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By Rob Carey
Turning Stone Resort & Casino is reaping the rewards of a sprawling golf dome that has positioned it to become central New York's true home of winter golf
Sometimes you need a bit of luck. Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York, just outside Syracuse, got its dose in summer 2006 when it stepped in to host the PGA Tour’s BC Open after flooding made En-Joie Golf Club in nearby Endicott unplayable.
The event took place just 12 days after Turning Stone hosted the PGA Professional Championship, so the resort’s Atunyote course was already conditioned for top-tier play. The 2006 BC Open went so well that Turning Stone earned four more years as host of the PGA Tour event, which was renamed for the resort.
But another factor for success came into play as well: Turning Stone’s ownership and management made certain decisions over several years that have allowed the golf operation to capitalize on its moment of good fortune. One of those was the 2005 opening of a 330-foot-long, 240-foot-wide, 75-foot-high golf dome with 40 hitting bays, a practice bunker and green, two golf simulators, plus a 5,000-square-foot superstore and clubfitting center.
Another key was adding two nine-hole tracks conducive to casual golf as complements to the facility’s three widely-hailed 18-hole courses. And this year, a seven-hole redesign of the Shenendoah course by Rick Smith—to make room for an expansion to house the resort’s retail mall—will give Turning Stone a shot at becoming only the fifth resort to have three courses on Golf Digest’s “100 Greatest Public Courses” list. Lastly, the resort’s director of golf operations, Miles Blundell, earned the 2015 PGA of America Merchandiser of the Year award for big-picture thinking regarding equipment and apparel.
Filling the equivalent of four courses in a relatively short playing season is no small feat. But even with no membership offering, Turning Stone draws the amount of play it needs from a mix of day guests, corporate outings and buddy packages. “We focus our marketing on places that are within a five-hour drive,” Blundell says (that’s from Ottawa and Toronto in the north to New York and Philadelphia in the south).
Though it sees a high percentage of repeat business each season, the resort relies on its robust mobile app to build excitement for the golf experience even before players arrive at the resort. “The app has been very successful,” Blundell says. “Besides the GPS capability for all 72 holes, it has hole-by-hole flyovers so that it’s not only useful on the course, but also for getting players familiar with the layouts during the drive here.” And to maximize on-course app usage, Blundell installed several phone-charging stations in each clubhouse, while the resort’s next cart fleet will have power chargers built in.
Turning Stone offers every type of player enjoyable experiences. Casual golfers can pay $10 to hit balls for 30 minutes or play either nine-hole track for $20 with cart. On the other hand, the Shenendoah, Kahluyat and Atunyote courses appeal to serious players, at rates ranging from $100 to $240. “We’ve considered a membership offering now and again, but based on our other player segments, we don’t see it as the best fit,” Blundell notes.
The element that helps Turning Stone generate enough demand to forgo a member base is the golf dome. Open 365 days a year, it saves several group outings each year from weather cancellations, as well as rained-out days for package players. It also supports the nicely-profitable clubfitting operation Blundell has built in conjunction with TaylorMade Performance Labs. Besides the robust technology that monitors each swing, the ability for players to see their shot trajectory for 90 yards means “the experience is much more satisfying,” Blundell notes. “We’ve also brought in more pros as other facilities have cut back on them, so when someone is here looking at a variety of expensive drivers they have an expert to consult with.”
Having the clubfitting operation in the dome allows Blundell to consolidate equipment offerings in one place for maximum efficiency, while the course clubhouses offer mostly apparel and round-related accessories. “We train our course-shop staffers to guide people to the dome’s superstore to see the huge amount of equipment and technology we have,” Blundell says. “It allows us to provide a superior customer experience and build loyalty.” In combination with strategic use of the resort’s logo, along with each course’s logo on apparel and other items, Turning Stone has seen revenue from equipment and merchandise explode the past three years.
But the greatest advantage of the dome is it allows Turning Stone to promote itself as “central New York’s home of winter golf” and reap significant off-season revenue. The dome handles more than 30,000 visitors from November to April, mainly from places within a 90-minute drive—Albany, Syracuse, Rochester—but also from farther away, as some visitors stay overnight to sample the resort’s restaurants, casino and other entertainment venues, too.
“We have a lot of country club members from those cities who use us as their winter club,” Blundell notes. “They come a few days each week to hit balls with their buddies, take lessons, and perhaps have a fitting.” Twelve-week leagues using the two golf simulators are popular, as the machines feature not just courses from around the world but also one of Turning Stone’s own layouts. And for juniors, the dome enables the staff to continue their work with students and prevent off-season regression, so the kids are excited to play the resort’s nine-hole tracks come late April.
“We focus our energy on the golfers who are here at the moment, which builds relationships and loyalty that keeps them coming back all year long,” Blundell says. “It’s so much easier to do that than to always try to find new business.”
Rob Carey is a freelance writer and principal of Meetings & Hospitality Insight.