Improve Your Association’s Value Proposition Via Underpar.com
By Frank Moore – Southern California Golf Association
If your golf association is interested in creating a new revenue stream, building on relationships with facilities while adding an exclusive benefit for your members, the IAGA has good news to share. We have signed a new three-year exclusive contract with UnderPar, an industry leader in innovating niche golf products and representing the world’s finest golf brands.
UnderPar’s turnkey Member Advantage Program gives IAGA Member Associations the opportunity to present their membership with incredible discounts – sometimes as much as 65 percent off rack rates – at area facilities and resorts.
There are no upfront fees and getting started couldn’t be easier. UnderPar works hand-in-hand with golf associations to pick the right properties to feature. Once selected, UnderPar does all the heavy lifting; they work with the chosen properties to formulate the right offer, host the offer on their platforms, create voucher art and manage voucher sales, facilitate all customer service support and manage payments and refunds.
Associations send their membership an association-branded email that UnderPar creates on the association’s behalf. In return, the golf association receives 10 percent of all gross sales. UnderPar receives 10 percent for production and management (which includes credit card fees). The partner golf course receives the remaining 80 percent of sales. It’s that easy!
Founded in 2010, UnderPar has facilitated across North America more than 2,500 promotions for 650 resort, public and private golf courses. They work with courses to build and execute the ideal promotion, ensuring maximum revenue and marketing visibility. UnderPar focuses on the value and experience, not just the discount.
In 2014, the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) was the first adopter of the program, which has generated well over $1 million in sales for local facilities and resorts. “We’ve strengthened our relationships with the SoCal golf community and continued to prove to them the quality of our email list and subsequent benefits of working with us,” said SCGA’s Director of Communications and Marketing Frank Moore. “Following Member Advantage promotions, several facilities have actually established or increased advertising spends with us.”
The Carolinas Golf Association adopted the program in 2016 and has grossed more than $500,000 in total sales from their partner offers.
“We are now in advanced talks with a number of other IAGA Member Associations thanks to introductory calls from Bill Walker,” said Greg Knuth, Underpar’s director of U.S. operations. “UnderPar has a proven track recorded of working with golf associations to provide unique member-only promotions that raise revenue for golf associations and their participating facilities.
“The IAGA is excited to partner with UnderPar and we look forward to seeing this program grow and benefit our IAGA Member Associations” said IAGA Executive Director Bill Walker.
Q&A with UnderPar’s Greg Knuth
Tell us a little about your background in the industry and how you became involved with UnderPar.
Growing up in the halls of the USGA (my dad is Dean Knuth, the primary developer of the USGA’s Course Rating and Slope Rating system) I learned to appreciate how special the game of golf really is. I played junior, amateur, and college golf. After graduation, I became a partner of San Diego Fitgolf which focused on golf fitness and physical therapy. Through Fitgolf I became involved in golf outings which led to a partnership with two guys from Toronto, Canada to conduct video capture services for golf events. I was a part of hundreds of golf events and hundreds of thousands of videos captured. I realized that data capture was the future and video capture was the easiest way to collect a golfer’s email address. We built a large captive golf audience so we started Underpar.com to sell golf to that audience. Ten years later we have conducted thousands of promotions for over 650 courses generating over $200 million in sales for partner properties.
How does the process of procuring a deal typically work and how are courses selected?
The goal of the UnderPar Member Advantage program is to provide Golf Association members with exclusive pre-paid green fee offers at desirable partner golf properties. Each Golf Association provides UnderPar with a list of their most desirable course partners and when possible facilitates introductions. UnderPar then works with each property to formulate these exclusive pre-paid green fee offers.
How do UnderPar’s deals compare with other prepaid sites like Groupon, Living Social, Yipit, etc.?
The UnderPar Member Advantage program and other prepaid sites all must follow gift certificate liability legalities. In the case of the UnderPar Member Advantage program, neither the Golf Association nor the partner properties bear any liability; UnderPar bears all liability and refunds golfers who hold unredeemed vouchers. Because the underlying UnderPar programming was built specifically to accommodate prepaid golf sales/purchases, we can be more effective communicating the offers so we drive a much higher conversion rate with the audiences compared to generic sites like Groupon.
How does UnderPar verify the quality of a facility and the deal they are providing?
UnderPar works with each Golf Association determine the most desirable partner facilities in the area. Deal qualification generally involves an investigation into the courses historical pricing practices and sales volume history through all sales channels. The name of the game is to create an Member Advantage offer unlike any other the market has seen prior.
How do facilities and associations get paid?
Facilities are paid 80% of all sales by UnderPar each month. That allows any Association members who change their mind and would like a refund to have that chance, no questions asked. Associations are paid their 10% of all sales at the end of the seven-day promotional period.
How do you restrict deals to members?
Our software integrates real time with a Golf Associations member database to verify a customer’s membership. Golfers must be a member to complete the purchase. We can also set up offers that will prompt non-members to buy a membership to the Association.
Who handles customer service inquiries?
UnderPar provides seven-days-a week customer service support.
How far in advance are deals booked?
Offers are sometimes booked a year in advance, but most deals are scheduled one-to-two months in advance. We need at least a week to build out an offer.
How much do facilities pay to participate in the program?
There are zero upfront costs for a facility to participate in the program. All monies are 100% performance based.
The International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA) elected Craig Loughry as 2018 IAGA President during its Annual Conference held Nov. 5-8 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Loughry serves as Golf Canada’s Director of Handicap & Course Rating and Golf Ontario’s Director of Golf Services. He will lead IAGA’s 7-member Board of Directors during the upcoming year.
The International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA), the governing body of 100 golf associations representing 750 total staff, has appointed industry veteran Bill Walker as its executive director. Walker joins the IAGA from the Utah Golf Association (UGA) where he served as executive director for nearly seven years and oversaw the organization’s 115 member clubs and 27,000 individual members.
Jay Mottola is the recipient of the International Association of Golf Administrators’ 2017 Distinguished Service Award. Mottola was honored with this award during the 2017 Annual IAGA Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. This award is presented to an individual who exemplifies the IAGA’s mission to “promote and conserve the best interests and the true spirit of the game of golf as embodied in its ancient and honorable traditions.”
