In a recent conversation with a well respected GM, they mentioned a golden rule that their club websites would always reflect the seasonality about four weeks ahead. That meant that prospective visitors would be seeing a more accurate reflection of the course and conditions that they would play. 

Not rocket science, but not something that seems to happen on the ground. An at-a-glance survey of the top 10 courses in an English county in the Midlands had one course with autumnal pictures, and the rest showcasing their normal summer imagery.

This is impossible if you only have one set of marketing imagery, and set us thinking about other reasons to maintain a library of seasonal imagery at your golf course:

• Having a full suite of imagery makes the club manager’s job easier. If you’re crafting a Spring Society Special, you don’t want to waste time searching more the ‘least imperfect’ image from your album of summer sunset pictures. Know you can reach for your spring folder, pick anything out and move on.
  
  
• Your course changes during the seasons, and may look completely different from month to month. Proactively reflect that in your marketing and people will be curious about visiting all year round. Our photography also changes depending on the conditions. Sweeping sunset panoramas are probably less likely than in summer, but wintry conditions can also force us to be even more creative - looking for interesting details in the course and searching out eye-catching angles. 
  
  
• All clubs have seasonal green fee, society or membership offer, but you can’t effectively market a ‘Winter Warmer’ package with an image of a high summer. Match your imagery to your offer for messaging the resonates with your customers. Even if you’re renowned for selling the ‘2006 Open Championship Experience’, pictures of baked out fairways won’t appeal to somebody looking to book a March round to shake off their winter rust!
  
  
• We’re golfers ourselves, so we know what to capture, and what to leave for another visit. If some parts of your course aren’t in the best nick, we’ll find ways to work around them. We understand that a bare tree line behind a green might not look enticing, but how about silhouetting that same tree line against the sun on a frosty morning? 
  
  
• Beautiful course photography isn’t always ‘typical’. Golden hour summer photography is always fantastic to look at, but the more muted shades of spring, autumn and winter can be as equally attractive (and more in keeping with reality!).
  
  
• You can’t control the weather, but if all of your touch points in the booking process have been accompanied with imagery of beautiful summer sunsets, it’s perhaps not a golfer’s fault if they’ve set unreasonable expectations for their day. People are likely to be more accepting of course conditioning, and to enjoy their day, regardless of the weather, if your marketing and communications matches the product.

• Not every use of course imagery will be for marketing to new customers. Your members are already convinced about your product. In the same way you wouldn’t run the Santa Scramble in July, your calendar of communications should reflect the rhythm of the seasons, and accurate imagery plays a key role in enticing your members onto the course to make the most of their memberships.
  
  
• How many websites boast, “Our course is playable all year around”? Show people!
  
  
• Admittedly, we take more pictures in the summer, when the light lasts longer and every part of the course and club looks perfect. You’ll receive many more images from a summer shoot with us, but that takes longer to shoot and edit, and therefore costs more. Winter shoots are more about quality over quantity, and since we’re likely to spend less time shooting (we need to keep our fingers warm!), the editing process will be more efficient too. Therefore, we are able to offer particularly cost effective packages over the winter. 
  
  Finally, we know what you’re thinking - “Have they forgotten about Coronavirus?”. We understand that clubs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are facing another difficult period, but we believe there are compelling reasons to look at updating your imagery now.
  
  

• Nobody knows when this lockdown might ease, but should we still be in wintry conditions when courses open again, then if you have recently updated your imagery you’ll be a step ahead of your competitors.
  
  
• Next winter will roll around soon enough - if you follow the ‘four week website rule’ above, then you’re going to be marketing winter green fees again at the beginning of October (and winter society deals before that). Those eight months will fly by with everything we’re likely to face this year, so tick something off your to-do list now!
  
  
• With no golfers on the course, there’s an opportunity for some more creativity and for us to take a bit longer on each hole than might otherwise be the case.
  
  
• If you are a members club, you can use the imagery in your communications with your members, which will be playing a key role in maintaining their engagement ahead of crucial renewal periods.
  
  
• We understand that course conditioning might not be exactly where you’d like it to be, but don’t worry too much about that. We can work around obvious areas, and as long as there’s some definition on the course, we’ll make your course look good!
  
  

Carefree Golf Photography is currently offering Winter Special photoshoots, starting at just £297.
Contact us today for more details.

My visit to Leamington & County was a particularly momentous one. It marked Carefree Golf Photography’s first commission, and the weather gods seemed happy to mark the occasion!

We were visiting to deliver a twilight shoot and a short marketing video. It was great to catch up with club manager Bryan Frazer, who I know well from my former life at the GCMA, and I’m delighted to hear that the club was pleased:

“Our brief was very simple - make the course look great! Mike arrived at the agreed time and then waited a further 2 hours for light to meet his exacting requirements. We were so pleased with this level of professionalism as the results are stunning without question the best set of images we have ever seen of the course. I would have no hesitation in recommending Carefree Golf Photography to any golf club looking to enhance their profile through stunning photography.”

Whilst I love a links that goes straight out and back, there is also something very satisfying about the 1st and 10th tees heading out from the clubhouse as they do at Leamington & County. With four tees and greens around the clubhouse, as well as two putting greens, you get the lovely sense of golf going on all around you.

Bryan’s only instruction was to make sure I captured the par 3 11th - the course’s signature hole. So I made it my first stop, and instantly saw why it was top of his list. A stunning short hole, with towering trees opening up to a green sited in a gorgeous clearing, it would stand out anywhere.

The course is satisfyingly undulating throughout, which lends itself to some dramatic shadows towards the end of the day. 

Despite lots of holes running alongside one another, you never feel on top of anybody else, and the far end of the course, in particular, feels nicely isolated. This guy was certainly enjoying some twilight solitude!

The course is on relatively high ground, and it feels like the trees have been sensibly managed to ensure that the evening light penetrates as much of the course as possible, leading to some absolutely wonderful sunset scenes. 

Golf course photography doesn’t feel like a job on nights like this, and I’m resisting being lulled into a false sense of security that every shoot falls into place. However, sometimes it’s hard not to think that the stars have aligned for you. I reached the par 3 17th at about 9pm, just as the sun was about to disappear behind the trees. 

I had to wait for a group to clear the green, and was worried I’d missed the last light on that hole. I needn’t have panicked - and I owe the course manager one - as the hole was cut in the perfect spot for the remaining sliver of light. 

After whizzing up 18, I thought I’d head back out for one more sweep of the course, and was rewarded with this scene back down the 1st. I’m sure plenty of gloomy skies await, but Leamington & County will always be special to Carefree Golf Photography.

by Mike Hyde