Scoreboard Media Group, Internet Audience Development

I have been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now, but being on the road for at least three of the last four weeks has gotten in the way of me sitting down in front of the keyboard and banging out the well-deserved Thank You note to everyone involved with our TPC Las Vegas outing during PubCon.  It has also given me plenty of time to reflect on a day that so many other golf courses and servicescapes could learn a thing or two from.

I will be the first to admit that I lead a pretty charmed life.  It is getting to the point where if Jesus called to let me know that he was coming down to play Augusta with me, Tiger Woods, and Jessica Alba (I’m not willing to admit she cheated on me and got pregnant…it’s just too soon)…it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.  I can’t explain it and I know other people deserve it so much more than I do, but I’m not going to fight it.  I am going to keep rolling out of bed and living the Vinnie Chase Lifestyle as long as I can keep tripping into it.  So, when I’m trying to organize a golf outing during a conference and the PGA calls to let me know they want to help out by treating us to a day at their house…yah, ok, that makes sense.

I have played some really nice golf courses in my life, but Whisper Rock in Scottsdale, Arizona is my favorite club.  Whisper is my favorite and I have never even played well there.  The Rock is my favorite and it would be my favorite if I never even got to the first tee.  You see, for me (and I think most golfers), a golf outing is a lot more than hitting a stupid, little, white ball into a stupid, little, cup that’s really far from where you started.  It’s about five hours you’re committing to something else, too.

That layer of “something else” is uniquely specific to each player and it is often different on every round.  But I think the “something else” that places like Whisper Rock and TPC Las Vegas excel at is what golf sage, Bretty Mayes, calls, “The Hang.”  “The Hang” is an atmosphere and culture that can’t be faked.  It is the purest experience you can have.  It’s everything we all love about golf that has nothing to do with the scorecard.  Let me explain.

Whisper Rock is built around the premise of “The Hang”.  It is the golfer’s golf club and you see the bond they have with Augusta National all around the property.  The culture they promote…nay, defend…is one that basically boils down to, “If you aren’t a true golf guy and fun to be around, feel free to find another place to play.”  You can’t fake cool and you can’t buy your way into Whisper.  

In fact, let me take a minute here to amend my list of “Life’s Certainties”

1.  Don’t do that.
2.  Don’t fight the Russians in the winter.
3.  You can’t fake cool.
4.  Crazy women can’t turn it off.
5.  You can’t buy your way into Whisper Rock.

If Bill Gates walks into Whisper Rock, they’ll send him out for a round with a couple members and a caddie.  No matter how much Bill wants to join the club, if the member(s) or the caddie (especially the caddie) thinks he is a sucky human being, he’s not getting in.  And the valet will probably call him a douchebag as he’s handed his keys on the way out. 

Whisper has all the exclusivity of Augusta but all the fun of a frat house.  There aren’t too many places you willl find the staff heckling a celebrity member on the driving range for their crappy swing, but that’s Whisper.  Part of “The Hang” at The Rock is understanding that there are “no cell phones, no women” and no matter who you are, piss off a caddie or the chef and you are looking for a new home course. It’s open season on everyone that sucks.

Now, the opposite of “The Hang” is “The Suck”.  Unfortunately, many of the “premier” golf clubs in this country try to trade on, well, being premier.  In October, I got a chance to go play one of the Holy Grails of Golf….Cascata.  Cascata is one of the most beautiful courses in the world, but they don’t want anyone playing it.  Their servicescape is “the Suck.” 

Cascata is basically set aside for Vegas highrollers and whales.  People like me aren’t supposed to be out there.  It’s where Celine Dion, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and Donald Trump get to enjoy some peace and quiet.  Cascata is about a half hour south of TPC Las Vegas, but it is a light year away from “The Hang” factor that the TPC oozes.  Put it this way.  Cascata is a stuck up supermodel that can’t handle her alcohol, while places like TPC Las Vegas and Whisper Rock are like waking up to find out Natalie Portman is your new roommate.

So, as is true with most “premier” experiences, it’s not the premier places that actually deliver.  As service providers or marketers, we make some pretty big promises to potential customers.  TPC Las Vegas delivered on those promises to us and then some.  When we got downstairs on the day of our round, our limo was right out front of The Wynn.  In what I should have recognized as an ominous sign of “The Hang” factor for our day, it was blocking someone’s Rolls Royce Phantom and our driver wasn’t moving until we were good to go.  Take that, really rich guy!

After having held up traffic flow in front of The Wynn for a solid fifteen minutes, we all piled into the limo and set out for the Canyons Course (which was officially renamed to TPC Las Vegas on December 10th).  Upon arriving at the TPC, we were greated by Todd Hajduk, the Head Pro, who made sure we had everything we needed in the Pro Shop (on the PGA’s tab, if you’re scoring at home) before we hit the Practice Tee.

On the Practice Tee, Joe Massanova made sure we were set for the day and Todd provided each of us with a quick tune up while our caddies got to see what they’d be working with all afternoon.  I could see the pain in my caddie, Sean’s, face as he watched me work through the previous night’s blackjack and drinking binge.

Soon thereafter we hit the links.  I played with Stephen Lee and Chris Mohr (with Garrett Rent joining our group on 12).  I don’t want to get into the play-by-play, but I can pretty much sum it up in 40 words…”Stephen Lee played really well, I was 2-under on the par 3’s (6″ from a hole-in-one on 12) but about eleventy billion over everywhere else, and both Garrett and Chris looked a lot less frustrated than me.” 

The staff was very, well, un-Cascata-like.  Sean, our caddie, was money.  On 16, I dumped a drive about 315 yards…but a lot closer to Utah than the fairway.  As soon as it came off the clubhead, I hear Sean say, “Nut-ted!”  It’s little stuff like that which keeps a guy laughing instead of yardsailing clubs into Red Rock Canyon. 

I have played a few other TPC’s and, while never as a guest of the PGA Tour, I’ve never had a bad day.  Maybe the scorecard didn’t reflect a number I set out to shoot but, man, the TPC’s are solid on “The Hang”.  They “get it” like Whisper Rock “gets it” and I can’t wait until they start taking memberships for the new TPC San Antonio they are building in my backyard. 

In closing, thank you to the entire TPC Las Vegas staff and the Pubcon golfers that made it to the outing.  Lastly, I want to specifically thank Stephanie Corwin and Jeff Hinds for making this happen.  It was all thrown together at the last minute and everything went seemlessly. 

If you are in Vegas and need to entertain a group out on the links, I wholeheartedly recommend that you call the TPC Las Vegas.  In a city that thrives on the premise of appearance, the TPC stands out as authentic.

For more information on the TPC Las Vegas:
http://tpc.com/lasvegas/

To learn about other TPC daily fee and private courses, visit:
http://tpc.com/