Greetings Golfers,

As Bob Dylan said so many years ago: “The times they are a’changing”. I hope so. Went to the MWGCOA Conference a few days ago … a golf course owners conference with speakers, and vendors set-up in another room. It was actually really good. Seriously.

Normally I don’t like stuff like that. It’s usually boring and cliche and pseudo-intellectual.

Then yesterday, I was on an email chain about Golf Now buying EZ-Links. One of the emails was about how golf courses (and all businesses) needed to use data not for the quick sale and the constant sales pitch … but rather to actually understand people and build community through the long term. Yes! He talked about Delivering Value instead of Extracting Value. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. He also talked about building a community that people WANT to be a part of. Yes! Business is not about the best deal or best price … and not just being a non-stop annoying ad. (I used a local company at first … but changed it to “annoying”).

Of course there is always a market for price. But there is also always a market for quality. And for a likable culture. The business world doesn’t and shouldn’t always be about the quick buck. That’s a turn-off.

None of us like feeling used. Too much of business feels like a one-way street. Respect is always the key to healthy relationships.

 I get it. When business gets hard … panic can set in … and thinking becomes short-sighted. And maybe in a crisis situation that’s what has to be done. But it’s no way to run a business for the long term.

When Dylan wrote that song over 50 years ago … things were changing then … I lived through the 60s. But the mantras of the 60s never really took hold … they weren’t really well thought out. It was just basically a bunch of kids – Baby Boomers – who because of their enormous size and percentage of the population – had too much power and influence … and little wisdom. They didn’t really value respect and responsibility … they wanted to change the world NOW!

Well, real change – healthy change – is earned and comes over time by doing the right things. If that MWGCOA Conference and that email chain are what I think they represent … then the Baby Boomers may finally be growing-up.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
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