“There was a rapid change in the economic landscape,” Spradley said.
That change affected how businesses spend their marketing and sales dollars, and many have pulled away from spending the money on networking at golf outings — a standard of the corporate world. “Events like this were being viewed with a little bit more weight on top of them. They were losing their customer base,” Spradley said. “We had a bit of a challenge to keep delivering the message that has been previously delivered so clearly: This is a very legitimate event that serves a very important purpose.” The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, held May 25-31, is seeing similar trends, said Michael Tothe, director of sales. In a typical year, 125,000 fans attend the event at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. Some longtime business clients, including financial institutions and energy companies, will not be returning to the event, Tothe said. Normally, the tournament has a turnover of four or five major clients. This year, it’s about 10, he said. “Sales are down, obviously,” Tothe said. “Where we may have fallen short in corporate, we’ll make it up in ticket sales. And given the economy, we feel that we’ve done a good job of reaching out into new sectors.” This year, the tournaments are marketing toward families and young adults, not considered the stereotypical golf fan.
“We’re focusing on a person that’s never been to Colonial,” Tothe said. “We’re shifting gears from corporate, to getting folks on the grounds.”