09 Apr
resources

Free Resources, Tools and Financial Assistance for Clubs Hit by Covid-19

  • The Golf Relief and Assistance Fund was created so the PGA of America and other industry participants can support PGA Members and other golf industry personnel in qualified disaster situations. The PGA launched this fund with a contribution of $250,000. The fund will be administered by the largest community foundation in the world, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, of Mountain View, California.
  • CMAA has launched a learning platform called CMAA University: COVID-19 Resources: Include the new Healthy Habits eStart™ course, a 30-minute infectious disease awareness program that provides staff with critical information to prepare for, respond to, and prevent the spread of infectious disease – the common cold, flu and COVID-19/Coronavirus – in the foodservice workplace. Available to all members through CMAA University and to subscribers of the Club Resource Center.
  • The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) announced the creation of a Restaurant Employee Relief Fund (RERF) to support U.S. restaurant workers financially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and that industry icon Guy Fieri will lead a nationwide fundraising drive for the Fund via a Restaurant Relief America campaign.

  • Google is donating more than $800 million to support small businesses, health organizations, governments, and health workers impacted by Covid-19. The amount includes $340 million in Google Ads credits for small and midsize businesses with active accounts in the past year.
  • Telecom giant Verizon is donating $2.5 million to nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation for its Small Business Covid-19 Recovery Fund, which will use the funds to provide grants of up to $10,000 to struggling businesses.
  • Amazon launched a $5 million Neighborhood Small Business Relief Fund to provide cash grants to small businesses in and around the Seattle area that are impacted by Covid-19.
  • Facebook also created a Small Business Grants Program that will provide $100 million in cash and ad credits to 30,000 businesses in the 30 countries where Facebook operates.
  • To help local restaurants and bars, Yelp announced $25 million in relief in the form of waived advertising fees, free advertising, and products and services.
  • GoFundMe, the social-fundraising platform, has launched the Small Business Relief Initiative, partnering with Yelp to provide small-business owners with grants and resources. GoFundMe and Yelp have each donated $500,000 to the Small Business Relief Fund, and it is open for anyone to make a donation. There will also be $500 matching grants to qualifying businesses that raise at least $500 on GoFundMe.
  • The James Beard Foundation, the national nonprofit culinary arts organization, has launched the Food and Beverage Industry Relief Fund. The organization will draw support from corporate, foundation, and individual donors to offer micro-grants to restaurants, bars, and other independent businesses in the industry.

 

  • Lawyers for Good Government Foundation (L4GG), a nonprofit network of more than 125,000 legal advocates in all 50 states, launched the Small Business Remote Legal Clinic to offer free consultations for small-business owners to help them answer legal questions and better understand the help that's available. The pilot program starts with New York City businesses and will expand to other cities in the weeks ahead.
  • SixFifty, the tech subsidiary of law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, released free legal tools to help businesses manage employment issues related to the Covid-19 crisis, from automated policies developed by employment attorneys to questionnaires to gather employee information, manage tasks, and automate important communications. The firm is also hosting free webinars to guide businesses on how to use the tools.
18 Jan
Export, Golf, resources

How Golf Courses Snag a Coveted Spot on Golf Digest’s Top 100 List

Ever wonder how courses & clubs make the Golf Digest Top 100 list? Private Club Marketing breaks down the know how on How to Make Golf Digest Top 100 List.

Recently the country’s “oldest and most respected course ranking” marked its 51st year in circulation, having just celebrated its golden anniversary in 2016. The big news this year is that the scuffle for the much sought-after number one rank has switched from the famed Augusta National in Georgia, to the also exclusive Pine Valley Golf Club in Southern New Jersey. Pine Valley returns to the top from its erstwhile number two position, although it has occupied top billing before in 2009 and 2015.

With all this flip-flopping between the highest ranked courses, one thing is clear—any course in the top handful of Golf Digest’s Top 100 List boasts incredible landscape architecture, service, and artistry in its homage to the game of golf. When the choices are all top-notch, how does the panel of experts make its choice?

According to legendary golf journalist Ron Whitten, clubs often ask “How to Make Golf Digest Top 100 List”, well panelists play and rank courses according to a set of seven criteria: shot values, resistance to scoring, design variety, memorability, aesthetics, conditioning, and ambiance.

“To arrive at a course's final score,” he says, “we total its averages in the seven categories, doubling Shot Values. A course needs 45 evaluations over the past eight years to be eligible for America's 100 Greatest and the Second 100 Greatest.”

In response to past criticism of the list that so many of the courses on Golf Digest’s Top 100 are exclusive private clubs and not generally available to most of the publication’s readers, Whitten says Golf Digest answered back by introducing a specialized list of the Top 100 Public Courses in 2003. And what about the tension between the Top 100 and the Second Greatest 100 lists?

Whitten notes that placement on the number two list is “…not a consolation prize, but what it does is tell you who might contend next time around.”

Sources:

http://www.golfdigest.com/gallery/americas-100-greatest-golf-courses-ranking

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/100-greatest-courses-lead-ron-whitten

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/watch-ron-whitten-answer-quest

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/how-our-panel-ranks-the-courses

23 Feb
Export, membership promotions, Millennials, News, resources

Florida: Not Exactly Fifty Shades of Gray

If you think Florida is the land of more than fifty shades of gray, think again!

A recent article in the Tampa Bay Times reports St. Petersburg as the #1 draw for millennials in Florida with Tampa nipping at its heels as the #3 most attractive market for ages 20-34. It appears that millennials (your basic under 40 crowd) are invading Florida.

Since 2010, St. Petersburg's millennial population has increased 6 percent. Tampa, due partly to the University of South Florida, boasted a 7 percent increase in millennials; that demographic now accounts for 24 percent of its residents.

Curious as to how these statistics have had an effect on private clubs, Private Club Marketing checked in with a few clubs in the St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay area. Here are our findings:

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