Ultimate Custom Golf Cart Seats Define Stylish Comfort
The anniversary of the Ultimate Golf Seating‘s luxurious and uniquely designed, innovative golf cart seats confirms consumers preference for exceptional style and comfort.
“I felt confident there was a market for our high end custom golf cart seats. The seats were designed to capture a niche of customers who desire superior quality and detail,” said David Vahala, CEO, Ultimate Golf Seating, with headquarters in Elkhart, Indiana.
“Our first year of selling golf cart seats has proven just that. Consumers across the United States are purchasing Ultimate Golf Seats and the reviews from them are very positive.”
More communities and individuals are turning to golf carts as a vital mode of transportation. Golf carts are not only used by golfers playing their rounds on the course. People take golf carts to neighborhood activities, to shop at local stores and kids even use them to get to school. Golf cart transportation will continue to grow for the golfers and families alike. Read more
IHG Will Become Official Partner of PGA Tour in 2011
Five-year deal includes extension of title sponsorship of Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and PGA TOUR today announced they have entered into a five-year integrated marketing partnership that, beginning in 2011, will make IHG an official partner of the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour in the hotel and resort category.
IHG owns a portfolio of well-recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®. IHG also manage the world’s largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club® Rewards with 52 million members worldwide.
Additionally, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts will extend its title sponsorship of the PGA TOUR’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial through 2015. Crowne Plaza has served as title sponsor of the historic event since 2007. Crowne Plaza is known to business travelers as “The Place to Meet” and golf courses have a storied history as informal meeting places, which Crowne Plaza will continue to leverage through its relationship with the PGA TOUR and Colonial Country Club across all IHG brands.
“We are extremely pleased to announce this new long-term relationship with the PGA TOUR, which includes extending our sponsorship of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial,” said Jim Abrahamson, President, The Americas, IHG. “This partnership provides a terrific opportunity for IHG to showcase all its eight brands and bring to life our award winning loyalty program for fans as well as the PGA TOUR’s membership base of players from around the world.” Read more
CMU Study Quantifies Impact of Tiger Woods on Nike and Golf
A critical element in successfully engaging a celebrity spokesperson is to understand the real potential to capture and create market share and the risk of negative impact on the brand if the spokesperson does something ridiculous.
The saga of golfer Tiger Woods and his relationship with marquee sponsor Nike provided an excellent case study for researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, as they successfully quantified the real-market impacts of his celebrity endorsement from inception to scandal — as they correspond to a single, critical consumer product for the sport — golf balls.
The research was conducted at the Tepper School of Business by Kannan Srinivasan, the Rohet Tolani Distinguished Professor in International Business and H.J. Heinz II Professor of Management, Marketing and Information Systems; Timothy Derdenger, assistant professor of economics and strategy; and doctoral candidate Kevin YC Chung. Golf Datatech LLC, a leading provider of retail marketing information for the golfing industry, extended a rich data set for analysis.
“The industry-wide data that was made available and the unique circumstances involving a high-profile celebrity made this an excellent opportunity for us to study the real-economic impact of celebrity endorsement by focusing on a single product,” said Derdenger. “The retail data shows clear movement in sales and brand market share at particular time points that coincide with Woods’ endorsement of Nike products and during the period of negative publicity associated with his personal scandal, which began last year.”
In golf ball terms, the endorsement of Nike products by Tiger Woods, which began in 2000, resulted in the acquisition of approximately 4.5 million customers and $60 million dollars in profit (in 1997 dollars) for the last 10 years Read more
Bobby Perkinson Wins 2010 GOLF.com World Amateur Handicap Championship
Bobby Perkinson of Alcoa, Tenn., a 4.4-handicap golfer, shot a net 69 (gross 74) on Friday to win the 2010 GOLF.com World Amateur Handicap Championship at TPC Myrtle Beach. He double bogeyed the final hole and still shot his age to hold off three players one stroke behind from India, Massachusetts and West Virginia. The 74-year-old retired electrical engineer is the lowest handicap to win the event since Dennis Connors won it with a 3.3 handicap in 1995.
Perkinson, the winner of flight 57, won from the Super Senior division (70 and older).
“I just came down to have some fun and play some golf in Myrtle Beach,” said Perkinson. “I won my flight on Thursday when a competitor double bogeyed the last hole, so I felt fortunate to make it to the finals. In the championship, I was 2-under on the front nine and hung on at a very challenging TPC Myrtle Beach golf course.”
“What a great week of golf in Myrtle Beach,” said Dave Macpherson, tournament director of the GOLF.com World Amateur Handicap Championship. “I cannot remember a week with better weather or a field as competitive as this one. Congratulations to Bobby Perkinson for winning our championship and thanks to all the players for coming to Myrtle Beach to participate in this event.”
Hosted by Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, the GOLF.com World Amateur Handicap Championship is considered to be the most comparable experience to the U.S. Open for the amateur golfer. Held the week before Labor Day, the event is open to all amateur golfers with a verifiable USGA handicap, or the foreign equivalent. Read more
Nation’s first Live 3D television broadcast from Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament
3D Demonstrations Held at Certain Cox Retail Stores -
Cox Virginia customers in Hampton Roads, Roanoke and Northern Virginia will have exclusive access to the innovative 3D coverage of the Masters Tournament this week from Augusta National Golf Club. Beginning on April 7, Masters 3D programming can be viewed on 3D-capable television sets and will be available on Cox Channel 895 in all market areas and at no additional cost.
Live 3D coverage will take place starting Wednesday, April 7, 3 to 5 pm ET, with the Par 3 Contest and continue with the Masters Tournament Thursday, April 8 through Sunday, April 11 with two hours each day; live tournament coverage starts at either 4 p.m. ET or 5 p.m. ET each day. In addition to the 3D channel, customers can access Masters content via the On DEMAND library on Channel 1.
The same live 3D coverage will be available on Masters.com and available to those with 3D capable computers.
Multiple 3D cameras will be placed strategically throughout the course at Augusta National, with a focus on the second nine. Viewers will be better able to depict the many subtleties and elevation changes of the course’s grounds.
“Cox is excited to offer our customers access to this innovative television event, bringing our customers the latest in video technology,” said Gary McCollum, Senior Vice President and General Manager Cox Virginia.
Cox customers will need Cox Advanced TV service, HD or HD/DVR receiver rental, HD service and HDMI cable connected to 3DTV to access the 3D programming; this must be HDMI 1.4 compliant with compatible 3D glasses. Masters 3D content is not accessible on CableCARD devices. The TV manufacturer’s specified 3D glasses also will be required to view the content in 3D. Those customers will then be required to tune to channel 895, and change the setting on their 3DTV to 3D format or 3D mode.
Cox Advanced TV service is required to access On DEMAND programming. Content includes:
– Two-hour blocks of 3D content – replays of every day’s 3D telecast aggregated on VOD
– Daily highlights in 3D available the day after live exhibition
– Masters Moments – See golfing greats at the Masters from the 1950s through the 2000s
– 2009 Masters Film – 60 min film chronicling last year’s tournament
– 2009 Par-3 Contest – replay of the Par 3 Contest held during the 2009 Masters Tournament
– BBC Masters Anthology – 60 min unreleased anthology of the Masters
Cox has offered 3D programming to its customers previously, and plans to offer more 3D content in the near future. More information can be found at www.Cox.com/3D.
For customers without the necessary HD and 3D equipment to view the Master’s, the following Cox retail stores will have demonstrations of 3D TV starting April 7 during normal business hours. Each site will have 10 pairs of glasses for customer viewing:
– Hampton Roads: Chesapeake, 725 Eden Way; Suite 708
– Hampton Roads: Kiln Creek, York County, 209 Village Ave; Suite GH
– Northern Virginia: Herndon, 3080 Centreville Road, Herndon
– Roanoke: 5400 Fallowater Lane, Roanoke