THE MOTIVATION FACTOR: UNDERSTANDING WHAT DRIVES
THE GOLFER AND YOUR STAFF TO INCREASE BUSINESS.
Industry Challenges:
 Rounds flat
 Customers more informed/in control of the business transaction
 Employees having difficult time performing
One Solution is to understand motivation.
Motivation styles of golfers and staff members
What is motivation?
1. Motivation provides the driving force to take action towards a desired goal.
2. Motivation clarifies what is really important.
3. What is the motive to take action? Motivation has direct cause and effect on
behavior.
Customer’s behavior- are they spending money at your facility?
Staff’s behavior- are they performing to the highest level of customer service?
Two questions that I want answered by each and every one of you at the end of this
presentation are:
1. Why would golfers do business at your facility?
2. Why should your staff perform at a high level at your facility?
What are different types of motivation?

Intrinsic/Extrinsic
o Joy of the game
o Outside influences such as recognition, trophies

Moving Away/Moving Towards
o “Practice to not embarrass myself at the business tournament”
o “Practice to play well in the business tournament”

Avoid Pain/Gain Pleasure
o Fear of Failure
o Play for enjoyment of success

Values- what is important to someone
o Why do you play golf?
o Has the reason changed since you started playing golf? If so, how?
Motivation is basically your why. Why do you do something?
How does motivation play a role in customer retention?
Are you meeting your customer’s motivating reasons to play golf at your facility?
Survey customers:

Why they play golf?

Why they come to your facility?

Why they go to other facilities?
Motivation to play golf- research results
1. Personal Challenge
2. Outdoors
3. Social
4. Physical/Exercise
5. Stress Relief
6. Business
7. Family
8. Competition
Strategies to develop retention/business
Develop events for each motivated group:
What can your facility offer for each type of motivator?
Personal Challenge-instructional programs for those that want to get better
Challenge- Play with the pro, monster tournament
Outdoors- bird watching group, environment classes (how a golf course is maintained)
Time- Fast pass group – reward players for playing fast, block tee times in the morning
for fast pass groups, shows you value pace of play, 9 hole rates/options, back 9
Social- bring a friend to the course, charity events, women’s club, men’s club, golf and
wine tasting, glow in the dark event
Business- networking event, 9 holes, drinks, meet and greet
Exercise- walking groups, speed golf, TPI screening
Family functions – Family tee times. Family lessons, parent/junior tournaments
Competitive- tournaments – individual events, team events against other golf courses
New golfer events – Women’s day in golf, Junior Day in golf
Who is your customer?
Private facility – example what is more rounds equal to the bottom line. My facility
believed just getting new members was the answer; unfortunately they neglected needs of
current members and lost several.
Public facility – what are your strengths, who is your core golfer and is that core golfer a
big enough group to sustain business?
Example of using motivation to improve golf instruction
Vital to understand:

Why a golfer is taking a lesson- need to fulfill that need

What is their goal with the game

What are some of their expectations from lessons
Communication strategies- the response you elicit
What response are you getting from your customer?
Everything your course puts out is a form of communication:

Marketing materials- onsite signage- it is not all about price

Websites

Scorecards

Communication of your staff, how they look, how they present themselves

Verbal communication
o Staff’s customer service
o Message received is

7% words

38% tonality

55% physical gestures.
Train staff to ask better questions of consumers. The goal is to develop rapport with the
consumer to understand their needs and wants and for us to meet those needs and wants.
The only way to do that is to ask questions.

What was the best part of your golf experience today?

How can we make your experience more enjoyable?
Communication styles, knowing how to communicate to your staff and your customers is
vital. Communication is defined as the response you elicit. Many believe all they have to
do is tell somebody to do something and it will happen. Unfortunately that is not always
true.

What response do you want from your staff?

What response do you want from your customer?

Are you getting those responses now?
In order to motivate someone to take action you need to speak their language. Part of
communication is having proper rapport.
Staff Motivation
What are motivators for staff’s performance?

Intrinsic/Extrinsic
o Love of the job/challenge, want to learn more
o Pay, title, advancement

Moving Away/Moving Towards
o “Don’t want to be broke”
o “Want to be financially free”

Pain/Pleasure
o “I’ll do it to keep my boss off my back”
o “Love seeing the smiles on the golfers face when I help them”

Values
o What is important to you about your career?
o Has the reason to come to work changed since you began this career?
If so, how?
Peak Performers are those that:

Are intrinsically motivated

Do things to gain pleasure

Are moving towards something that is highly valued

Take ownership of their career and feel they can make a difference
Each staff member has different reasons for showing up to work and this affects ones
behavior on the job.
Conclusion- Summary and Take away
Motivation is about why people behave the way they do.
Our mission is to have more people take action and play more golf. We want more new
people to play golf and those that do, play more. Understanding why they would want to
play in the first place is an advantage to the PGA Professional as we can customize our
communication and course events to fulfill those reasons.
Customer
1. Know the customers’ reasons for playing golf through surveys, questions,
feedback
2. Pick top 3 reasons and develop specific events around those reasons
3. Use communication to highlight these reasons in marketing and customer
interaction
Staff
1. Why does your staff show up to work?
2. Develop programs for those that need incentive based motivation (sales contests),
recognition (employee of the month), freedom to work on side projects for the
course, take on more responsibility.
3. Communicate with staff on concerns, challenges, and goals they have on the job.
Communication is vital to influence behavior. Be clear on the response you want to
achieve in your communication. People want to be understood, not spoken to.
Communication is a two way process.
Rick Sessinghaus, Psy.D, PGA is known as “Golf’s Mental Coach” and is a peak performance
coach based in Burbank, CA
www.RickSessinghaus.com * Rick@RickSessinghaus.com