Ted Stonehouse

General Manager

Bell Bay Golf Club,

Nova Scotia

Making them feel like a million bucks

By David McPherson

Looking for a fresh idea to get recurring customers and grow your margins? Head east and chat with Ted Stonehouse, general manager at Bell Bay Golf Club, located in the seaside village of Baddeck, Cape Breton Island. His philosophy: Understand people’s expectations and then exceed them. He also understands the importance of selling your entire operation—from the pro shop to the driving range to the beverage department.

“We incorporate the entire facility into everything we do,” says Stonehouse, who started as a range rat at Ontario’s Maples of Ballantrae when he was eleven.

The Ryder Cup Boys

The annual boys’ golf trip is a niche market, but one that continues to grow. Catering to these groups—which often range from 20 to 40 guys—provide healthy margins; all it takes is extra time and the right package of add-ons to make participants feel special.

“Give them the things that make their event that much more memorable and enjoyable and all of a sudden you’ve got them for 10 years,” Stonehouse says.

Helping plan a Ryder Cup event is an opportunity to sell the golf course and sell merchandise. You can make several shirts for the two teams, which Stonehouse often buys in closeouts, so his margins are good, yet he still offers great value. Other value-adds Bell Bay offers include: drawing up score sheets for the players, picketing off a section of the driving range, pyramiding the range balls, and putting individual name plates in front of each stack. Stonehouse even takes an hour out of his day to announce each player on the first tee.

“The guys feel like a million bucks when they walk out there and we make it happen without too much difficulty,” he says. “We’ve had one group for 10 years, another for eight years, and another for six years. Does it mean you have to have a rock bottom price? Not necessarily. You just have to understand what costs you money and what doesn’t, and what is perceived value and sell that. I want to fill the tee sheets now for next year, especially in such a competitive market where supply far outweighs demand.”

The final touch is the six-foot charcoal barbecue that is heating up, sitting on a reserved area of the club’s deck as the groups finish their round. Stonehouse says they recognized most of these guys want a nice steak dinner, but don’t want the hassle of buying the food, planning the menu, cleaning up, etc. So Stonehouse and his staff added this to their packages.

“Every group has a guy that wants to cook the steak,” he says. “It’s casual, they have a blast, and at the end there is no clean up. We then make sure they are shuttled back to their cottages.

“It’s a niche market that we grabbed onto and took hold of,” he adds. “Not everybody is going to go above and beyond and make it happen, but for those who do, there are lots of opportunities.”

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