Guest Column: Treat your brand like it’s your reputation

I think some of us, a lot of us, cringe a bit when we hear people use the word “brand”. It smacks of an over-adherence to the marketing culture. Some might argue — and I put myself in this camp — that it feels a bit fake. However, if we substitute the word “reputation” for “brand”, it feels less dirty and makes a lot more sense. We all have reputations, personally, and so do our businesses. Golf course facilities would rather have a reputation among golfers for being “a good value”, as opposed to merely being “cheap”, for example.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT BOB'S GOLF BLOG>>>

In the current golf course climate, which reflects the overall economic climate, we see among our clients a heightened interest in maintaining and (re)building brand/reputation. More and more, we are deploying design and redesign in the service of improving that brand/reputation. After all, while it’s satisfying for the superintendent or general manager to redo bunkers in a classic fashion — with flat-bottoms and rolled-grass faces in the style of William Langford, or with high sand-flashed faces in the style of Dick Wilson — if the bunkers don’t drain well after a good rain, or the golfer doesn’t know who Langford is (or care), it doesn’t necessarily affect course reputation in a positive way.

As a course designer (and a fan of Langford-style bunkers), it pains me to point this out… But it cuts both ways. There is a much stronger connection these days between design/renovation and (caution: marketing-speak alert) course branding than there was even five years ago. The economy demands it. Course renovation has always had a practical application — it’s just that, today, practical application is ever more paramount.

Our ongoing work at Poplar Creek Country Club in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, is a pretty darned good example of what I’m talking about. This is a nice municipal golf course (owned/operated by the local park district) where Lohmann Golf Designs has been doing various green and bunker renovation work for almost 20 years now. Poplar Creek’s reputation has always been good — not just as a public golf course but as a place to hold weddings and meetings, often with golf-outing components.

Unfortunately, the course sits in a flood plain and it’s surrounded by development. As that development has grown thicker, any sort of rain event wreaks havoc on the course. Multiple holes can be rendered unplayable for days at a time. This affects revenues not just from green fees but also from outings and events — and it was beginning to affect the facility’s reputation, as golfers and event planners were never sure if the course would be fully playable. No one can predict the rain, after all.

In the words of Tony LaFranere, deputy director/director of recreation of the Hoffman Estates Park District, and the former director of golf at Poplar Creek, “We face serious competition for golfers. The course’s flood-plain flaws risk an increasingly adverse effect on playing experiences and revenues.”

LaFrenere is spot on when it comes to difficulties in retaining golfer loyalty. In suburban Chicago, there is simply a limited supply of golfers and an oversupply of golf facilities chasing their business.

LaFrenere and the Park District have taken bold action in the face of this business climate. They have retained Lohmann Golf Designs and the course contractors at The Bruce Company to address the flooding issues — and they’ve done this in the context of a comprehensive rebranding effort, something they feel will carry them for the next 25-30 years.

“It’s important to undertake this program now, to cement residual business for a healthy future. Now is the perfect time because course design and construction costs are the lowest in decades,” LaFrenere says [Ouch! But it’s true...]. “And permitting costs in connection with agencies like the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District are expected to substantially increase in coming years.”

Poplar Creek is looking at every detail in addition to the course. In the clubhouse, the main banquet room has already received a facelift to go with a new 8,200 square-foot wedding pavilion area for outdoor ceremonies. “It has been updated with new carpet, wallpaper, lighting, paint, ceiling construction, bathroom upgrades and a new dance floor.  WiFi, LCD screens, projectors and other accoutrements make business meetings first-class,” LaFrenere says.
.
The cost? “At this juncture, a final cost is undetermined, but the Park District is trying to stay under an estimated $6 million,” he adds. “A net operating income lift is projected in the first full year of operation after the program with incremental increases through 2016.”

The course work is central to the effort, naturally. Far more people make use of Poplar Creek as a golf facility, after all. With the help of The Bruce Co., we will lift up three entire fairways out of the flood plain. We will expand Poplar Creek in a half dozen separate areas on the property, and connect them, creating a giant system of ponds for increased, more flexible water retention. The fill we create from this excavation will be used to raise the fairways, but also for tee work and range enhancement.

With these bigger, more visible water hazards, we’re going to reroute in spots to create some pretty neat risk-reward shots that didn’t exist before. The layout is going to be more attractive than it was, way more, thanks to the fescue-accented wildlife buffers we’re creating along all these new and expanded wetlands. Another reason for the fescue: to reduce mowing and watering requirements. Right now, the creek is bounded by nothing but weedy grass on banks with no erosion protection.

Some of the changes aren’t so course-centric; some would even call them “cosmetic” — and there’s nothing wrong with that! All of the cart path curbing will be replaced with a more aesthetic, poured-concrete material. Rosetta Stone walls are being built to armor creek banks while adding still more aesthetic appeal (indeed, this same stone will be used to fashion new tee signs). We’ve even repositioned the putting green so it’s the dominant thing golfers see as they enter and exit the property. This new staging area today comes complete with a putting clock.

One last but important thing: We are replacing eight pretty ugly, narrow, steel bridges with some very attractive timber models to allow various creek crossings. Tony and his team at Poplar Creek are considering an overall name change that plays on this particular upgrade — something like The Bridges at Poplar Creek.

We’ve had a lot of first-hand experience and success in these areas, both eliminating flood issues by expanding water-retention in ecologically pro-active fashion (at Deerpath Golf Course in nearby Lake Forest, in 2003, for example) and assisting municipal entities in totally rebranding on a large scale (at the award-winning Traditions at Chevy Chase in Wheeling, which, pre-transformation, was known as plain ol’ Chevy Chase Country Club).

In each case, and several others I could name, it was a healthy obsession with reputation that prompted the work and keyed the “rebranding” effort. It’s not such a dirty word, really. Not at Poplar Creek.