This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
PGASOFEUROPE Martin Westhpal


PGA of Germany Professional, PGAs of Europe Education Committee Member and Managing Director, Markischer Golfclub Potsdam


Martin Westphal has been a driving force of education in Germany for a number of years, but flies somewhat under the radar when it comes to his incredibly creative and intelligent business expertise. Martin operates a club not far from Berlin, and it was his


entrepreneurial spirit that led him to the opportunity and spurred on his success with the club. That saw him go from employing one PGA Professional to now employing eight, increasing membership numbers to 1,200 and the number of rounds per week from near zero to over 1,400.


Explain a bit of background about your business ventures


and your involvement with them… My facility is a 27 + 9-Hole complex, just 35 minutes away from Berlin, and 20 minutes outside of Potsdam. The facility includes a 10-hectare practice area, a pro shop and a restaurant. I am the managing director and the main shareholder. I had found out that the club had gone bankrupt in 2008, so in 2009 I got


in contact with the former investors and by the end of the same year, I decided to rent the course with a view to being ready to invest and ultimately buy it as soon as legal issues were resolved.


What were the main business opportunities you saw within


the ventures? I first thought that I was better in my understanding of the “new”


customer and golfer than perhaps others were. My experience of the past working within the PGAs of Europe and the R&A helped me a great deal in evaluating the possibilities at the club. The German golfing market is special today - we have got more golfers playing an unorganised game than organised due to the fact that the static structure of private clubs is not attractive any more for the majority of the clients. So I turned a very private club into a semi-private business. I recruited 800 new members in less than two years, installed a Pro Shop again and repositioned the Golf Academy.


What strategy did you adopt in order to assess these


business opportunities? I was looking to implement a high frequency of turnover and to create a


fluid buying power within the customers with a lot of selling time to the guest [more opportunities to sell to the client]. Today we are organising over 50,000 rounds of golf and are still learning to put our products into the best light in order to sell them more effectively.


What were the main challenges you faced with the


strategy/ventures and what did you do to overcome them? Resistance to change was the toughest thing, and it’s still there. Older


members who had to pay a joining fee in the past and members who don’t see the difference between Private and semi-Private organisations are not happy about my “hard line”. I am spending a lot of time and money on customer education, building relationships, quality of service and in entertaining the client in a very gentle way. However, a bad result of an open system like mine is creating a higher fluctuation in membership numbers.


What results have you had so far and how have you


achieved the goals that were set? The biggest result besides the high numbers of rounds and the growth


of the memberships is the creation of between 100 and 200 new golfers every year. We became a reliable partner to the golfer and became a


www.pgae.com


referrer. I am able to cover a fluctuation of around 100 players a year through referrals. At the beginning I had one Golf Professional with no work, today 8 Professionals are active on my side. How I did it, with small steps and the right people, is easy as long as you guide them in a good way.


What is next for the business – where do you now aim to be? I know that my golf academy could be even better, not in teaching a


better technique, but in creating better relationships between people. I like to see people spending more time on my side and to understand better their opportunities and their possibilities within golf and their lives .


For more information on Markischer Golfclub Potsdam visit www.dermaerkische.de.


Article provided courtesy of the PGAS of Europe SGBGOLF 7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40