This article is available in The Insider by CPG magazine, click here to download your digital copy.

As he reflected on a momentous victory for Team Europe at the 2018 Ryder Cup, captain Thomas Björn’s emotion was clear to see: “We will always have Paris”. It was a spectacle that stretched far beyond people’s imaginations and captured the hearts and minds of a continent. But for Pascal Grizot, the man behind that special week in 2018, the 2018 Ryder Cup was something far greater than three days of competition. It was, and continues to be, an opportunity to create a long-lasting legacy for golf in France.

READ ALSO: Pascal Grizot’s Honorary Presidency Extended into 2021

Grizot’s background has always involved his two passions in life – business and golf. For 20 years he worked in the retail market, setting up and buying major companies, before continuing this across various different industries, both in and out of sport.

His strong golfing background comes from a successful playing career as an amateur with many individual titles to his name. In addition to being captain of France’s men’s teams for a number of years, he presided over the country’s maiden Eisenhower Trophy win in 2010 and their 2011 European Amateur Team Championship victory.

Such passions for business and golf have stood Grizot well in his many endeavours in the sport – contributions that have unquestionably raised the profile of golf in France enormously and brought about significant economic value to wider French society. In 2018, the Ryder Cup alone benefited the French economy with sums in the region of €235 million, achieved through ticket sales, international consumer spending, business investment and other commercial activity.

Changing perceptions

As President of the French Ryder Cup Committee, Grizot was at the forefront from the very start of the bidding process through to the successful conclusion of the matches in 2018. It was a bid that stemmed from his understanding of the perceptions of golf in France and the need to change them. Grizot adopted a bold strategy to do so, utilising the unique nature of the Ryder Cup to expose golf to a wider audience. Securing funding from the public and private sectors, as well as from the Federation’s own members, he was able to beat stiff competition from five other countries: “At the time, nobody imagined France could host the Ryder Cup – there had only been two previous French Ryder Cup players, the country had just one major golf course that was capable of hosting the event (Le Golf National), and there were other exceptional nations competing for the rights at the time.”

Yet to raise the sport’s profile and participation levels in France, both Grizot and the Fédération français de golf (ffgolf), which he is President of, recognised the significant impact that hosting a seismic event like the Ryder Cup would have. When Grizot and his team started the bidding process, France was also in the midst of its successful bid to host the 2016 European football championships and as Jean van de Velde, the first Frenchman to play in the Ryder Cup, concluded: “Football is king in France.” Despite competition within golf and other sports to host the matches which inevitably brought many challenges and pressures, Grizot looks back on that 10-year journey fondly.

In fact, it was during a certain week in April 2011 that the Frenchman acknowledges as being the instrumental moment. Surprisingly however, it was an occasion that didn’t demand Pascal’s acute negotiation skills, nor the astute business acumen that he had built up over his career. It was actually the advice of a close friend. “I am friends with Dermot Desmond (the Irish businessman and financier), who gave me lots of amazing advice regarding the Ryder Cup. I remember on one occasion during The Masters, which was at a pivotal point in the (Ryder Cup) bidding process, he said to me ‘Pascal, you must not speak to George O’Grady at any point during the week’.

“Lobbying for the French bid was such a huge responsibility for me and yet here I was, being told to avoid one of the key decision makers during a momentous week in the golfing calendar. Dermot is a close friend and I trusted him, so I did as he asked. When I was having dinner with Dermot and George walked in, Dermot would say ‘Pascal, you must leave’ and I proceeded to leave. George couldn’t understand each time why I didn’t want to speak to him: ‘Dermot, why is Pascal leaving?’ he would ask.” But behind the scenes Dermot was offering his own support on Grizot’s behalf. “When George O’Grady announced the decision on 17^th May 2011 that France would host the 2018 Ryder Cup, it was very special.”

The 2018 Ryder Cup would go down in history as a huge triumph for French golf, a notion echoed by CPG Chief Executive, Ian Randell: “Pascal’s passion, determination and commitment were at the very core of the success of the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris. The event exceeded the very high expectations and it will go down in history as the most successful Ryder Cup on many counts.” Team Europe, led by Captain Thomas Bjorn, would beat Team USA by 17.5-10.5 points in 2018, all the while being cheered on by over 270,000 spectators across the week.

A lasting legacy

Alongside the hosting of the Matches themselves, the bid that Pascal helped to create contained developmental and legacy-focused activities such as building 100 ‘petites structures’ or ‘urban courses’ closer to the population and the ‘Mon Carnet de Golf’ schools programme that introduced golf and the Ryder Cup to French schoolchildren. “The 100 short courses were the culmination of an ambitious plan for the development of golf carried by the ffgolf and are an illustration of the greatness of the legacy left by the Ryder Cup”. After 10 years of work, that short course project has had a significant impact on French golf, developing 17,000 new players, creating over 250 jobs and generating economic benefits such as increased investment into golf and contribution to the national GDP through an average of €220,000 of revenue and 3000 green fees per course. “These small structures are key to creating new golfers. They are the indication of the growth we are currently experiencing.”

There are limits to how far the sport can rise in France’s pecking order. It experienced rapid growth in the 1990s and early 2000s, but has often struggled to maintain that momentum leading into those 2018 matches. Relentless in his ambitions for French golf however, Grizot acknowledges the work must not stop. In his roles as President for ffgolf and Honorary President for the CPG, of which the latter organisation includes the PGA of France as a Member Country, Grizot holds local and international influence in the golfing world to be able to continue to enact change for French golf: “It’s now or never, because after all we’re doing, if there are not more golfers in France, sadly we will have a problem.” Certainly, golf in France can be comforted by having a man at the helm with a proven track record and a fiery enthusiasm to make the game better.

RECEIVE FUTURE CPG NEWS

VISIT FFG GOLF

The Masters never fails to amaze golf fans around the world and the 2021 tournament was no different.

Following postponement and an unfamiliar – yet strangely vibrant and nonetheless fascinating – autumn tournament last year, the first major of the year returned to its traditional April spot.

With Azaleas once again in bloom and the echo of tee shots bouncing around Amen Corner, golf was able to celebrate one of the sport’s great traditions at a time of ongoing uncertainty.

Yet there are many reasons to be optimistic for the future – it was a tournament full of firsts.

PATRONS RETURN

For the first time in two years, The Masters once again had patrons at the tournament.

Autumn’s 2020 Masters tournament demanded a mental adjustment for the players and the people watching on the television. Not only did the course look and feel different for the late time of year but it lacked the echoing cheers and groans of ‘patrons’ during the week. These were the effects of a global pandemic and restrictions on group sizes, meaning The Masters would be a closed-shop event, at least for spectators anyway.

But this year was different. Whilst numbers were restricted, patrons could once again walk across the property of Augusta National Golf Club and once again be part of what was an unexpectedly dramatic final nine holes on Sunday.

This was a point raised during the CPG’s recent podcast to preview the tournament.

The return of golf fans within recent weeks at many golf tournaments signals a real sense of optimism for golf tournament organisers – from global golf tours and governing bodies running major tournaments, right the way through to local PGA Professionals and their respective club events.

HIDEKI MATSUYAMA

For the first time in history, Japan could celebrate a home-grown Major Champion in the men’s game.

Ten years since Hideki Matsuyama claimed the Silver Cup for being the lowest amateur, the 2021 champion joined fellow major champions from the women’s game – Hisako Higuchi and Hinako Shibuno – to become only the third Japanese golfer of all time with a major title.

Having held a six-shot lead during the final round at one point, Matsuyama managed to hold on to claim the victory by one shot. Nerves were aplenty, particularly around the back nine when he overshot his approach into the water at the back of 15 to make bogey but with such a comfortable margin earlier on, Matsuyama had the room to make those mistakes.

For Japanese golf, it is a moment for huge celebration and has been a long time coming.

JOSÉ MARÍA OLAZÁBAL

It was the first time that José María Olazábal had made the cut in seven years.

Olazábal, who is a two-time Masters champion, a Ryder Cup Captain and a Spanish golfing great, was perhaps an unexpected story that surfaced during the week. First and second rounds of 75 and 71 respectively were enough for the 55-year-old to make his first cut in The Masters since 2014. It was a monumental performance from the Spaniard but one of self-confessed surprise as well, having not played competitively since the November tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.

It coincides with the upcoming ten-year anniversary of the passing of his close friend and European golfing legend, Seve Ballesteros, so this performance from Olazábal will be with Ballesteros in mind and coupled with a strong showing from Jon Rahm as well, the week was a fitting tribute to one of Spain’s great players and champions.

WILL ZALATORIS

It was also a first, quite literally, for the rookies of the tournament.

Will Zalatoris finished solo-second on his Masters debut in what was an incredibly calm and poised performance from the young American. Throughout the week rumours began to build around the fact that Zalatoris could become the first debutant to win the tournament since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

It wasn’t quite to be but his performance and that of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who also finished under-par for the week of his first showing, were debuts not often seen during the first major of the year.

It sets up an interesting and compelling narrative for the remainder of the golfing year, whilst also signalling a new wave of young talent emerging into golf’s highest ranks.

Furthermore, the many stories from last week’s tournament signals a cautiously-exciting narrative for the golf industry and golf fans across the world, who so often revert to The Masters as a start-gun for the remainder of the year.

RECEIVE FUTURE CPG NEWS

In a recent blog I wrote, I focused on the ‘COVID-19’ consumer and how golf clubs can take advantage of increased expenditure, rounds played and engagement from those people who decided to take up golf in the aftermath of national lockdowns.

This exemplified a process of consumer segmentation – a marketing technique that allows us to tailor prices, products and promotions to various people based on differing characteristics. If we do this, we can encourage increased consumption and therefore, increased revenue.

So, how can we segment our consumers beyond that ‘COVID-19’ characterisation? Ordered from the simplest forms, all the way through to the very deep, ambiguous, subjective (and influential) ways, I list and explain some very simple ways that can help guide your own future marketing practice below.

01 DEMOGRAPHIC TRAITS

To breakdown a consumer down based on their objective, easy-to-identify physical traits would be to conduct a demographic segmentation. Such traits include:

• Gender – Female / Male
• Age Group – Teenagers / Young Adults / Middle-Aged / Retired
• Ethnicity
• Occupation
• Education

This is a very simple way of collecting data on consumers to then group and break down, and can be done through various ways such as filling in an online questionnaire or recording data through your tee time booking systems.

How does this affect tailoring prices, products and promotions? Well, consider the fact that men will most certainly choose to play 18 holes of golf together more than women; teenagers will consume easier forms of golf such as the driving range and mini golf; people of higher social classes with higher disposable incomes will spend more at your club and on specialist services such as golf lessons than those of lower classes; and people of white-ethnic backgrounds are more likely to consume golf in general than people from BAME communities.

We now have some valuable insights that we can then focus our marketing activities on to encourage behaviour and consumption. The downside of this form of segmentation is that it is rather generic – it doesn’t factor in individual differences (for example, people from the BAME community do choose to play golf, just less so than white ethnicities). We need to look deeper than demographic traits more often than not to gain more insightful and more influential data.

02 BEHAVIOURAL: CONSUMPTION HABITS

This form of segmentation focuses on the way in which your consumers interact with your brand. There are various ways in which you can do this:

• Frequency – How often do they play golf or have a lesson? Once a week? Monthly? Annually?
• Time – What times of the day do they play? Twilight? Full rate? Weekends? Weekdays?
• Occasions – Do they consume golf during set periods or special occasions? Such as bank holidays, Christmas, easter?
• Type – What product do they consume? Is it a 9 hole green fee? Some PING Golf Clubs? Golf Pride Grips? Junior golf lessons? Golf Carts?
• Spend – How much do they spend relative to the product / service type they are consuming? Low / Medium / High?

This will give you a very good picture of the consumer from a consumption point of view, rather than just who they are as a person demographically. This is more useful and influential, as it allows you to tailor and target key products and promotions to each individual.

For example, as a golf coach I might create a special Christmas offer with discounted golf lessons. There’s no need to send this to your regular pupils who have a lesson every week. Rather, send it to the people that you know buy golf lesson packages at Christmas, historically, and entice their spending with you again.

The only problem with this is it is a data-heavy form of collecting consumer information. Whilst you will build a pretty good picture of each of your customers (and is something worth investing the time in) it is just that – time consuming. If you can allocate part of your week to this task and focus on just the key areas you want to collect data on, then this might be a more efficient and effective way of segmenting based on consumption habits and your available resource. For example, if you just want to increase green fees, then focus on the green fee frequencies, times, occasions and types that are purchased…

03 BEHAVIOURAL: HUMAN IDENTITY

Human identity is perhaps the deepest, most subjective form of understanding consumer purchasing decisions and behaviour. It takes the previous behavioural form of segmenting based on habits to a much deeper level of understanding.

Consider this – those who identify as a male and those who identify as a female (ignoring the biological characterisation) will consume very different products and services. Males watch more gory, action-focused films, generally play heavier-contact sports, wear certain clothes and listen to certain music. Females will lean towards comedies and chick-flick films, play socially-focused sports and wear very contrasting clothes choices to males!

They do all of this to subconsciously –  to exert and portray their chosen identities. In other words, they watch the films they do, they eat the food they eat and they purchase the goods that they purchase to show that they are a male and show that they are a female. It is a complex social construct that we are not aware of most of the time but this form of segmentation looks at our decisions as consumers in a whole new, subconscious way. And that is why this is so influential and must be exploited, as leading golf marketeers.

Now take this premise, and apply it to the fact that there are endless facets and contributory variables that make up our overall individual identity, and not just the male and female role identities mentioned – in golf, there are those people who identify as ‘Golfers’, and those who identify as ‘somebody who plays golf’. You can already assume that there will be consumption differences between these two, right? But in what ways?

For my University thesis, I took this exact idea to try and better understand consumer behaviour in golf and identify the varying consumption habits of such types of ‘golfing identity’. What I found was insightful at the very least but could actually have influential implications for golf marketing practice. Some of the findings between these two forms of golfing identity included:

Golfers

• Travel abroad for golfing holidays
• Hold golf magazine and journalism subscriptions
• Listen to golf podcasts and various other online content
• Take regular golf lessons
• Value playing different courses in their local areas
• Plays at least twice a week
• Volunteer for clubs, counties and other golf bodies
• Value custom fitting and high-spend equipment

Somebody Who Plays Golf

• Usually play one key golf course, within very short driving distances to their homes
• Rarely take golf lessons
• Play golf once a month
• Generally use second-hand, value-focused equipment

So, by segmenting your consumers using these three different strategies, you have begun your journey to better understanding your consumers and in creating a system for targeting of your products and services. It is now a balancing act on how you decide to segment, based on some set questions – How much time do you have? What do you specifically want to find out? What goals do you have? These will all dictate your choices.

Then, ongoing data collection and analysis is necessary to ensure you are continuously understanding and improving your knowledge of everybody who wants to play golf at your venue, or have lessons with you, or buy those new sets of golf clubs and balls in your shop.

If you do, then you can effectively drive your revenue and returns.

In just a matter of months, COVID-19 has shaken and shaped the mere fabric of society. Both business and the golf industry has not been spared either. Local and national lockdowns caused the inevitable closures that we have seen and it is only now that we are beginning to realise the full impact and extent of what has been such a damaging period, not just to public health but also economically and socially as well.

As we begin to recover as an industry, the need to be at the top of our game has never been more important. Clubs, golf centres, driving ranges and other indoor golfing venues are taking the health and safety of their staff and customers very seriously for two good reasons.

The first is the obvious: because right now we have a duty of care to one another; to minimise the spread of the virus and protect each other.

The second is not obvious: because doing so is good for your brand.

Here is why COVID-19 health and safety guidelines and guidance have never been more important for you…

01 SAFETY

As mentioned earlier this is the very real, serious and obvious part as to why we do this. We have seen the devastating numbers off cases, serious illnesses and unfortunately deaths that have been used by the Coronavirus. It has made us all realise that we are not invincible and something so invisible can have a real and serious impact on our health.

It has also raised our awareness of how we behave, including maintaining good hygiene and social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.

For businesses, this has also meant following and implementing various practices and protocols to reduce the spread as well. The CPG recently published its own forms of guidance to CPG Member Countries, and created a hub page with various information, links and documents to help advise and guide those who are perhaps a little overwhelmed by the situation.

These are by no means a magic bullet and they will never eliminate the risk of catching coronavirus – it is a fair assumption to think it is here to stay for the meanwhile and that whilst the chances are low, they are still real. However, what they do do is just that – they lower the chances and minimise the risk as much as possible.

I urge you to have a read and consider some of the points that are in there. Implementing them will not only help keep yourselves safe but also everybody who walks through that door into your club or golf business. I think it is fair to say we all have a moral obligation to do so.

02 BRAND CAPITAL

An inadvertent consequence of doing the above is that it might actually help drive sales and customer activity.

As the world is an incredibly inter-connected, digitally-driven place where conversations from continents away can be had in seconds, information (both positive and negative) spreads like wildfire. As a marketing concept, ‘Word of Mouth’ continues to play its part in the understanding of customer enticement. However, 21st century society has seen the addition of ‘Electronic Word of Mouth’ too and whilst it can be incredibly useful, it can also be incredibly dangerous.

As Marketers, we are constantly on the lookout for those comments, shares, reviews and observations made by customers over the Internet – it is probably the most powerful tool you can have to present your business in a way you want. However, just use the example that a COVID-19 case was traced back to a business who happened to have misjudged or even perhaps ignored some of the safety guidance. You can imagine what will happen next, right?

“Irresponsible” “Dangerous” “Lack of foresight” “DO NOT VISIT”

These are just some of the words I can imagine (and have seen) from customer reviews across the general business space related to COVID-19, and it won’t be going away anytime soon. However, flip this situation on its head to a point where your golf club has followed guidelines to the book:

“Fantastic and safe experience” “Really organised” “Safety-conscious”

I know which descriptives I would want my business to be associated with. This is not to say you will not receive the odd bad review. There will always be that one resistive (often younger) customer who complains and disagrees with what you are doing, and that you are infringing on their basic liberties. That is also happening everywhere else and there is not a lot you can do about it other than explain to them in a diplomatic manner the reasons why. Chances are, they will come round and see sense.

Therefore, acting in a responsible and safe manner and follow the guidelines and advice to the book (whether you agree or disagree with them), will help enforce a healthier and safer environment for everyone and in turn, a better experience for customers. I like to view this situation (as with most new customer-related situations and journeys) as a job interview or talent audition – customers are there to interrogate you and your business, and they want to know your strengths, your weaknesses and whether you can stand up to the task in hand of serving their needs and wants safely.

If you can’t, they will pick you up on it.

If you can…well…positive impressions are the most powerful tool you have in your armoury and they will thank you for it.

]]>

PROFESSIONAL LEADER: Andrew Marshall (-10)

TEAM LEADER: Beko Poland (-35)

Low scoring was apparent throughout the field during day two, but it is England’s Andrew Marshall who holds the solo lead of the 2019 Beko Classic…

After sharing the number one spot with six others yesterday, Marshall took some form of control on the tournament with solid shot-making and a slick putter to card a six under par second round of 66 (134 total), and with it claims a one-shot advantage over the rest of his peers.

Marshall, who came closing to winning in last year’s event, commented: “I didn’t have a very good tee shot on my first (hole 11) but I managed to recover with three birdies in a row which was nice.

“It would be great to win the tournament for the first time, but I am not worrying about that just yet, I’ve played well for the last two days so the focus is on the final round”.

He is followed closely behind by Sweden’s Jesper Kennegard and Mitchell Waite on 9-under-par (135 total), setting up a tight but enticing battle for tomorrow’s final round at Carya Golf Club in Turkey.

The team event saw a quite drastic change in the leaderboard, with Team Golferz 21 surrendering the lead to Team Beko Poland (with amateurs Aurelius Rusteika, Dainius Sutavičius and Migle Rusteikaite) after the latter shot a super second round of 90 points (179 total) to lead them by two points heading into Sunday.

PROFESSIONAL LEADERBOARD

TEAM LEADERBOARD

FULL ROUND 02 SCORES

For more information visit the Tournament Hub Page (https://cp.golf/2019Beko), follow @cpg_golf on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#BekoClassic’.

Find out more about Carya Hotel & Golf Resort at www.caryagolf.com.

On a day that failed to follow the script, with unexpected downpours and a three-way battle that failed to materialise, Tadini kept to the storyline in the final round as overnight leader by shooting a faultless 69 (two-under-par) and expand his winning margin to six shots for the tournament (200 total):

“I played very solid for three days – my long game was fantastic and after practicing hard at my putting I began to hole some this week. It’s never easy leading a tournament, but I drew on my experience from previous wins and competitions to calm these nerves and seal victory”

Compatriot Federico Elli and round one leader Steve Parry also battled admirably in the difficult conditions to share runners-up spot on six-under-par for the week (206 total). This also capped off a fine summer for Elli, who has now finished 1^st, 2^nd, 2^nd in his last three events on the Pro-Am schedule.

In what was the final round of the team event on day 2, Team Burrows (pictured below with amateurs Dorin Mateiu, Anca Mateiu and Ionut Georgescu) took the title with a second-round score of 91 points (-19), totalling 187 points (-43) over the two days and pipping Team Heraty by three points.

The event has also attracted an array of well-known celebrities in the past from across the sports, events, entertainment industries, with singers Keith Duffy and Brian McFadden attending last year. This years Pro-Am played host to French footballing legends Christian Karembeu, Antoine Kombouare and Laurent Blanc, who showed transferable sporting talent by finishing runners-up in the team event as part of Team Heraty!

Aegean Airlines Team Champions Team Burrows, with Katia Avramidou President of the Organising Committee Aegean Pro-Am & Legal Counsel, Aegean Airlines S.A. and Ioannis Paraschis, CEO Athens International Airport

The Aegean Pro-Am has been a mainstay on the Pro-Am schedule since its inauguration and this year’s edition proved to be the most successful yet, with 62 Professionals competing for an overall prize fund of €70,000, during a week full of entertainment, celebration and golf, in Messinia in the southwest Peloponnese, amidst one of the most unspoiled and breathtaking seaside landscapes in the Mediterranean.

A weather-disrupted start due to early-morning thunderstorms threatened to take second day headlines but nonetheless, the skies cleared, the breeze picked up and Tadini eventually shone through, quite literally, as he birdied two of the last three holes in virtual darkness:

“It was a great day. I kept my long game in great shape and my putting was great. I started slow but I made lots of birdies on the back nine, which was great”.

Behind him in second and third are Pro-Am veterans Nicoló Gaggero (PGA of Italy) and Henrik Engdahl (PGA of Greece) after rounds of 65 (133 total) and 71 (135 total) respectively. This sets up an enticing, closely-fought narrative heading into the final day on the Dunes Course of Costa Navarino, where the Professionals separate from their amateurs to battle it out for the honours.

In what was the final round of the team event, Team Burrows (with amateurs Dorin Mateiu, Anca Mateiu and Ionut Georgescu) took the title with a second-round score of 91 points (-19), totalling 187 points (-43) over the two days and pipping Team Heraty by three points.

British Professional, Parry, set the early target with a 65 (5-under-par), only to be joined later in the day by Engdahl, continuing a fine run of form for the Greek PGA Professional who claimed the honours last year.

“I am striking the ball really well, I putted well and hit all my numbers that I needed to,” said Engdahl.  “If it stays nice out there [tomorrow] and not too breezy then two or three under will be a good round for me”.

The Dunes Course at Costa Navarino was particularly challenging and showed its teeth to the other half of the field, with scoring considerably more difficult in blustery conditions. That was until Jack Eckardt (PGA of Austria) shot an impressive 68 (-3), nicely placing him to attack the lead heading into tomorrow.

In the team event, Team Burrows, with amateurs Dorin Mateiu, Anca Mateiu and Ionut Georgescu, stormed the early lead with a commanding 96 points (24-under-par) and will look to extend this further in tomorrow’s second round.

The group, all participants of women’s coaching initiative love.golf, travelled in from all corners of the country to be part of event. For the majority of them, The Solheim Cup represents their first experience of a professional golf tournament.

Among the attendees is Karen Harkins, a love.golfer from West Kilbride. Karen, who is 39 and married with two children, has been part of the programme for over two years. Commenting on her Solheim experience, Karen said: “When I first walked into Gleneagles, I could feel the atmosphere, the excitement building and the energy coming from all the fans.

“I’m fortunate to have attended other golf events too, but none of them are like this. In my mind, this is how golf events should be.”

Also attending was Dawn, part of an avid group of over 50 love.golfers based in Fraserburgh, who said: “Today has been a truly memorable experience. It feels genuinely special to be a part of this love.golf community from all over Scotland.

“Everyone has fully immersed themselves in the Solheim experience and have cheered Team Europe on at every turn.”

Accompanying the group are love.golf coaches from each of the Scottish venues, along with Head Coach and Founder, Alastair Spink, who commented: “The Solheim Cup is a real showcase of the women’s game, full of excitement and drama from start to finish.

“We are fortunate to have recruited an enthusiastic and committed group of love.golfers, particularly in Scotland, and I think this opportunity and experience at Gleneagles will take their enthusiasm to the next level.”

love.golf attendees were supplied tickets to the event by PING, who have also supported the initiative by sending over 80 starter sets to love.golf venues UK-wide for newcomers to the game to use during their sessions.

Host venue of The Solheim Cup, Gleneagles, recently announced its support of love.golf, hosting a launch event in August, and soon to be followed up by a series of continuing sessions.

love.golf is currently inviting new coaches to take on the programme at their club or venue. Interested parties should contact Head Coach Alastair Spink (alastair@love.golf) for more information.

For more information on love.golf visit: www.love.golf

At the TOUR Championship, the winner captured the tournament and the FedEx Cup title using Golf Pride’s swing grips and putter grip.  Since the FedEx Cup started 13 years ago, Golf Pride has been the trusted grip in players hands for 11 titles.

The thrilling victory at East Lake Golf Club gives Golf Pride 39 wins out of the official 46-events played during the PGA TOUR’s 2018-19 season.  Below is a rundown of some of Golf Pride’s most noteworthy achievements during the brand’s banner year on the PGA TOUR.

• “Golf Pride Slam” – wins at all four Majors this season.
• 13x more PGA TOUR victories than its nearest competitor.
• 7 unique Golf Pride swing grips won this season, including the brand’s latest innovations in ALIGN Technology & PLUS4 Technology.
• 43 of 50 players (86%) who earned their 2019-20 PGA TOUR cards through the Korn Ferry Playoffs or by virtue of being Top 25 money earners on the Korn Ferry Tour relied on Golf Pride grips.

“2018-19 has been an incredible season for Golf Pride,” said Brandon Sowell, global sales and marketing director for Golf Pride.

“We continued our run of success in the game’s biggest events with some of our most trusted grips, and we saw several of our newest and most innovative technologies gain traction on TOUR garnering marquee wins.

“This season has been a tremendous showcase of how the best players in the world grip confidence each week with Golf Pride.”

Each week, Golf Pride is the leading grip played from tee-to-green on the PGA TOUR with an average of 80% of pros choosing Golf Pride swing grips in each event, without any paid endorsements.

Eaton’sGolf Pride Grips Division is the world’s largest manufacturer of golf grips, with manufacturing, sales and distribution facilities on six continents.  The division’s Golf Pride brand is recognized globally as the number one choice in grips among TOUR and recreational players, competitive amateur golfers, club manufacturers and club repairmen.

For more information on Golf Pride’s entire 2019 product offering, visit golfpride.com.