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Published January 30, 2012
Someone recently asked me why I don’t play more golf. My response? “Because, I don’t enjoy it that much.” That stopped my friend cold until she said, “fair enough,” and left it at that. But it got me thinking: Why don’t more women play golf? I’m certainly not the only one asking, as it is one of the key questions in the industry, perhaps more now than ever. So why don’t I play? Because at this point in my life it takes more time than I am willing to invest. I’m also fairly certain that I’m not alone thinking that way. Two or three hours, start to finish, would be great. Five to six? Sorry, not for me. At least not now.
Last week I made my annual pilgrimage to golf’s PGA Merchandise Show. I’m sure many of you were there, too. Of course I was representing a number of HPR’s clients—including www.cutterbuck.com, www.sligowear.com, www.golftec.com. Plus I was walking the aisles listening to and looking for the new, not only products and people but also the current buzz words and trends. I carved out some time to attend a few of the industry forums and presentations. Especially those, and there were quite a few, dealing with women and golf. It didn’t take long for me to reach my threshold of “girl talk.” I’m not saying it isn’t important for the industry to discuss how to attract women. But the concept seems so simple and logical to me while the industry once again is rewinding and re-emphasizing women. This has to be the third or fourth time during my 25-year involvement in the game. Intellectually, factually, and philosophically women have buying power. They make the household purchasing decisions and are the arbiters of family time. PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka, in his keynote address to introduce Golf 2.0 (as the latest initiative to grow the game is called), stated the importance of getting women interested in the game: “People forget that women control 78 percent of the household spending.” (Steranka also said we need to make golf more fun and less intimidating. Like we’ve never heard that before!) So what has that done for golf so far? Women come, women go…. I’m getting a little tired of going to seminars, conferences, and break-out sessions to talk about women and golf. For years, women have been a major focus of the industry. Yet, the manufacturers of equipment, purchasers of advertising, and powerbrokers of the game just talk the talk. They don’t put real money into reaching this allegedly important constituency. At the PGA Show, four women’s golf organizations—including the Executive Women’s Golf Association (I’m on the national board of directors)—announced an alliance to pool their years of expertise, data, and observations regarding what women golfers want. The National Women’s Golf Alliance (NGWA) will utilize this collective information and establish a base of standards and best practices that could help make golf facilities more welcoming and attractive to women while enhancing golf’s overall appeal to us. Simultaneously, consultant Donna Orender (formerly with the PGA Tour and WNBA) is leading the women’s initiative within Golf 2.0 and has been tasked with growing the number of women entering the game. So we’ve already got several different factions trying to address the same issue. Typical. How about if we start by getting together, creating one big, smart, powerful group, and speaking with one voice as we all play nice in the same sand box (or bunker)? Jann Leeming, who ran a research and consulting firm to assist Fortune 1000 companies understand women’s buying motivations and purchase behaviors, knows a thing or two about women. With her husband, Arthur Little, and through The Little Family Foundation, they've funded research into women's golf preferences and in particular, golf course playability. Leeming says it's really pretty basic: “Women want choices. They want the same things that men do—tee options, apparel selection, a friendly greeting and inviting atmosphere.” There are volumes of information, data, and research available for anyone to see at www.golfwithwomen.com. I urge you to take a look. Golf isn’t easy: It takes time, lessons, practice, the right equipment, a welcoming environment, and cooperation. That’s true for women, for men, for juniors, for everyone who wants to play it whether it’s in Birmingham or Beijing. As for me, I promise to give the game another try come spring. Maybe by then we’ll see some progress in attracting more women like me—those I consider prime candidates to get into the game. I’ll get back to you. Or, I could just go play in my garden or spend those same hours in Nordstrom. And I won’t be alone, I can promise you that. - Karen Moraghan
Posted in Hunter Public Relation'sGeneral
Published January 19, 2012
Words are our business. What we say, what our clients say, the words that result when we’ve done our job and a story appears. Likewise, words are our tools, our measuring stick, our responsibility. We are constantly challenged to use new words, to express more thoughts in fewer words, to add new words to our lexicon. Every morning, a new “word of the day” lands on my computer courtesy of dictionary.com. In the past two weeks my vocabulary has increased by three—swaddle (definition), ectype (def), and calvous (def.). Now you know them, too. Words change and new ones evolve. Among the words added to the 2012 Concise Oxford English Dictionary are cyberbullying, sexting, and retweet. Words come in, businesses go out: Will next year’s edition be without Twinkies and Sears? Word-of-mouth has been replaced by word-of-thumbs. Should we adopt “word-working” rather than networking? What about the word of the minute, “sweatworking”? It means getting to know business associates and clients while exercising together: That’s working out instead of going out, getting loose instead of getting lunch. Or getting tight. We all know that words can get us into trouble. And not just the four-letter variety. Alec Baldwin was recently thrown off an American Airlines flight for playing Words With Friends after the cabin door had been closed. America’s hottest TV star—who epitomizes a very hot word these days, “retro” (he’s back!!!)—is hooked on the same word game that’s gotten under the skin of three generations of Hunters: Grandpa on his iPad, daughters, aunts, nieces, and cousins on their iPhones, and the little guys, ages 7 and 9, on an iTouch. It’s hard to iMagine the world today without Steve Jobs’ contributions to the language. And don’t forget tweet, google, and wiki, real corporate speak, words derived from the names of corporations. The grandchildren of Xerox, Kleenex, and Saltine. Speaking of corporate-speak, at the PGA Tour the Commissioner has minted his own coinage, called “Finchem-speak.” Runway = planning period. The next environment = future. “He’s seldom met a noun he can’t verb,” explained Wall Street Journal golf columnist John Paul Newport. “He ‘platforms’ new initiatives and ‘same-pages’ adversaries.”
In the “Cooking & Eating” column in The Wall Street Journal, cookbook author and four-time James Beard Award winner Rozanne Gold discussed how wordsmithing recipes captivates her as she wants readers to taste the recipes as they read them. “I count on gustatory adjectives (juicy, warm, golden, carmelized, spice); and action words like ‘double-rise’ pancakes or ‘overnight’ tabbouleh. I close the sale with unusual grace notes such as green-apple ‘croutons’ or carrot ‘nibs.’ Terms like these stimulate what I’ve coined ISR: instant salivatory response.” Speaking of food—an area in which words get cooked up almost as quickly as dishes—a tip of the cup to Starbucks. Just went we got used to Venti, they super-sized and poured out Trenta, the 31-ounce addition to the menu. At 916 ml, one Trenta is actually larger than the average capacity of the adult human stomach (900 ml). Could Trenta actually be the plural of Trenton? With that thought in mind, it’s time for that multi-syllabic concoction found only at Starbucks: an iced, Venti French-Vanilla latte. Hey, barista! Is there a new word you love—or loathe? Pass it on and we’ll post it. Send it to: kmoraghan@hunter-pr.com Or if you’d like to recommend a new word, send it in with a definition. Best one wins a Starbucks gift card. Of course. - Karen Moraghan
Posted in Hunter Public Relation'sGeneral
Published December 12, 2011
Congratulations to Grand Cypress (in photo) and Reynolds Plantation for being selected among the Top 10 Resort Golf Schools and Academies, by LINKS magazine. Author Brian McCallen writes: “While most golfers visit resorts to relax and play, there are those who can’t relax if it means playing with the same old swing. These golfers want to get better on vacation. The nation’s top resorts have readily complied by offering state-of-the-art instructional programs that can be tailored for every schedule, expectation and ability level. The multi-day blisterfests are a thing of the past. Lessons and clinics are now available in smaller bites, leaving time to smell the roses — and let the new moves take root.” For the entire list, visit http://www.linksmagazine.com/golf_courses/top-10-resort-golf-schools-academies-intro
Posted in Hunter Public Relation'sGeneral
Published November 07, 2011
The vision and talent that is at the core of Robert Trent Jones II Golf Architects (RTJ II) again has been recognized among the best in the world, with the unveiling of the 2012 Golfweek magazine lists of Best Resort Courses, with a total of 11 designs by Robert Trent Jones earning honors.\ Six Jones projects are on the list of Best Resort Courses in the United States: Princeville (Prince)
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Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy nine holes now and then with select playing partners: Close, non-judgmental friends or my ever-patient husband (who gets more of a charge out of my occasionally good shots than I do). And I love what’s happening in golf fashion: the cool shoes, new bright colors, tech fabrics, skorts and cropped pants. But the process and the frustration of playing send me into orbit.
In the race to turn nouns into verbs, the current leader in the clubhouse is “tebowing.” Even the New York Times acknowledged it, running a headline that read: “He’s a Quarterback, He’s a Winner, He’s a TV Draw, He’s a Verb.” Later that day, he lost. He got shellacked.
