POA planning billboard, new golf-card promotion

A new golf discount card will soon go on sale through television station KNWA. They are similar to the cards that were sold by Channel 5, but Golf Operations Director Phillip Wright said they may sell more quickly because KNWA is more focused on northwest Arkansas.

Like the Channel 5 promotion, the KNWA cards will be good at all Bella Vista Golf Courses. They are available on the KNWA website and will be advertised on the television channel. For $188, the buyer can play 6 rounds of golf, with a cart, at any Bella Vista golf course. The card is available to both members and nonmembers.

Although the hope is that the card buyers will play at each of the courses, the card can be used on whichever course the buyer chooses to play, Wright said.

Since the Channel 5 cards have sold out, Wright knows the next set will be popular and the POA gets the exposure when the cards are advertised. They also get a percentage of the selling price, he said. The cards expire on Dec. 31, 2018.

Wright said he’s preparing a new program, Get Golf Ready II. The original Get Golf Ready was a series of seminars that covered the basics of golf. The new course will build on those basic skills. He’s also planning a tournament for all the graduates of Get Golf Ready. It will be a 6-hole scramble on the Berksdale course at 5 p.m. Sept. 26. It gives the new golfers a chance to play with others at their level.

Marketing Director Kim Carlson showed the committee a mock up of a digital billboard that will soon be seen along Interstate 49. The billboard is expected to draw people in for both golf and dining in Bella Vista.

Wright said that when he talked to golfers at a recent Chamber of Commerce event, most didn’t know that they could play at Bella Vista without a membership. He wants to bring more nonmembers onto the courses.

Carlson suggested that the Marketing and Communications Committee should meet quarterly instead of monthly.

Board Liaison Ruth Hatcher agreed, reminding the committee that with Carlson on board the committee has little to do. In the past, Hatcher said, the committee did much of the marketing. Now they are simply advisory.

The committee will meet next in December, Carlson said.