Anchor Event Strategy Keeps Austin Area Golf Resort Hopping Year Round

Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf originally aired from 1961-1970 and was rebooted by Jack Nicklaus Productions for a second run from 1994-2003. The T.V. series featured mic’d up pro golfers dueling it out in head-to-head competition. The long running show inspired producer Bryan Zuriff to kickstart a modern reincarnation of the birdies-and-banter fest with The Match but the concept has also caught traction in the hospitality space.

Crescent Hotels and Resorts, which has a portfolio of over 100 properties in the US and Canada, intend to roll out pro golfer exhibition matches at a number of their resorts beginning next year. They hope to mimic the success they’ve experienced with the event concept at Horseshoe Bay, a 2400-member waterfront golf destination 45 minutes outside of Austin. Hugging the shores of Lake LBJ, Horseshoe Bay features a quartet of golf courses that have recently been gussied up as part of a $100-million property improvement project completed a couple years ago. The property’s golf offerings include three Robert Trent Jones Sr. tracks, a members-only Jack Nicklaus design and an 18-hole putting course abutting a 400-key hotel.

Bryan Woodward, vice president of operations for Crescent Hotels and Resorts, conceived The Shootout at Horseshoe Bay five years ago before he was promoted to his current role with the company and served as the managing director of the resort. The latest edition, played last month, featured five-time PGA Tour winner Nick Watney and Solheim Cup alum Gerina Mendoza paired up against LPGA major winner Angela Stanford and PGA Tour Champions circuit player Bob Estes.

An intimate and interactive affair, the annual event brings golf fans inside the ropes, collectively following a single group in a fashion you just don’t experience on the tour, where players in the thick of competition can’t readily engage with the gallery in the same fashion.

Nine-time PGA Tour winner Stuart Appleby played in The Shootout a few years back when it was held on the Slick Rock course and after his tee-shot landed on the fairway, he solicited advice from a 60-something member following along.

“He goes ‘well I’m about 150 yards out, wind is blowing a little bit in my face, turns to this member, and goes ‘what do you think I should hit?’” Woodward related.

“The crowd starts laughing. She looks at him, looks at his bag and responds ‘let’s go for about a 6 iron.’ He goes ‘good enough’ grabs the club and sticks it eight feet from the pin. You can’t do that at a PGA event. That’s a memory maker for everyone who got to experience that back-and-forth exchange,” he added.

Serving as a demand driver during a low occupancy period for the resort and an overall brand awareness booster, the last event was filmed for Golf Life, a program with national reach. Asked how Crescent management gauges the success of the event, Woodward mentions that re-airings can be used to drum up real estate interest, draw hotel guests and appeal to prospective members.

“Bally Sports has it on forty times over the next month. How do I put a price on it being available in 94 million households, just about every day through the end of the year,” he said.

Other annual events conceived to activate the property’s campus and generate interest during what were previously occupancy down times include the Beer by the Bay Music Festival, a two-day event that attracts several thousand staged the weekend before school starts, a Wine, Dine & Jazz Festival, a Winter Wonderland holiday themed extravaganza and Balloons over Horseshoe Bay.

“They’re strategically placed to drive demand but if you’re going to do it you got to go big. We have a hot air balloon festival every Easter weekend and that took a weekend that was like 30% occupancy and now it’s sold out every year. All we’ve done is look at the campus and created really cool events to drive demand, help fill the hotel, sell memberships and sell real estate,” Woodward said.

All these events contribute to the resort’s overall brand image and overall marketing strategy and there is a direct correlation between the success of events like The Shootout and increased revenue or bookings. Ultimately, Horseshoe Bay has a multifaceted identity—it’s a golf club, a resort and real estate development selling homes and the tentpole events are major-selling points for all three.

“When people look at where are we going to stay, where are we going to buy a house, where are we going to be members, you look at a location and you go ‘what is going on while we are here that we can we invite our friends and family too,’” Woodward explained.

These events have become pivotal to Horseshoe Bay’s overarching marketing strategy. Woodward underlines their significance in driving revenue and bookings, especially during traditionally quieter periods. They’ve becoming major selling points for the resort, and guests and stakeholders eagerly anticipate these anchor events.

Looking ahead, Crescent aims to replicate the success of The Shootout concept at multiple properties in their portfolio beginning next year. While budgets are being finalized, specific dates for these events are yet to be decided.