The Winning Golf Culture

Since making the Merchandise Buy Plan Guide available in July of 2009 I have had a number of requests to offer a manual of service and sales advice for those clubs attempting to raise the bar regarding staff and facility culture as I do with my clients. I have written a 40 page handbook entitled “The Winning Golf Culture” providing tools and inspiration and taking advantage of the unique relationships that are a fundamental of pro shop retail to help you and your staff move forward in today’s market to wow your customers. It offers techniques employed by professional salespeople from approaching customers to cultivating their future business. The mind set and methods discussed have impressed every shop owner or manager as well the CEO’s and sales managers of companies in the golf industry that I have advised over the years. In the next few months, most shops will be preparing their staff for the coming season making this manual a timely pro-shop management tool as well as an invaluable read for anyone calling on these shops and wanting to help them with their business. Here’s what some leaders in the industry had to say about the manual:


One of the great things about Mr. Kirchner's Service Manual is that Craig shares his successful formulas for success. He does not stand on circumstance, nor hide behind his paid consultancy services with some secret messages. Instead, his easy-to-read booklet reveals his wisdom regarding service, initiative and plain ‘good sense.’ Craig shares his powerful sense of observation with examples of how we all benefit from customer care. We think so highly of his writings that we have made his manual required reading for all our employees...his insights are as useful for vendors as they are for merchants.

Richard White
President & CEO
Imperial Headwear, Inc.


Craig Kirchner’s ‘The Winning Golf Culture – A Service and Sales Manual’ is inspiring to any PGA Professional who desires to take his or her service operation to the ‘next level’. It is one of the best things I have read in 30+ years in the golf business. It will be ‘required reading’ for my staff, present and future. After reading it carefully, it simply makes you want to do a better job providing service to your members and customers. Not only does the manual motivate, but it is enjoyable to read also. From this point forward, my entire staff will look for opportunities to create ‘wow factors’ each day. In the golf business, staff complacency can sometimes set in. Craig. Thank you for the wake-up call.

Dean Hurst, PGA
Bayville Golf Club
Head Golf Professional


Quite simply, Craig Kirchner gets IT! “The Winning Golf Culture” is a road map to a successful Golf Retail Enterprise. Golf Shops in America today are poised to succeed unlike ever before because their members, guests and customers believe and value the Clubs/Shops own Brand. That Brand is the sum of many parts, quite possibly the most compelling being SERVICE. That SERVICE element is completely under the shop’s control….it is the shop’s choice to make it important. Golf facility owners, GM’s, Professionals and Shop Managers can accomplish great things only if they raise the bar of expectations of their shop operations, understand their unique opportunity to compete, and execute as the best retailers in the world do every day. Craig can absolutely help them along that path.

Mark Killeen
Managing Partner
Pima Direct


‘The Winning Golf Culture’ is required reading for anyone in the golf business or the service business period. After reading the manual I feel like I could run a marathon. Craig inspires you with his stories and first hand experiences to be better and better with each customer interaction. His experience and superior knowledge has enlightened our staff and has made us aware that everyone’s WOW factor may be different and that our attitude will influence the desired results and for that we thank him.

John H. Marino
Head Golf Professional
Old Chatham Golf Club


Another home run for Craig Kirchner! This service manual is the blueprint for creating a culture of connection with the customer. Apply these principles and you WILL be more successful. And work will be more fun too.

Buddy Sass
Head Golf Professional
Ocean City Golf Club

The cost for this bound primer is $79.95 including shipping and handling. You can easily purchase it on PayPal (“BUY NOW” button to the right) or send a check to:

Craig R. Kirchner
1610 Stonegate Blvd.
Elkton, Md. 21921

I am confident that this manual will provide your facility an incredibly competitive edge and fresh new outlook and therefore be money well spent.
For group presentations call me at 410-392-0330. I look forward to hearing from you if you have questions or comments at craigrkirchner@verizon.net.

Tough Questions for 2010

2009 was, in fact, “Darwinian”. Retail evolved, in many respects quickly, because of a much more value–driven and discerning consumer. Golf retailers, typically more insulated and slower to react, sat in some cases like deer in the headlights and were appropriately run over. Those still standing are in an incredible position to prosper as certain fundamentals have not changed.

1. Pro Shops have customers by virtue of the game that other retailers envy.
2. Pro Shops have a brand by virtue of the course they are associated with that is unique.
3. Pro Shops have only their own lack of vision limiting their potential.

The blog is a year old and has attempted with its 30 entries to touch on many different aspects of golf shop retailing from marketing to merchandising. An underlying theme has developed from which all other concepts seem to take meaning and that is that success starts and ends with superior service, everything else is in-between. The in-between is important and should be constantly molded toward perfection but people buy from people they have a reason to like. The cliché is as old as business and will be true for at least as long as there are Pro Shops.

This being the case and the barometer for next year being only temperately optimistic, let’s review 2009, answering some tough questions with an eye toward the New Year. I have hyperlinked some key phrases back to appropriate entries to give the questions added meaning.

1. Is your staff comprised of likable assistants and clerks who will provide an incredibly pleasant atmosphere and experience for your customer?
2. Are they educated with the product knowledge they need to talk intelligently about all the products you are attempting to retail?
3. Have they been inspired to provide that knowledge as a service and follow-up?
4. Have they been empowered to think outside the box, to WOW your customer?

These are the toughest questions, as they may involve some tedious answers, but staff cannot be expected to produce if they are not educated and inspired. Once the bar has been raised and the culture has become one conducive to retail growth it will become quite clear which players do not enhance the team.

Some of the more meaningful in-between questions that should be answered by way of review are the following.

1. Is your inventory level at season end one that your sale history says will turn 3-4 times a year or better?
2. If not, have you devised a strategy to get it to that level?
3. Have you developed a plan for 2010 that involves buying to space and projected turns?
4. Have you developed a promotional schedule that will inspire your customer base - that will WOW your customer?

These are the considerations that should preempt any plans in Orlando or any decision as to how to invest in inventory for the coming year.

The blog is one year old and I hope has been a useful tool in running your business by providing suggestions, ideas, and another point of view. I will be hanging out in front of the Peter Millar booth at 9:30 Thursday morning in Orlando. I look forward to meeting any regular readers whom I have not had the pleasure of shaking hands with and wishing everyone a Happy New Year.