Golf at Meetings & Incentives: It Works for Everyone
April 1, 2019SHARE:
A pretty incredible thing is happening in professional golf right now. After more than five years of being mostly irrelevant because of significant lower-back problems, Tiger Woods is again one of the 20 best players in the world. The path he had to take to get there is truly amazing: Surgeons had to fuse two of his vertebrae together to stabilize his spine and relieve him of crippling nerve pain. After all that, the next challenge he faced was unprecedented: No professional athlete had ever gone through that medical procedure and returned to their sport—nevermind regaining their previous ability in full.
Well, Tiger has proven himself to be singularly unique since he broke into pro golf in 1996, and he showed everyone that nature again in 2018 when he won the Tour Championship, a September event that features the top 30 golfers on the PGA Tour. In fact, he came within one stroke of winning the full-season championship, called the FedEx Cup. A single stroke! Tiger went from being physically unable to do his job in early 2017 to being the second-best golfer in the world 20 months later, blazing a path that literally everyone who knows golf thought was impossible.
The reason I tell this story is twofold. First, Tiger’s tale is one that incentive-program planners could present at their annual off-site programs that are designed to reward and further motivate their top sales reps. Second, Tiger has brought an excitement back to golf that was missing—an excitement that is attracting countless young people who did not see Tiger play in the early 2000s, when he was in peak form. And we at AIC Hotel Group are seeing that wider excitement for golf firsthand at the golf courses affiliated with our all-inclusive properties in Mexico and the Caribbean, and we want to help meeting and incentive planners take advantage of it.
At Hard Rock Golf Club in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic as well as Hard Rock Golf Club in Riviera Maya, Mexico, we’ve made sure that the courses showcase the amazing tropical flora and wildlife so that players get a truly memorable local experience. What’s more, we’ve also made the golf experience welcoming to meeting and incentive attendees who have never played golf before. For instance, we’ll hold cocktail receptions around the practice putting green and engage attendees in putt-putt golf competitions that allow golfers and nongolfers alike to play, mingle and bond. Meanwhile, our clubhouses are just a few steps from the practice greens and are filled with pop- and rock-music memorabilia (one example: Eddie Van Halen’s personal golf cart) that add another “wow” factor to any event held there.
At our new Hard Rock property opening in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this May, we can also customize the golf and entertainment experience for business groups who use the nearby luxury-golf facility we are affiliated with, called Diamante. Actually, one of the three courses at Diamante was designed by none other than Tiger Woods.
One other thing I will note about golf at our all-inclusive Hard Rock properties in Mexico and the Caribbean is that the cost of golf is either partially or fully included in the daily guest rate. For meeting and incentive groups, that kind of value is exceptional. So as you look at resort properties for your upcoming meetings and incentives, I hope you’ll keep in mind the role that golf can play to maximize your attendees’ experience, and how we at AIC Hotel Group can assist you in building great music-themed golf events that all attendees will love.
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