You Have Someone, But the Gap Is Still There
Last week, while playing golf at TPC Sawgrass with a longtime friend who has won multiple times on the PGA Tour, the conversation drifted toward how golf clubs handle their digital presence. At some point he asked a question I hear often when talking to operators and owners.
“Don’t most clubs already have someone who takes care of this?”
t’s a fair question. Most clubs do have someone. Someone who looks after the website, sends the newsletter, posts on social media when there’s time, and maybe runs a few ads during the season. That role exists at almost every public course today. But having someone involved isn’t the same thing as having deep capability.
I tried to explain it in golf terms, because that’s usually the easiest way to make the difference clear. I’ve played golf most of my life. I know how to swing a club. I understand the game, and I can get around a course just fine, and sometimes shooting under 80. But there’s a clear difference between knowing how to play and competing at a high level under pressure, against strong fields, with real consequences attached.
Digital operations at golf clubs have a similar gap
Most of the people handling these responsibilities are doing their best. They care about the course, they care about the golfers, and they’re often juggling several roles at once. Very few, however, have spent years focused specifically on how golfers discover courses online, how booking decisions are made, and how repeat play is encouraged in competitive environments. That isn’t a criticism. It’s simply not what most golf organizations were originally built for.
As a result, there’s often a quiet mismatch. The course itself may be in great shape. Operations may run smoothly. The on-site experience may be solid. But online, decisions tend to be reactive. Tools get added over time without a clear plan. Platforms start to control more of the relationship by default. None of this happens intentionally, but over time, control slowly shifts away from the course.
This is also why it’s no longer accurate to think of this area as “just marketing.”
How a golf course shows up online affects who finds it, how it’s perceived, whether someone books, and whether they come back. Reviews influence trust. Booking paths influence conversion. Communication influences loyalty. These pieces are connected, and together they shape revenue and long-term value far more than any single campaign or promotion.
Most clubs weren’t designed to think about these things as a system. They were designed to run a golf operation, and for a long time, that was enough. The environment has changed. Discovery works differently. Booking expectations are higher. Third-party platforms play a larger role. And the difference between a one-time visitor and a repeat golfer is often decided well before anyone sets foot on the property.
Closing this gap doesn’t require replacing people or ripping out systems. It requires experience in this specific part of the business and the ability to look at the whole picture calmly, without chasing trends or tools. It’s about understanding where control has been lost, where it still exists, and how it can be regained over time without disrupting what already works. And that’s the space I work in.
Not as a marketer, and not as a vendor, but as someone who helps golf courses think more clearly about how demand flows through their business and how decisions made off the course affect what happens on it. Quietly, practically, and with a long-term view.
Teemu
Founder
Growth Golf & Country Club
Miami, FL, USA