Total Washout.... or is it?

Well… that weekend was a total washout.

A full course outing had to cancel one day.. the rain kept coming all night and we ended up closing the course Sunday too.

Not exactly how I pictured the final stretch of the season.

I was excited to make the most of these last few weeks before the days get shorter, the temperatures drop and our rates start coming down.

But here's the thing…

As a GM, you can't control the weather.

You can control your tee sheet.You can control your marketing.You can control how hard you work to maximize the good weather days.

But sometimes Mother Nature simply wins.

And when she does, you move on.

In fact, if you did your job leading into the weekend you may still be in a pretty good spot.

Hopefully all that work filling your tee sheet, getting outings booked, promoting the weekend and maximizing every available opportunity has kept you ahead of where you were last year.

That's the positive.

Now it's time to turn the page.

And here's where you can get creative.

Don't send an email about how much golf everyone missed.

Give them a reason to come play NOW.

Something like this:

The course got one heck of a shower this weekend… and WOW. The rain has the course looking greener and cleaner than ever. I'm not sure I've seen it looking this good all year. The greens are being cut daily and rolling incredibly well. And with all that rain, they're holding beautifully.This is your chance to start throwing darts at the pins. Come out, take advantage of the conditions and see how many birdie putts you can give yourself. The course is ready. Are you!?

See what we just did?

We took a weekend that cost the course money and turned it into a reason golfers should be excited to come back.

That's part of being a GM.

You aren't going to win every weekend.

You aren't going to control the weather.

You aren't going to avoid every cancellation.

But you can control the story you tell afterward.

And sometimes the best thing you can do after a bad weekend is make the next round sound like the round they absolutely don't want to miss.

So put on your creativity cap, take whatever situation you're handed, find the positive and sell the experience that's waiting for them.

Now get that email out there and start filling the tee sheet again.

-The Fairway GM