The Enjoyment Question

Introduction

Indulge in a moment’s self reflection. In your last ten golf outings, how often did you really enjoy yourself?

Where there games or practice sessions that didn’t give you the normal buzz, were a bit dull, or were even downright miserable?

If you enjoyed all of them, were some more pleasurable than others? Why was that?

Off the top of their heads most people will say that how they played was the prime determinant of enjoyment. Maybe so, but were there other ingredients in the mix that not only contributed to the fun factor but, in themselves, actually contributed to better golf?

The problem with the “play better golf” question

In the main, the people who serve the golf industry are better golfers, closer to their products and services, and for them it is a job first, a pastime second.  They are simply looking at the game from a different perspective to the rest of us.

Unsurprisingly the main question asked is, “How can we help you play better golf?”  Everyone wants to play better, so surely this is the best place to start? There is an underlying assumption here that performance directly leads to enjoyment, for every golfer, without exception.

The best golf is played by the top tour pros and it’s easy to make a Performance = Enjoyment connection when you see the winning putt drop on TV.  However, what you don’t see is the people who missed the cut, the 5am starts, the months of training, the diets, the hanging around in airports. For 90 per cent of the time it is a job, bloody hard work and quite often, believe it or not, it’s boring.

The game’s top stars may have a few yachts and private jets between them, but because they are solely judged by score, they miss out on one important luxury that the rest of us have.  We have the freedom to play golf for whatever reason we choose.  After all, it’s not our livelihood, it’s our leisure time.

Even all our methods of recording the game are concerned solely with performance – handicap, medal scores, statistics etc.

The problem could be that whilst the focus remains “better golf” you are missing a trick, including (ironically), better golf.

Asking the enjoyment question

We at Premium Golf began to realise that asking the question “how can I help this person enjoy golf more?” led to a different set of answers, which were more valuable for the golfer, than asking the traditional better golfquestion.  We flipped the old equation on it’s head.

What flicks your switch?

Surely if you devote your leisure time to golf, then the primary goal should be to enjoy yourself as much as possible?  Whether we are conscious of it or not, we seek a feeling – it might range from distraction to relaxation, quiet satisfaction, adrenalin, achievement, or the physical sensation of ball on club.  Experiencing these feelings consistently is obviously not an easy task (some golfers may go several games without getting their “hit”).  However it’s a lot harder to get these wonderful feelings if you can’t really pin point what they are and where they come from.

Getting under the skin of golf

By discovering the specific mix of ingredients required for each individual to enjoy their golf we are able to give our golfers an insight into their game, with the odd "eureka" moment along the way.  We began to discover certain things, besides the obvious, that had to be there to set up an enjoyable game. For example, by going through this process, one of our golfers discovered that competition was a vital ingredient. More specifically, he needed his playing partner to be competitive, both in their attitude and the standard of their game.  This realisation changed the way that he set up his golf games, giving him more reason to play, greater enjoyment and as a result he played better too.  Our instruction to help him improve simply hung on the coat-tails of this new found motivation.

Other factors which often crop up are the course, the game format, the weather, expectations, and so on.  These specific 'ingredients' for enjoyment and their relative importance give both our coaches and the golfer information that has rarely been discussed before.

Premium Golf

By entering into this conversation with our golfers we have changed the way we do business.

Perspiration and Inspiration

We introduced a range of new coaching services, split into two groups: Perspiration and Inspiration. These allowed golfers to learn ways to enjoy their golf more which either required some hard work and practice on their part (Perspiration) or were more about insight, information and equipment (Inspiration).  You can imagine that the latter group appealed to golfers with limited time to practice, or who didn't feel that major technical work and hard graft were for them.

The whole golfer

This is not just about coaching.  It is equally relevant to custom club-fitting and both web and shop retail.  The often unspoken pleasure that golfers get from wearing an outfit which feels and looks good or using a putter which is built to compliment their putting stroke all contribute to the feelings that golfers seek from their leisure time.