Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Spring 2015 | Page 10

Steven’s content and the theatre set up created a
point of difference for an audience who embraced
and enjoyed what both Stevens and Kennerley
were promoting. It was a great start to the more
serious side of the Conference.
Kennerley displayed her noted passion for the
game interrupting her involvement in the filming of
the Celebrity Apprentice to fly up to the Gold Coast
on the eve of her participation and left immediately
following the next day.
Stevens is a skilled and engaging presenter and
had researched her topic of ‘She Marketing’ well
as she sought to provide answers to and an insight
into the mysterious world of women and their
engagement in, loyalty to and participation in
the game.
Stevens opened the minds of those present to
involving and retaining women in the game and
did so in a light hearted but informative manner.
There were many gems in Steven’s presentation but
some that resonated with me included confirming
the fact that the world is moving from ‘word of
mouth’ to ‘word of mouse’ in that so much of the
interaction and communication is now undertaken
through cyberspace and women are very much
embracing it.
Meeting the expectations of women a club
Stevens said will more often than not exceed the
expectations of men and that paying attention to
the small things will add up to big things. Marketing
to women does not mean you are doing so at the
exclusion of men.
Golf Clubs can either fear change, embrace
change or use change to optimise outcomes and
that technology is now a big part of that change
and that women are a big part of that.
That there are now more single female households
than non-single female households with the salary
gap between men and women closing faster than
any other country and that women are marrying
later and having children later is opening up
opportunities rather than closing them.
The importance of selling the golf experience
before selling a membership is a key way to
engage women with an almost ‘try before you buy’
approach allowing the female golfer an insight into
the fun side of the game without the pressure of the
hard membership sell.

10 Q Golf Spring 2015

www.golfqueensland.org.au

Steven’s emphasised the need for golf to think
outside the square and drew comparisons with
20/20 cricket and the bold pitch by the racing
industry to women as examples of how best to
make a sport more attractive especially when that
sport is facing uncertain futures.
Steven’s left the audience with the possibility of the
game adopting a new catchphrase especially
when marketing to women namely “Golf – it may
not be what you think” Essentially saying that
preconceived perceptions can work against the
sport and by installing in women that the game
might be a more exciting prospect than it appears
could produce good results.
Dominic Wall is the Director of the Asia Pacific for
the R&A a role he has held since 2008 following
a lengthy career with Golf Australia. Wall’s
presentation focused on just what the R&A is doing
in its role of promoting and fostering the game in
the Asia Pacific region.
He discussed the increasing push by the R&A to
simplify and reduce the number of rules and that
a delegation of R&A rules officials would be visiting
Australia soon to explain the reasoning behind that
decision and just how it will impact.
Wall also outlined the monies being spent
through the Asia Pacific Region by the R&A
from the significant funds generated by the
Open Championship and cited the increasingly
prestigious Asia Pacific Amateur Championship as
one of those initiatives.
Stephen Pitt, the CEO of Golf Australia focused his
presentation on the concern over participation
rates, the health and future of many clubs and the
consolidation of the dollar within the industry.
It was on this last point where Pitt created a lot of
thought provoking discussion. His vision of ‘One
Golf’ where the eight State and Regional bodies
are merged into one national body with each state
becoming a division of Golf Australia was both
controversial and yet a discussion that has to
be had.
Under such an arrangement each staff member
would be emplo YY