PGA Play – A platform to market PGA Members to thousands of golfers looking for lessons

Introducing our new digital platform that has the potential to connect Members with thousands of golfers looking for lessons, as well those wanting to take up the game.

As part of the Association’s ongoing commitment to promote Members to the wider golfing public, PGA Play enables golfers to locate and connect with their nearest PGA Professional.

The new platform, which has included a substantial amount of investment from The PGA, is the next phase of the Find a Golf Lesson initiative, which delivered more than 100,000 users and hundreds of lesson enquiries.

CLICK HERE to view the PGA Play platform.

Building on this success, PGA Play helps facilitate even more introductions from golfers directly to PGA Members which will lead to additional revenue.

In addition to an email notification, the enquiry process has also been enhanced with the introduction of a new feature that sees PGA Members receive a text message alerting them to a new enquiry.

An opportunity to market yourselves to golfers

Tens of thousands of people each month are searching for golf lessons online, whether that be through searches for lessons, golf instructors, golf coaches and golf classes.

Google stats show that on average there are 45,000 searches for golf lessons each month in the UK, while in April this year that figure increased to 60,000. This data demonstrates a high demand for golf lessons. It shows that people are looking to buy lessons which opens a huge market for PGA Members.

PGA Play is an entirely FREE platform and will enable PGA Members to market themselves directly to the golfing public and benefit from the significant reach and presence of The PGA.

The project is being supported by sizeable investment in digital marketing activity to ensure that the thousands of people searching for golf lessons each month are able to find their nearest PGA Professional.

Over the coming months, we will be working with our partners, media and other channels to promote PGA Play and drive traffic to the website, as well as helping to raise awareness of The PGA and our Members more broadly.

This will include embedding a PGA Play ‘widget’ in a number of external golf sites to further extend its reach.

Richard Barker PGA – Executive Director of Business Development - on the opportunities that our new platform presents:

“This a really exciting initiative and we’re delighted to be helping our PGA Members capitalise on the opportunities that the surge in interest in golf now presents.

“PGA Play is a huge step forward from Find a Golf Lesson and will enable Members to easily market themselves to golfers and those wanting to take up the game.

“It’s also very much part of a longer-term commitment to promoting PGA Members, with this iteration of PGA Play being ‘phase two’ of a project that began last September with Find a Golf Lesson.

“Looking ahead, there will be opportunities to make additions to PGA Play, which will include secondary services such as custom-fitting, retail services and integrated lesson booking.

“We have great ambitions for PGA Play and look forward to sharing more details in the coming months.”

Why PGA Play has a mobile-first strategy

PGA Play was designed for the mobile user first because this is where the biggest audience is. Figures show that 63% of people consume their online data through a mobile device, with 31% using desktop and 4.8% using a tablet device.

This tells us two-thirds of the people searching for golf lessons use a mobile device. So, at its peak search level this year, 40,000 searches for golf lessons were made on a mobile device.

PGA Play has been designed to serve the mobile user. The platform is easy to use on mobile and key pages, such as the search option, PGA Professional profiles, and enquiries, have been made to be viewed easier on mobile.

This has all been done with the aim of generating more golf lesson enquires for PGA Members.

Making PGA Play become a go-to platform

The platform will also host a wide-range of instruction and golf-relating content, making PGA Play the ‘go-to’ platform for coaching and instruction, while confirming The PGA as the authoritative voice on golf instruction.

Introducing content to the platform will help us engage with people at the early stage of the journey into buying golf lessons.

When they search for golf specific content, such as ‘why have a golf lesson’, articles from PGA Play will start to appear.

As well as providing valuable information about golf and how to get into the game, hosting this type of content also reinforces the message that The PGA and its new PGA Play platform is the place to go for golf coaching.

PGA Members are encouraged to share and showcase your instructional content through PGA Play. Whether it is a coaching video, an article providing tips or photos of you coaching, we want to promote your content on the new platform.

If you are interested in submitting videos, articles or images to PGA Play please do so by emailing pgaplay@pga.org.uk.

Ensure you do not miss out on this amazing opportunity to reach new golfers and customers. Creating/improving your PGA Play profile only takes a few minutes and can potentially open the door to thousands of golfers looking for lessons. 

CLICK HERE to find out how to create/improve your PGA Play profile.

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