The 7 Pillars of the Psychological Golf Venue Experience
It has long been known that the
best engineering can fall foul of the way that the human brain assesses the
world and makes decisions.
Whilst humans like to believe
that they are logical and rational creatures, neuroscience has shown that 80%
of decision making is driven by deep subconscious circuits in the brain.
These emotionally driven shortcuts are the results of millions of years of
evolution. The design of the human brain is not always a good fit for the intense
demands of the 21st century.
For decades leading commercial
organisations have been using these insights to design work equipment and
environments to ensure that they light up all the positive circuits hidden in
the user’s brain and not the red flag warning circuits. They have been
designing for the user experience. This UX industry is now becoming commonplace
in many organisations and will become standard in most by 2030.
However, there are some
industries that are always at the tail end of any change or evolution and golf
is certainly one of them. At the moment golf is undergoing a revival but will
face stiff competition from other leisure pursuits as we move into a post
pandemic world.
At Psyenz we have been
researching the application of latest technoques from business to sport for
over 30 years. The Chief Psychologist at
Psyenz is one of only 4 psychologists in the UK fully registered and legally
qualified in the UK to work as BOTH an Occupational (business) and a
Sport & Exercise Psychologist.
In 2021 SPL ran a survey of
golf architects and the wider golf industry on the 13 principles of golf design
first created by Dr Alister MacKenzie in 2021. In this survey they strongly
indicated that a 14th principle would be that golf must be designed
around the whole user experience- perhaps golf is catching onto the UX
revolution?
This, short, document
summarises the 20 years of research that SPL have put into the UX in golf and
publishes (for the first time) the 7 Pillars of golf venue design that underpin
the psychological experience of the user and drive the Golf Experience Quotient
GxQ).
If you wish to see how your
venue compares on each of the 7 pillars please complete the very short
inventory at:
7 Pillars of the Golf Experience Quotient
1. The Remote Pillar
The journey to the golf experience starts long
before a golfer gets anywhere near a venue. The rise of the internet means that
any club or venue wishing to deliver a great experience must understand that the way they appear in the
first 15 seconds on a smart phone is fundamental to the emotional perception of
any golfer. First impressions really do count but these days those first
impressions are on a mobile device not face to face.
All
the remote quotient elements set out a very clear ‘Offering’ or ‘Psychological
contract’ to the visitor in terms of what they can expect. On almost every golf
website in the world there are glorious pictures and proud statements about
being “One of the finest courses in the region” or “The
friendliest club around”.
Human beings are primed to
evaluate their surroundings to see how good the environment is and the ‘Threat’
or levels of inclusiveness in the
behaviour of existing inhabitants- are the locals friendly?
This primal response is as
active in the mind of a new visitor to a golf venue as it was in the brains of
our first ancestors as they moved down from the trees to the African savannah
millions of years ago.
This is a survival instinct
honed into our ancestors that enabled them to survive and pass their genes down
the line to the current inhabitants of the planet. Those genes still create the
neurological circuits that enable us to quickly evaluate the landscape we are
in.
If you have promised a course
that is one of the finest and/or the welcome will be warm and inviting these warning
circuits will immediately realise if that is not the case.
Almost all mammals have a very
strong instinct about not losing resources that we have worked hard to build up
– a throw back to when we had to guard the food supplies we had carefully
stored to get us through the winter. In
the modern human brain that instinct goes into play when we pay for
goods/services or experiences anticipating a very high quality and find it
comes nowhere near to that which we were promised – when let down it is
rarely forgotten.
3. The Culture Pillar
Despite what many golf course
committees and managing groups think, the impact of the course on conversion from
visitor to repeat client or member is
actually far less important than they realise.
It is only really important for
a venue that wishes to operate at the very exclusive high end of the golf
market- which is not the majority of the industry
This is not to say that the
course should be an afterthought – golfers leave poorly conditioned and
maintained courses but making a decision to join or come back will be made as a
combination of the course conditioning and the experience given by all the
other elements. Too many venues only focus on the course and forget the other
elements of the overall experience.
At the heart of this experience
is the culture of the club. Humans are expert at picking up on the subtle
signals that indicate that drives visitors to say/note “Something just
does not FEEL right”. Get the culture wrong and people quickly notice,
they may not be able to verbalise that nagging doubt or find an appropriate box
to tick on a customer survey but they will move on to another venue that
generates the emotions they wish for.
4. The Facilities Pillar
Interestingly this also starts to kick in before the visitor gets to the venue. Even with modern sat nav technology courses can impact the perception a golfer has by making it easy to get to. Some clear road signage and/or directions mapping on the website mean new golfers are less likely to arrive in a stressed and negative frame of mind.
Once within the course boundaries the venue can actively manage the experience via routing and signage- often a poor afterthought in most venues. Nothing lights up the deep warning circuits in the visitors’ mind than doubt about where they have to go – make it easy for them.
In the venue buildings lighting is an incredibly powerful element in the emotional impact of the venue. If you have lots of dark, uninviting entrances people naturally stay away from them- evolution has built it into our DNA as dark places carry threat of predators – our human ancestors never lived in caves until we had discovered fire. This let us look into the darkness to see it was safe to enter.
Security is linked to this area as well with
visitors subconsciously rating the security of any locker facilities for the
safe keeping of their valuables and the cleanliness of toilets and showers to
keep them secure from infection. This has been heightened significantly by
COVID19 and is set to stay in the psyche of golfers for at least a generation.
Golf venues automatically think that facilities only relates to putting green and driving range warm up or practice facilities. And yes, these are important but if all the preceding elements are poor you send the golfer out to them in a very negative frame of mind and they start to look for the flaws no matter how good your offering is. It is much better to prime the golfer to view the practice facilities and the course in a positive emotional state by ensuring that their initial experience in the venue is a psychologically positive one- first impressions really do matter
Psychology research is clear that the way people remember an event is driven by the emotional state they were in when they experienced it. Make it a positive emotional state and they will see and remember the good points and be much more accommodating about any negatives if they even notice them at all.
5. The Course Pillar
The course will always be an important element of the experience and it has to be maintained in good overall condition. However, the scientific probability is that the course is not really at elite championship level nor one of the finest in the region. The reality is that most will fall directly into the 68% of courses that will be within the average band as perceived by most humans- see table below The human brain tends to split the world into the following categories (no matter what is being studied). You need to be sure what band you are in, too many courses claim to be in the elite bracket and visitors soon recognise that this is not the case- leading to a complete failure on the contract pillar.
For high end exclusive clubs and/ or resort destination venues this is a key factor but they only represent 2.2 % of golf venues worldwide fall into this category – basically that is the top 750* venues in the world. (*assumes approximately 34,000 venues globally.)
In the next band there are 4500 venues that are not too far away from that exclusive group and may well get into it if they assess the 7 pillars and improve them- budget dependant.
The vast majority of venues, however, sit in the middle banding and have limited budgets for course improvements so they need to assess where they spend that budget very carefully and be realistic about what they can achieve. The reality is that if they focus on the overall experience (whilst maintaining the course conditioning) they are likely to see far more returns on their investment. Golfers join or return to venues with a great psychological experience and that is down to far more than the course. Many ‘average courses’ have great member loyalty when there is a better course just around the corner because of how the club makes them feel.
The good news for clubs is that they can use psychology to focus their course spend on where it matters most- ‘The Magic 8’. Research has shown for over a decade that people have poor memories and that they only remember about 8 elements at a time- this is the same for golf courses – people only remember 8 holes on a first visit so you need to identify what they are and just invest in them a little more. Our psychologists at PSYenz are experts at identifying the magic 8 on any course.
The one thing we do advise more than anything else is to ensure that you do not breach Pillar 2 by making claims on your marketing that are not backed up by the visitor or member experience
6. More than Golf Pillar
Many courses, the facilities and the culture will have been created in a different era but still have many elements of those times. Many still have the hangovers of a time when men went to the course to get away from their families.
The way this pillar is evaluated depends entirely on the brand that the club wishes and the type of venue it wants to be. If it wishes to be solely a golf club for traditional male members that
However, in a modern world, where clubs are competing for limited leisure spend as disposable income decreases, many clubs need to think more widely. Every leisure venue needs to look at its facilities and think about how it can increase engagement with their client communities and increase revenue. That may require some radical thoughts about how to utilise both the clubhouse facilities and the land that the course sits within.
Even if an average local members club does not wish to be too open to its local community it still needs to think about if it wishes to and then how it creates a strong social side to membership – especially for the non-golfing family relations of any member.
Resort and destination venues have already recognised this and are looking to offer a range of alternate activities/leisure pursuits as well as golf. They have recognised that the happiness of the non-golfing spouse/partner and family is the emotional key to getting golfers to book into their resort.
All global corporations have recognised that to get high performance from their staff (especially expatriates) it is the family and partner of that individual that is the key to success. Nothing will undermine the experience of the visiting golfer to a resort more than heading up the 18th fairway knowing that a cold reception awaits them from their non golfing spouse and family. To create ‘Psychological safety’ for your golfer you have to make sure that they know that their non golfing family and friends are having a great time at the resort.
Venues that recognise that they have to look at how their offering impacts on the non-golfing partner/family of the golfer will be those that thrive in the 21st century. Those that continue to focus solely on the golfer and offer their families little or nothing may struggle much more quickly than they realise
7. Conversion Pillar
The experience of the visiting golfer does not end when they leave the course, get into their car and drive away – however that is where the vast majority of venues leave it.
Those that ensure that they collect contact information from the outset and /or ensure that they get contact details from visitors when they arrive are in a much stronger position than most to use that data and follow up.
The simple fact is that, even with those courses that have been savvy
enough to ensure customer data is collected, they do very little with it. The courses that deliver a follow up process
are more likely to see a higher level of visitor return and/or conversion to membership.
Those that do wish to have increased membership/visitor returns also need to look at how they engage with new members/visitors and bring them into their club which is also strongly impacted by the Culture Quotient.
Humans are tribal. Humans wish to be ‘Part of something special’- this is ingrained into our very psyche. As Covid 19 has clearly shown, being cut off from society and contact with other people in groups creates many problems for our species. We were not built to be alone.
The venues that recognise this and follow visitors up in an inclusive and engaging manner will fulfil that need much more effectively than those that do not.
Your 7 Pillar Scorecard
To understand exactly where your venue sits on the pillars please complete the short analysis available at :
once the data base is at a size where scientific comparisons can be made
you will get a personalised scorecard for your venue.
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