Instructor, will provide a business-to-business connection that will provide key advice and guidance to golf instructors. The Academy will not represent or endorse any manufacturer, nor receive promotional fees from any manufacturer for access to our instructors but will seek to get discounts for our members from every manufacturer.
The GPD Golf Academy is not like the PGA or LPGA, since we provide different value in different ways than the PGA or LPGA. The GPD Golf Academy is different from all other “Golf Academies” since we, the GPD Academy does not provide any instruction directly to consumers/students. All such instruction is provided directly between you, the instructor, and all payments for such instruction are made directly to the instructor or the instructor’s account with GPD. We take no overhead expense as a promotional supporter of golf instructors.
Conclusion
Golf instruction has changed very little for seasoned golf instructors over the past two hundred years. New equipment for teaching has provided marginal improvements but is not being used to its greatest extent. Golf has to “speed up,” or “get with the times.” The Golf Pro Delivered Academy provides two needed components into delivering “2020 and Beyond Golf Instruction.” The mobile technology that many golf instructors could benefit from (and all students could benefit from) and the key insights into how to be a successful golf instructor from both a technical and business perspective.
We look forward to your becoming a member of the Golf Pro Delivered Academy.