The Disney brand is indelibly imprinted into the collective consciousness of young and old throughout North America.

But Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is more than theme parks and wild rides and mouse ears.

Four championship courses dot the landscape, and they were front and centre at the PGA Merchandise Show held in Orlando earlier this year.

Steve Harker, manager of sales and performance for Disney Golf, held a seminar room spellbound as he painted a dollar and sense picture of the state-of-the-art revenue and profit management system – a system Harker helped develop.

Harker said Disney’s golfing success is driven by its founder’s philosophy that “quality will out.”

That means giving people (golfers) what they want.

And what they want are good tee times at its four championship layouts – Magnolia, Palm, Lake Buena Vista and Osprey Ridge.

Golf is a standalone business at Disney World.

Harker, a graduate of the University of Southern California, envisioned and led a Disney project team working with a software company to implement a new Golf Reservations, Revenue/Profit Management and Event Management System.

This technology has directly provided incremental revenue of $2-$4-million annually for the company.

Not bad when the golf industry is reeling from the recession.

Disney Golf’s online tee time booking process looks to sell as many prime-time tee times as it can, while filling in the blanks – the off-prime tee times.

Some might look at this and see a Mesopotamian board game, but not Harker. It all makes perfect sense.

The problem, he said, is that tee times are perishable, like lettuce. “If they aren’t eaten up they go bad – and can’t be resold.”

These opportunities lost are being eliminated at Disney Golf. “Never miss the opportunity to sell a tee time for a profit,” said Harker to his audience made up of club pros.

How does Disney Golf do it? “Smart discounting,” explained Harker. Once the prime-time tee times are sold, everything else is up for evaluation.

Everything from “multi-player passes” to special golf packages for those residing in the park’s 28,000 hotel rooms, are part of the deal.

Other discounts go to theme park visitors, AAA members, VISA cardholders, Disney Vacation club members, and Marriott and Hilton Vacation Club members.

There are deeper discounts for members of the military, while Disney employees are also offered inexpensive spots in off hours.

It’s all profit-managed and runs the gamut from full rate, to slight discount (AAA members) to the deeper discounts – including some comps (giveaways to charitable groups).

“Everyone goes into “pricing buckets,” said Harker, who notes that all this is done online via the “Reservations Wizard.”

The Disney way isn’t exactly new. Harker told his audience that airlines offer different fare packages, as do other businesses.

So why not golf? The Disney numbers have multiplied since implementing its profit management system.

“It grew from 1,600 to 20,000 rounds in one year,” said Harker, and that meant an extra $1 million in the till.

The deep discount to Disney employees ($38 per round, compared to top rates of over $200) resulted in an extra $1 million in revenue last year.

Harker said the Disney model means, “I can always do a deal.”

From special rates for children, and a women’s day special, everything can be “profit managed.”

That means a 20 per cent increase in revenue across the board, said Harker.

Disney is getting better at maximizing its golf business, and like all Disney Golf initiatives, it always prepares for the future – even if that future is bleak, like 2008 and 2009.

It might be trite, but it’s true to say there’s nothing Goofy about the Disney Golf way of doing business. By putting golfers into a sales funnel, you get people – all kinds of people – playing the courses – whatever season or hour of day.

“We’ve made millions of dollars and added tens of thousands of golfers to our courses,” said Harker.

While others groan from this recession, Disney Golf has gone from fallow to full.

It’s all about being pro-active, not reactive.

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