Business Golf Programs and Services

As Hilary Fordwich recently explained on PGA.com, playing golf continues to be one of the most powerful business development tools for gaining and retaining clients or advancing a career. Strelmark provides a unique variety of professional development workshops, presentations, and consulting services that cover everything from planning the outing to planning when to bring up business on the course, from knowing the language of golf to knowing the etiquette and rules. Strelmark also partners with clients to arrange business golf outings and events. Read Hilary's Legal Times article.

Business professionals generally fall under one of four categories regarding golf. Those who:

1. Golf well & leverage golf for business
2. Golf but haven't leveraged for business
3. New or novice golfer, want to leverage
4. Not interested in golf & don't play

Our offerings benefit participants from each of these four categories. Additionally, we provide business development programs and consulting services to golf facilities, resorts, and others in the golf industry on improving utilization rates, increasing corporate usage, and staying current on trends. All of our presentations are customized to meet the audience's needs. We can mix and match from the following topics to create the perfect content blend for your group:

Business Golf 101
Golf is one of the most powerful business development and career advancing tools, yet many professionals still fail to recognize its value. This presentation highlights the latest business research with anecdotes that underscore the power of golf in leveling the playing field, moving up the ladder, bidding on projects, bringing in new business, and creating alliances to deepen existing client relationships. Participants will gain conversational fluency and a basic understanding of the game's history, rules, and language, including the most important etiquette tips from cell phone usage to the number one way to gain likeability on the golf course. Also addressed are common questions such as, "At what level do I have to play in order to participate in business golf?"

The Golden Rules: Avoiding Business Golf Blunders
Unlike any other sport, golf provides an unparalleled opportunity to establish trust with prospects, clients, and colleagues. Indeed, it has become the sport of choice for many Fortune 500 executives. Yet business golf can actually be detrimental if not properly planned and played. Geared to those who want to better leverage their golf game for business gain, Fordwich sets forth her popular "business golf blunders to avoid," such as taking the wrong approach, poor planning from strategy to the smallest details, playing over your head, appearance malfunctions, winning the game but losing the client, and missing the critical cues about when to (and when not to!) bring up business.

Leadership Lessons From The Green
The game of golf is the perfect metaphor for leadership. Whether on the course or in the office, being your best requires the qualities of focus, consistency, team play, confidence, and positive thinking under pressure—not to mention passion. Geared to golf enthusiasts on the rise in business, Fordwich lays down her ground rules for linking the lessons of the green to the business arena. She highlights underlying principles that are common to both golf and leadership in a presentation that is as engaging as it is educational.

Diversity & Golf: Culture, Gender, Geography, Etiquette, and More
Diversity is part and parcel of today's business environment. Golf has gone global just like the corporations people work for and is now played in 184 nations and territories around the world. Whether you're playing on your own or on foreign turf, this presentation addresses questions such as: Are golf rules and etiquette the same internationally—if not, where do they diverge? Do women face the same obstacles abroad as they do in the U.S.? What factors should I consider when putting together a foursome to play? What are the guidelines for playing with someone who is physically handicapped? By thinking ahead about where the people you are playing with are coming from, you can avoid making insensitive—or even unforgivable—moves.

Staying On Course: Flawlessly Executing A Corporate Golf Outing
There are few better ways to appreciate employees, court clients, or fundraise for a favorite cause than a golf outing. But failing to adequately strategize and prepare can wreck your best business intentions. Putting together a plan and being organized is crucial to hosting a great event. In this presentation you'll learn how to set a budget; put together an organizing committee, pick a course, think up creative ways to play the course, brand your event, find sponsors, and secure door prizes or other giveaways.

Where There's Golf, There's Growth:
Getting Real About What Will Truly Drive Business
What are the trends and growth opportunities in the golf industry today? This presentation challenges par-for-the-course thinking and is designed to inspire golf professionals in general management, operations, retail merchandising, marketing and promotions, instruction, and tournament production. Fordwich delivers tangible and tactical approaches that will invigorate the business of golf by showing how to appeal to existing customers as well as non-golfing Americans (82% of our population). She addresses overcoming the time constraints Americans face, tapping into the need for fitness as obesity grows at an alarming rate, and attracting an increasingly diverse population including women. As Robert Harris, Director of Sports and Recreation at the The Greenbrier in West Virginia, commented after seeing this presentation, "Hilary's assumptions are (while painful to some of us) right on the money. We need to be more in tune with the changing demographics and patterns of American society if the game is to continue growing." Content also includes building customer loyalty and satisfaction, increasing utilization rates, upgrading amenities to meet modern expectations, differentiating the facility, and creating a media presence.

An avid golfer who competed in the 2003 and 2004 US Women's Southern Amateur, Strelmark president and founder Hilary brings a wealth of experience to our business golf division. She is the featured speaker for Women On Course, a Greater Washington regional golf program developed by CACI Productions and sponsored by the Executive Women's Golf Association.

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