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John Reitman

By John Reitman

Former NFL QB urges owners to bring the fun back to golf

 

As a quarterback in the National Football League for 17 seasons, Ron Jaworski made a living dodging opposing defenses. To be successful, everyone on the team had to do their part, and that required focus, teamwork, communication and execution. When players didn't do their job, the team lost, no excuses.
 
Ron Jaworski, right, told members of the NGCOA that too many owners are taking the fun out of golf.When it comes to dismal business news affecting the golf industry, Jaworski really doesn't want to hear that either.
 
Jaworski, who owns seven golf courses in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, doesn't care that there are 1,000 fewer courses today than 10 years ago. He doesn't care that the number of rounds played has dropped 11 percent since 2000. He doesn't care that there are 29 percent fewer people playing the game today than there were in 2002.
 
"That's bull," said Jaworski, the keynote speaker at the National Golf Course Owners Association Golf Business Conference in Orlando during the Golf Industry Show. "That's all naysayers. I don't want to hear that."
 
Instead, his focus is on opportunities he can exploit to achieve his business goals. No excuses.
 
"If I can move 35,000 rounds through my golf courses, you can, too," he said. "It's up to all of us to grow the game."
 
Nicknamed "Jaws" by a Philadelphia Eagles teammate during a run to the 1981 Super Bowl, Jaworski has a lot to say when it comes to the business of running golf courses. And one of his gripes is that too many of his colleagues have taken the fun out of the game.
 
"I love golf. I get to play places like Pine Valley, Pebble Beach and Augusta. Those places are great, but they're not for everyone," Jaworski told the crowd.
 
"You are in the entertainment business. If you don't entertain your customers and make golf fun, then you're not going to be successful."
 
During his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, LA Rams, Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs, Jaworski recognized opportunities on the football field that could help his teams win. In business, he recognizes opportunities for success, as well. He's been around the game enough, he's owned 25 golf courses since 1979, to recognize that women and juniors represent growth opportunities, and his business model caters to them.
 
"People are building golf courses for women at 5,200 to 5,400 yards. That's ridiculous. That's equivalent to 7,500 yards for a man," Jaworski said. 
 
"At my courses, ladies' tees are 4,200 to 4,400 yards, so women can enjoy the game. We don't want to humiliate them by making it so difficult. That's the approach I've taken."
 
The results speak for themselves.
 
"We given (women and children) a chance to come out and get free lessons, and $5 from every green fee goes to breast cancer awareness," Jaworski said. 
 
"We have ladies leagues on all my courses that full, and we have the Jaws Youth Tour on all my courses."
 
It takes more than a plan to reach these goals. It takes a great team, Jaworski said. To build a great team, he said, you have to like people, you have to lead by example and you must create an atmosphere where people enjoy working together.
 
His lessons also translate to turf, where Jaworski's regional superintendent Charlie Clarke uses the same template to build his team. Clarke's role on that team goes much deeper than agronomics. As the person responsible for making the game fun for customers, he also plays an active role in customer engagement.
 
"I think we've taken the fun out of the game," Clarke said. "We have a golf architectural committee, and we let them pick where they want the tees. We moved some tees up by 150 yards, and we made the game fun again."
 
After all, as his boss says: "It's golf, it's about people."
 
No excuses.

 

- Note: Part II in a series of business-development issues affecting the golf industry






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