Events

Spirit Golf Launches Red Shirt Fridays at Clubs on July 1 to Benefit Folds of Honor

by Spirit Golf on June 29, 2016

HOPEWELL, NJ (June 29, 2016) – Spirit Golf Management will launch its Red Shirt Fridays initiative this Friday, July 1, to benefit wounded military veterans and fallen service member families through the Folds of Honor Foundation. The program will run from Friday of the Fourth of July weekend through Friday, September 2 of the Labor Day weekend.

Red Shirt Fridays at Spirit Golf Clubs

“We are proud to announce all Spirit Golf managed clubs are participating in this initiative to contribute to the Folds of Honor Foundation and its Patriot Golf Day campaign,” said Mike Attara, President of Spirit Golf Management and PGA General Manager and CEO for Hopewell Valley Golf & County Club. Our clubs, Five Ponds Golf Club, Warminster, PA; Greencastle Golf Club, PA; HVGCC, Hopewell, NJ; Makefield Highlands Golf Club, Yardley, PA; Mill Race Golf & Camping, Benton, PA; and Stonybrook Golf Club, Hopewell, NJ are all participating in the program.

“While each club will offer its own unique promotion, all clubs on Fridays will offer a discount and contribution on rounds played by golfers who wear a red shirt, and a healthy discount off any red merchandise purchased in the Pro Shop. The Folds of Honor Foundation, that Spirit Golf and the PGA support, helps the families of fallen and wounded service members, so that no one is forgotten on the battlefield. What could be a better time to honor our service members than the celebration of the founding of our country on the Fourth of July? Our clubs and Spirit are privileged to be able to support our nation’s heroes and their families, and to give back,” stated Attara.

“It is with great honor and privilege that I recognize Spirit Golf in their promotion of Red Shirt Fridays. In doing this, Spirit Golf not only memorializes the sacrifice made by soldiers of our great nation, but also contributes to the legacy of their families. Proceeds from discounts on rounds of golf and red apparel will benefit the Spirit Golf Patriot Golf Day campaign,” said Major Dan Rooney, CEO/Founder, The Folds of Honor Foundation.

“It is this spirit of patriotism and humility that keeps our freedoms alive, and brings meaning to the Folds of Honor Foundation’s mission. Our relationship with Spirit Golf is a great example of force multiplication. This type of support makes permanent changes in the lives and families of our service members. For this, we are incredibly grateful,” added Rooney.

For more information on Spirit Golf, visit SpiritGolf.net, and on Folds of Honor, visit FoldsOfHonor.org.

About Spirit Golf Management, LLC

Established in 2009, Spirit Golf Management LLC provides an array of golf course management services with the simple mission to “grow our clients’ business”. The nationally recognized company helps clients grow their business by establishing the right services, programs and activities with an approach that generates community awareness and focuses on the facilities’ unique market position. Spirit Golf manages Five Ponds Golf Club, Hopewell Valley Golf & Country Club, Makefield Highlands Golf Club, and Stonybrook Golf Club in the Delaware Valley area, in addition to Mill Race Golf and Camping in Benton, PA and Greencastle (PA) Golf Club. Spirit Golf — Growing the game one club at a time.

About Folds of Honor

Headquartered in Owasso, Oklahoma, Folds of Honor provides support to children and spouses of fallen and wounded service members across this great country. Folds of Honor is primarily known for our founder and CEO, Major Dan Rooney, as well as our grassroots marketing initiative, Patriot Golf Day. Folds of Honor is a generational foundation dedicated to giving back to the families of our nation’s heroes. Through the support of great American companies and patriotic individuals, we’re ensuring that no family is left behind on the field of battle.

Contact: Donna Weaver, Spirit Golf Marketing Director, or 917-301-3509.

PGA-Folds-Spirit

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Spirit Golf Management’s Top Ten Achievements for 2015

by Mike Attara on February 4, 2016

2015 was a banner year for Spirit Golf Management. Since being established in 2009 we have maintained a consistent commitment to exist by our motto, “growing the game one club at a time”. To truly be successful in this endeavor the key has been to embrace the individual personality, character and assets of our different properties. This was never more evident than in 2015.

The Spirit Golf Management Team

To best illustrate these unique achievements, here is Spirit Golf’s Top 10 List from 2015:

· 1 ·

For the third year in a row, Makefield Highlands PGA Director of Instruction Ed Gibson received a player development/growth of the game award from the Philadelphia PGA, this year for his industry leading accomplishments in Junior Golf. This serves as a tribute to his passion, Spirit Golf’s commitment to growth of the game and illustrating how these types of efforts can make a positive impact to any type of facility. This makes a total of 11 Growth of the Game Awards won by a Spirit Golf Professional! There is no better honor than being recognized by your peers.

· 2 ·

Mill Race Family Fun Month EventsNew for 2015 we had great success with a company-wide “July is Spirit Golf Family Fun Month”. Each of our properties used this umbrella to promote a wide variety of activity to make golf more easy, fun and affordable for families to enjoy golf together. A key success was our newest client Mill Race Golf and Camping Resort and how they used a variety of Family Fun Nights, clinics, PGA Family Course and $1 a hole promotions to generate nearly $8,000 in ancillary business.

· 3 ·

Under Spirit Golf’s leadership, an 18-month campaign to secure a Liquor License at Greencastle Golf Club was successful. Club Manager and Regional Operations Manager for the Mid-Atlantic, Mike Porter led the charge working closely with the community to obtain the needed votes for the approval. The addition of the new liquor license is an important revenue generator and asset for the ownership. The township has been dry since the prohibition, thus this was a huge undertaking. However, this has already expanded the services and amenities at Greencastle making it a more attractive property for golfers, outings and the community at large.

· 4 ·

Els for Autism, Stonybrook Junior League, and Middle Atlantic Blind GolfersContinuing to prove that anyone can play golf, Spirit Golf leveraged Stonybrook Golf Club’s unique setting and executive golf course in becoming a model facility for hosting accessible golf programs. These efforts included being an official Els for Autism golf facility, plus hosting numerous programs for the Middle Atlantic Blind Golfers Association, First Tee of Trenton and New Jersey Special Olympics. Joe Porter, our PGA Professional, continues to expand our companies and the club’s reach with his passion and excellence as one of the best instructors in the area.

· 5 ·

Mill Race Best Camping Photo Winner 2015Proving Spirit Golf is committed to adapting to the individualistic ‘personality’ of each of our clients, we successfully took on the challenge of managing an Golf Club/RV / Camping Resort as part of our newest relationship with Mill Race in Benton, PA. In fact, thanks to our customer service and growth models, we turned Mill Race into an Award Winning Camp Ground, earning 3 different accolades from the Pennsylvania Camp Owners Association.

· 6 ·

Under the leadership of Spirit Golf’s Director of food & Beverage, John Goeke, we completed a variety of renovations at Makefield Highlands, including updating the kitchen and bathrooms, plus building out the “Courtyard at Makefield Highlands”, a new 200 seat banquet and event facility with an open-air-bar and tented reception space. While just launching in late 2015, this has already made Makefield Highlands a premiere facility to host weddings and functions. The addition of the new facilities provided a new revenue stream for our client Lower Makefield Township and through our project management experience was completed under budget.

· 7 ·

Stonybrook Ladies LeagueAt Stonybrook we have continued to grow our ladies league which jumped from 24 to 50 weekly golfers this year. However, thanks to these ladies showing the way, we were able to establish a similar program for men for the first time in 2015.

· 8 ·

Makefield Highlands hosted a US Open Regional in May. Considering Philadelphia is home to numerous incredible private golf clubs, it was a distinguished honor to be selected by the GAP to host this prestigious event. More importantly, the 120 competitors all raved about the golf course and their experience, which was a true testament to Spirit Golf’s Director of Agronomy Mark Peterson and his team.

· 9 ·

We were able to kick off a newly established Mill Race Golf Association towards the end of the year, which generated hundreds of new-found rounds in the fall. The highlight was promoting November as Veteran’s Golf Month which climaxed on a very emotional and well attended Veterans Day Golf Tournament which is sure to be an annual success.

· 10 ·

In our second year at Five Ponds Golf Club, our client, The Township of Warminster saw,  for the first time in over 10 years,  a positive cash flow for the golf course. The course achieved this success with the addition of new marketing programs, the increase in customer services, new outing sales, a new men’s league 90 strong and improvements to operational controls and expense management.

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Spirit Golf Management Speaks at PGA Merchandise Show on Golf 2.0

by Mike Attara on January 19, 2012

Golf 2.0 is off and running and if we all do our part as an industry, this strategy can really make an impact on 61 million lapsed golfers. It can also help us drive new players to the game and retain the existing core golfers.

The PGA Merchandise Show was the official kick off for the industries’ Strategic Player Development Program.  Jack Nicklaus provided opening remarks on the first day, showing his support and excitement for this new program.

It was great to be a part of the introduction of Golf 2.0.   I am on the national committee for this program and spoke at the show on how to retain our beginner players. I was honored to share my insights on a subject that is critical in today’s golf industry.

During that hour presentation, I presented many different ideas on how to engage and retain new players. I talked about how to break down the barriers that keep people from engaging in the game of golf; barriers like time, money, lifestyle and difficulty of the game. You have to create the right program to make these players comfortable and then market it to them using the right venue.

Sherri McDonald, PGA Teaching Pro at Eagle Ridge Golf Course, talks on behalf of Spirit Golf Management. Note Eagle Ridge Golf Club on the graphic visual.

Sherri McDonald, Director of Instruction at Eagle Ridge Golf Club, presented on the PGA Forum Stage as part of the Play Golf America Conference. Sherri shared best practices and case studies from Eagle Ridge Golf Club. Sherri is second from the right in the photo below.

It was good to see so many people in the golf industry paying attention to what we, at Spirit Golf Management, have always been focused on, engaging the public. Creating the right player development programs and finding ways to engage customers in your specific  local community are key in growing the game of golf and right now these concepts have everyone’s attention.

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments at mikea@spiritgolf.net

Spirit Golf Management.  Growing the game one course at a time.

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