PGA Professionals Travel Program by: 
The Benefits of Club Hosted Travel
Overseas Club Hosted Travel delivers more than just an opportunity for members and their pro to scratch some courses off the bucket list. Ask any of the PGA Professionals in our Private Club Travel Program – or simply watch the videos below – and they will attest that travel enhances the overall golf program of their club more effectively than almost any other method. Here’s why…
The Experience Golf Economy
Today’s consumers are more purposeful than ever in how they spend both their money and their time. It’s no longer enough to simply provide a quality product or service, people want their investment of minutes and dollars to yield an experience that connects with them in a personal, memorable, and even emotional way.
All of this is officially known as The Experience Economy and members of private clubs are not immune to its charms. They expect membership to provide the same, or even greater, experiential value that others might find with a trip to the local TopGolf. Without question, travel is one of the most effective ways to provide such value.
Leading your members overseas provides them with a wealth of one-of-a-kind experiences that could never be achieved at the club. Those experiences, in turn, lead to cherished memories which are recalled over and over again for years to come. And when they think of those memories, there’s a good chance they’ll remember both the club and the pro who made them possible.
“I know there’s value there when I have members come in the golf shop and say to me “I just spoke to (another member) and they just took a trip with you and said its was unbelievable. Put my name in for the next trip.”
Ian Dalzell, PGA – Huntingdon Valley Country Club
It Enhances the Calendar
Most event calendars at private clubs look pretty similar. New members come in knowing there’s a Member-Guest, a Club Championship, and a 4th of July celebration. It’s a given, because everyone does them. But not every club is wise enough to include overseas travel in their annual calendar. The ones that do immediately separate themselves from most of the clubs in town.
For many of the participants in our Private Club Travel Program, the overseas golf trip is treated like an official event on the calendar. Once travel is introduced at a club, the members are rarely willing to part with it. To them, the trip becomes just as important as the traditional events throughout the year, but with one key distinction: this event doesn’t cost the club a dime or tax the time and resources of the PGA Professional.
"The 7 initial guys that I had for the 1st trip, they hardly knew each other. Before the trip they all said ‘this is a bucket list trip, we’ll probably do this once and say we did it.’ Those guys have come on every trip since, and at the end of that 1st trip they said ‘It’s not a bucket list trip, it’s an every year trip. That initial group has grown from 7 to now we have 16 traveling."
Sean Palmer, PGA – The Union League of Philadelphia
Connections and Camaraderie
A strong and growing social community is an essential component for any thriving club. Travel not only strengthens the bond between members and the club, but also between the members themselves. New friendships are formed, playing partnerships are established, and future trips with the significant others are planned. One trip overseas can do more to build the camaraderie of those involved than years of weekend barbeques and the Thursday afternoon skins game.
In addition, the camaraderie that’s formed on these trips pays dividends long before and after the trip itself. Once they’ve signed up, there’s often close to a year of building excitement between the members involved. Once they’ve returned, the stories are told repeatedly for months, and often years, to come. Even the members who didn’t make the trip, but hear the tales from Scotland in the Grill Room, see the value that the club has brought to their membership by hosting these trips.
"Half the members on the next trip have taken the previous two trips that I’ve taken with H&B, so we have a lot of repeat members signing up due to their success. That has just made our club stronger and our membership stronger. Our trips are selling out in 24-hours, it’s amazing."
Anthony Malizia, PGA – Bidermann Golf Club
Connect to the Heritage of the Game
If you’re fortunate to be at a club with a built-in rich history, you understand the value that the heritage of the game brings to your club. For newer clubs or those lacking an extensive heritage, traveling overseas allows members to see and experience some of golf’s oldest traditions first-hand. After returning, some of those traditions work their way into the fabric of the club, be it the occasional round of alternate shot – what the Brits call “Foursomes” – or embracing match-play and the game on foot. All of which provides your members with a more well-rounded appreciation of the game.
"I learned early on that if I’m going to be the expert of golf at my club, then I need to understand a little more about where the game came from. At my current club, we have some direct connections with St. Andrews, so when we travel, that’s just another avenue that adds to the experience. But not only has travel changed how I do my job, it’s also completely changed the way I play golf."
Nick Papadakes, PGA – Onwentsia Club
Take Advantage of the Downtime
Many clubs elect to host their overseas trip during scheduled maintenance or other downtime at the club. Others position it at the very beginning or end of the traditional golf season. By doing so, the trip puts a golf event on the calendar at a quiet time at the club or when it would otherwise be absent altogether. But perhaps the most important, yet unintended, benefit of this timing is the trip often serves as the unofficial kick-off or cap to the club’s season.
What better way for the members to celebrate the year than by toasting the club, new friends, and the PGA Professional who made it all happen, at the birthplace of golf.
To learn more about enhancing the golf program at your club with overseas travel, visit the additional resources or complete the form below. Or ask one of your colleagues that are sure to be on this list about their experience traveling with Haversham & Baker.
