Executive Programs · Executive Program

Golf Business & Destination Strategy · Executive Program

From the round to the experience economy: business models, hospitality, golf tourism, destination development, partnerships and the Italian market.

9 modules26 lessons30 hours10 weeks, self-paced
Enrol nowFree preview: From the old game to the experience economy: the P.O.P. lens

Who it is for

Golf has changed more in the last decade than in the previous half-century. Participation has broadened through off-course venues and new formats, younger players, women and families have become growth segments, and value has moved from the round to the total experience: food and beverage, events, wellness, retail, content and travel. Clubs, resorts, hotels, tour operators and territories that still sell "eighteen holes and a clubhouse" are competing in a market that no longer exists in its old form.[pop],[btf]

This executive program turns that transformation into decisions. It draws on Luca Colucci's two books on the golf experience economy — P.O.P. GOLF and Beyond the Fairway — and on verified public data, including Federazione Italiana Golf registrations and the independent impact study of the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome. Every module ends with a framework you can apply, a template you can download and an exercise that produces a real deliverable.[pop],[btf],[gbi-2026],[sirc-ryder]

Who it is for

  • Owners, general managers and board members of golf clubs and courses.
  • Hotel and resort managers with a golf offer or golf ambitions.
  • Tour operators, DMCs and travel professionals selling golf travel.
  • Destination managers and public officials responsible for territorial promotion.
  • Brand, marketing, partnership and sponsorship professionals working with golf.
  • Investors, developers and consultants evaluating golf assets.
  • Professionals moving into the golf economy from hospitality, events, data or tourism.

Who it is for

  • Golf club owners, general managers, directors and board members
  • Hotel, resort and hospitality managers
  • Tour operators, DMCs and golf travel specialists
  • Destination management organisations and regional tourism officials
  • Marketing, partnership and sponsorship managers in golf and adjacent brands
  • Investors, developers and advisors in leisure and real estate
  • Professionals transitioning into the golf economy

Problems it solves

  • Revenue too dependent on dues and green fees, with strong seasonality
  • Ageing members and difficulty attracting younger players, women and families
  • Clubhouses and facilities under-used outside golf hours
  • Golf tourism offers that sell tee times instead of complete journeys
  • Fragmented territories where clubs, hotels and public bodies promote separately
  • Sponsorship priced by habit rather than documented value
  • Business plans built on unverified market figures

Competencies you build

Competencies you build

  • Market analysis and evidence discipline
  • Business-model and access-architecture design
  • Revenue mix management and commercial development
  • Hospitality and guest-journey design
  • Golf tourism product and destination development
  • Destination marketing and territorial cooperation
  • Brand positioning, partnerships and sponsorship valuation
  • Innovation management and capability planning
  • Italian golf market analysis

Outcomes

  • A P.O.P. market audit of your organisation with verified evidence
  • An access architecture, pricing rules and KPI dashboard
  • A Revenue Mix Model with a quick win and a strategic bet
  • A guest journey map with service standards
  • A Destination Readiness Scorecard and 36-month roadmap
  • A golf-plus package and a territorial promotion plan
  • A partnership canvas and a sponsorship valuation
  • An innovation and capability roadmap
  • An Italian market opportunity brief and a final Golf Destination & Commercial Development Plan

Learning objectives

  • Analyse the transformation of golf into an experience economy using the P.O.P. lens and verified data.
  • Design access, membership and pricing architectures that grow demand without eroding the core product.
  • Diagnose and diversify a golf facility's revenue mix, including F&B, events, retail and new streams.
  • Map and improve the guest journey with anticipatory service and a hospitality culture.
  • Assess a destination's readiness for golf tourism and plan its development, including sustainability and investment choices.
  • Market a golf destination, organise territorial cooperation and design packages with tour operators and hotels.
  • Position a golf brand or place, structure partnerships and value sponsorship with a defensible method.
  • Build an innovation portfolio and identify the professional roles the new golf economy requires.
  • Read the Italian golf market critically and identify commercial opportunities for Italian clubs, hotels, tour operators and territories.

Modules

  1. The New Golf Economy: Market Evolution and the Evolving Consumer

    How golf moved from a closed sport to an open experience economy, how to read the demand data without being misled, and who the new customer is. The module introduces the P.O.P. lens that the rest of the program builds on.

  2. Golf Business Models and Club Management

    The economics of clubs and courses after the end of the one-size-fits-all membership: access architecture, pricing and yield, professional management and the digital operating stack.

    • Unbundling the club: access architecture for a fragmented market17 min
    • Pricing, yield and the tee sheet as a perishable asset15 min
    • Professional operations and the Golf Experience Stack17 min

  3. Revenue Mix and Commercial Development

    Moving beyond the green fee: the total revenue mindset, a revenue mix model for diagnosing and planning, food and beverage as a business unit, and events, retail and new streams as commercial engines.

    • The total revenue mindset and the Revenue Mix Model16 min
    • Food and beverage as a destination business16 min
    • Events, retail and new revenue streams18 min

  4. Golf Hospitality and the Guest Journey

    Thinking like a luxury hospitality brand: mapping the five-stage guest journey, building anticipatory service and a hospitality culture, and turning the clubhouse into an all-day lifestyle hub.

    • Mapping the five-stage guest journey16 min
    • Anticipatory service and a hospitality culture17 min
    • The clubhouse as a lifestyle hub16 min

  5. Golf Tourism and Destination Development

    The shift from the golf-only trip to the "golf-plus" journey, a Destination Readiness Framework to assess a territory or resort, and the design, sustainability and investment choices that build durable destination assets.

    • The golf-plus traveller and the integrated resort15 min
    • The Destination Readiness Framework18 min
    • Designing durable destination assets: courses, sustainability and investment18 min

  6. Destination Marketing, Territorial Promotion and Opportunities for Tour Operators and Hotels

    How to market a golf destination beyond the fairway, how territories organise to promote golf tourism together and use events as accelerators, and where tour operators and hotels can create and capture value.

    • Destination marketing: selling the whole experience16 min
    • Territorial promotion: cooperation, governance and events17 min
    • Opportunities for tour operators and hotels17 min

  7. Brand, Partnerships and Sponsorship

    Positioning a golf brand, club or destination in a fragmented market, structuring collaborations with a Partnership Canvas, and valuing and selling sponsorship with a disciplined method.

    • Brand and positioning: choose your tribe15 min
    • Partnerships and collaborations: the Partnership Canvas16 min
    • Sponsorship valuation and activation18 min

  8. Innovation, Future Trends and New Professional Roles

    The macro-trends that will shape the next decade of golf, how to build an innovation portfolio without chasing fads, and the new roles and capabilities the golf economy needs.

    • The macro-trends and an innovation portfolio17 min
    • New professional roles and capabilities16 min

  9. The Italian Golf Market: Structure, Tourism and Opportunity

    A data-based reading of the Italian golf market, Italy's position as a golf destination after the 2023 Ryder Cup, and a structured opportunity map for clubs, hotels, tour operators and territories, applying the frameworks of the program.

    • Structure of the Italian golf market16 min
    • Italy as a golf destination after the Ryder Cup17 min
    • An opportunity map for Italian golf businesses and territories18 min

What is included

  • Video-free, reading-first lessons you can follow at your own pace
  • A case study, an exercise and a checklist in every module
  • Downloadable templates for your own work
  • Server-graded quizzes at the end of each module
  • A final project with a rubric
  • A Certificate of Completion issued by Luca Colucci

Time required

About 30 hours over 10 weeks, self-paced.

Access

Self-paced online program. Lessons, case studies, templates and quizzes are available in your account for the duration of your access; templates are downloadable Markdown files you can reuse in your organisation.

Completion and certificate

To complete the program: read all lessons, answer all module quizzes, and submit the final project work. Module exercises are strongly recommended because they build the components of the final project. Estimated study time: about 30 hours over 10 weeks, of which about 7 hours of lessons; the rest is case studies, exercises, quizzes and the final project.

Certificate of Completion issued by Luca Colucci. It attests completion of the program; it is not an academic degree or an official professional qualification and carries no university accreditation.

The Certificate of Completion is issued by Luca Colucci. It is not an academic qualification and is not accredited by a university or a public body.

Price

€590€790

Launch price · until February 1, 2027

Members save 10% (Entry) or 15% (Pro), applied automatically at checkout.

Bundle of the three programs

€1,790€2,190

Launch price · until February 1, 2027

Members save 10% (Entry) or 15% (Pro), applied automatically at checkout.

The Certificate of Completion is issued by Luca Colucci. It is not an academic qualification and is not accredited by a university or a public body.

The book behind the program

Amazon · Luca Colucci ↗

Membership

Executive Programs are sold separately: they are not part of the Entry or Pro membership. Members get a discount.

What each level includes →

Sources