Establishing Local Partnerships to drive Mini Golf Course Traffic
excerpts taken from PMGA Mini-Golfer™ Report, Summer 2005

If you open any newspaper from around the country, you will find discussion of two or more different companies forming partnerships in order to maximize each others competitive advantage or strengths in their respective marketplace. Successful partnerships require that each company not only contribute to the overall success of the venture, but also, benefit individually from the combined resources now available to each side.

You may ask yourself How can I, a miniature golf course, successfully form a partnership that will increase my business? One such course in Orem, Utah did just that. Trafalga Family Fun center has formed a strategic partnership with the Brigham Young University PMGA chapter. This chapter is an official club with BYU and Chapter of the PMGA. President Todd Jacobs along with his staff have brought legions of new clientele to the Orem course, benefiting from the marketing and operational resources of Trafalga.

Here is how the relationship first started…..

Todd Jacobs, BYU-PMGA President, was challenged with finding the right facility in which to host regular miniature golf tournaments. As there were several miniature golf courses in the area, finding the right course that would meet their needs was very important. Further, because of the cold and snowy winters of Utah, Todd was left to find a facility that could cater to their tournaments throughout the year. Each tournament would host anywhere from 30 or 40 players in the off season to even more than 100 players during the school season. Having a miniature golf course that had indoor courses and the ability to manage such a large number of golfers was crucial to the success of the BYU-PMGA. As a newly formed club, if players came to tournaments and were not immediately impressed with the operations, then the likelihood of them returning and participating in future tournaments would be all but zero. Further, as a non-profit university club, Todd was faced with the reality of little or no funds in order to market or advertise the club or tournaments, or provide the necessary incentives, such as tournament prizes, in order to attract and keep players coming back for more.

Trafalga Family Fun Center, located in Orem, Utah (about 10-15 minutes from the campus) has two 18-hole courses outside and one 18 hole course inside. The facility has been around for decades and offers go-karts, bumper boats and batting cages along with its miniature golf. Ms. Tiffany Hunt, General Manager for Trafalga was approached by Todd Jacobs of the BYU-PMGA in hopes of arranging the next tournament for his club. After visiting and discussing the logistics of the tournament, Ms. Hunt put together the information and made up some flyers and posters that could be passed around at campus and around the area to publicize the tournament. When the day of the tournament came around, Trafalga offered a promotion playing price for each golfer in the tournament. At first, 20 or 30 players were involved, but as word spread, the tournament participation increased to as many as 120 players in one night.

Logistically, the BYU-PMGA had a registration table and performed the check-in, scoring and actually running the tournament. Trafalga offered facility support and, of course, an open snack bar in case anybody needed some energy. The tournaments have become a big hit with the students and Trafalga has seen an increase in both revenues due to the course and an increase in rounds due to players coming in beforehand to practice on the course.

As I studies this partnership and the dynamics of the groups involved, I’ve come up with some keys to success that have helped both the BYU-PMGA and Trafalga benefit from this partnership.

(continued)

To receive the complete article and summer edition of PMGA Mini-Golfer, a course ownership quarterly report, click here.