The ABC's of Selling Golf: Activities Beyond the Golf Course

To suggest that man cannot live by golf alone may be a bit misleading: Some men can. In golf citadels like Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Scottsdale, Ariz., die-hard golfers play from dawn to dusk.

While golf travel traditionally has been male-dominated, the category has begun to reflect more of a family flavor. Many resorts now are gearing programs to children and nongolfing spouses.

Brett Borton, director of marketing for Greenwood Development Corp., which owns and operates the Palmetto Dunes resort and community on Hilton Head Island, S.C., describes the recent phenomenon: "Over the last few years, golf destinations like Hilton Head have been making a concerted effort to open up their marketing efforts beyond the hard-core golfer. We're doing such things as offering junior clinics and junior instruction programs."

One of the leaders in family programming, with its Camp Hyatt, is Hyatt Hotels. Ann Lane, director of the Camp Hyatt program, says, "Hyatt Hotels operates Camp Hyatt in part so that parents have the flexibility to play golf and know that their children are being taken care of. Camp Hyatt isn't child care, it's a learning experience with a program that is destination-specific. At Hyatt Regency Scottsdale we have classes on desert ecology or Native American arts. At the Hyatt Regency at Palmetto Dunes, children may do some low-country crabbing. Everything is reflective of the local area and culture."

Craig Reid, general manager at the Four Seasons Resort and Club at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas -- another prime destination that has tailored a "Kids for All Seasons" program toward families -- notes that many travelers are seeking a quality experience within a compressed time schedule, say a weekend.

Reid suggests that sales agents can sell golf travel by positioning family trips as "getaways" more than full-fledged vacations. "A golf getaway for a family, perhaps one or two such outings a year, serves as a vacation supplement, " he says.

Golf travel is brimming with destinations ripe for family golf getaways. Among them are: