Since 1997 the Altonwood Group have been developing a superb range of golf courses in Surrey & Kent, the latest addition to which was The Addington Golf Club, one of the finest courses in the country and rated in the top 100 courses in the United Kingdom. Altonwood now boasts five fine golf courses, all within easy driving distance of each other, offering a great choice for golfers of every standard and what’s more, all five courses can now be enjoyed FORE less thanks to ‘The Altonwood Season Ticket’, a fantastic new initiative set up by the Altonwood Group aimed at getting time poor golfers out on the fairways.
‘The Season Ticket’ will provide a number of core benefits, including access to ALL five golf clubs in the Altonwood Group with the groups’ flagship course The Addington (A Golf World Top 100 Course in GB & Ireland) also part of the offering. New card holders will be able to buy the card for only £299*(or £25 a month), and will provide golfers with a CONGU affiliated Handicap Certificate, up to 50% off standard green fee costs, a free golf lesson, early booking rights, as well as being able to play in a number of club competitions. In addition, new ‘Season Ticket’ holders will gain financial benefits by receiving additional discounts on range balls, buggy hire and food & beverages. Once this ‘credit’ has been used up, golfers will be able to ‘Top Up’ the card and maintain their access to the Westerham, Woldingham, Surrey National, Godstone and The Addington.
The Addington is a gorgeous, fast running heathland course that will thrill golfers of all abilities.
Whilst the number of those participating in golf is holding up, new research showing that nearly two thirds of golfers in the UK, DO NOT belong to a golf club. According to Sports Marketing Surveys**, the number of golfers in Great Britain is still about 4 million, where it has been since 2000, however, among regular golfers, 566k play once a week or more, a number that has been gradually declining over the last few years. Meanwhile Driving range usage has steadily increased since 2002, and there are now more than 3 million golfers visit a range each year. Fewer than 28 percent of all golfers (1.1 million) are members of a club, a decrease of 4 percent since 2006. The Altonwood Group are clear that in order to fight the decline in club membership, it is the responsibility of the clubs and industry as a whole to look at new ways of attracting new members to the ‘club’ game.
In order to back this launch initiative, The Altonwood Group have appointed the services of Media Consultant – Ian Mullins to manage and implement a highly targeted ‘above the line’ Media and PR campaign. Ian has worked with a number of global brands in his 20 years of agency life including Emirates Airlines, Hitachi and M&C Saatchi and boasts The London & Manchester Golf Show, The Trilby Tour, TheSocialGolfer.com amongst his current portfolio of brands. The campaign is scheduled to kick off in June and will use a combination of Radio, Press and Online and will also be promoted via Social Media and through media owner partnerships.
Simon Hodsdon – Altonwood Group Managing Director said “The Season Ticket has been part of our plans for quite a while now but we feel the time is now right to invite those hard working, time poor occasional and corporate golfers back into the fold. We can’t ignore the austere times we are currently living in and we are very excited at providing golfers in the area with opportunity to enjoy the Altonwood experience without asking them to commit to a 12 month 7-day membership or without alienating our core full members. We are very excited about the launch and look forward to welcoming new golfers to our courses in the near future”.
*Subject to T&C’s
**Sports Marketing Survey – 2013