Fancher Golf Center
As a boy growing up in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Brian
Fancher dreamed of being a professional golfer. His
remarkable talent prompted his teammates to select him
as captain of the high school golf team during both his
junior and senior years, and he led the team to many
tournament championships. This success did not go
unnoticed by college coaches, and he was offered scholarships by the University of Texas at Austin, UCLA,
Stanford, and Pepperdine University. He initially planned
to accept Stanford’s offer because the school has an
impeccable academic reputation and is the alma mater of
his idol Tiger Woods. However, when visiting
Pepperdine’s mountain-side campus, with its breathtak- ing
view of the Pacific Ocean, Brian knew he was des- tined to
spend his college days in Malibu, California.
Brian’s freshman year at Pepperdine was unremarkable, but he emerged as the team’s star during his sophomore year. During his last two seasons, he experienced
enough success to begin believing his dream of a professional career might actually come to fruition. After graduation, he pursued his goal by entering the PGA
Qualifying Tournament (‘‘Q-school’’) but failed to qualify. Dejected, he returned home to Virginia and worked
for a year as an assistant teaching professional at a local
country club. The following year, his fortunes changed
when he qualified at the PGA Q-school and received his
PGA tour card. In his first season on the tour, he missed
the cut at several tournaments but managed to earn
enough money to keep his playing card. His financial situation changed the next season when in the first tournament he lost a sudden death playoff, came in second
place, and earned $631,700. He had six more top-10 finishes, earning him a total of $2,243,500, before tragedy
struck. While playing the first round of a tournament,
Brian’s club caught a tree root during his downswing,
resulting in serious wrist and shoulder injuries. Surgeons
were able to repair the damage but informed Brian that
his professional playing days had come to an end.
Feeling confused by what had transpired, Brian
returned home to seek solace and counsel from his family. Shortly thereafter, his mother experienced serious
health problems; this made him decide to remain in his
hometown. Despite his bitter disappointment, Brian still
loved golf and wanted to earn his living by being involved
in the game in some way. Several friends urged him to
begin offering golf lessons, but his year at the country club
made him realize he wanted more inde- pendence than
that job offered. Based on discussions
1
This case was prepared by Jon R. Austin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of
Marketing, Cedarville University, 251 North Main Street, Cedarville, OH
45314.
with people in the community, he began to believe there
might be an opportunity to invest what remained of his
PGA Tour earnings to create a ‘‘Golf Center’’ in
Harrisonburg. The concept was to have state-of-the-art
indoor and outdoor training facilities. Initially, he would
provide all of the golf instruction, but more instructors
would be hired as finances permitted. The Fancher Golf
Center would also offer high-end golf equipment along
with custom club-fitting services. Brian felt confident he
could create excitement and interest by periodically
inviting friends from the PGA tour to come to the center
for playing exhibitions, question-and-answer forums, and
autograph sessions.
Harrisonburg, Virginia, is a quiet, unassuming community of approximately 41,000 people located in the
heart of the Shenandoah Valley. A central fixture in town
is James Madison University (JMU), which enrolls over
16,000 students. There are a few smaller commun- ities
in the immediate vicinity, but Brian and his associ- ates
were hopeful the city of Staunton, because its
population of roughly 24,000 has a similar demographic
profile as Harrisonburg, might be a viable secondary
market even though it is located 25 miles to the south.
To obtain assistance in testing the viability of his business idea, Brian contacted the Shenandoah Valley Small
Business Development Center which is housed at JMU.
The center arranged for JMU students in a marketing
research course to conduct some research on his behalf.
Discussions between Brian, the marketing research
professor, and students produced the following list of
research problems:
Among the populations of (1) permanent
Harrisonburg residents 18–70 years of age, (2) JMU students, and (3) Staunton residents 18–70 years of age:
A. Determine the percentage of consumers who clas- sify
themselves as serious golfers.
B. Determine the frequency of playing golf during
the spring (March through May), summer (June
through August), and fall (September through
November) seasons.
C. Measure the level of satisfaction with current playing abilities.
D. Measure the level of satisfaction with current
(a) golf instruction opportunities, (b) high-end
golf equipment sources, and (c) club-fitting services in the area.
E. Measure evaluations of the proposed golf center
concept.
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F. Measure intentions to utilize (a) the golf instruction services or (b) club-fitting services if the proposed golf center were opened.
The marketing research professor divided the class into
three teams. Each team conducted a study that addressed
all of the research objectives for one of the three target
populations. Presented next are brief descriptions of how
the teams collected the data for their studies.
Team 1
This team focused on the ‘‘permanent Harrisonburg residents 18–70 years of age’’ population. Using the intercept method, they administered a survey at Valley Mall.
Of the 613 shoppers they approached, 227 were within
the designated age range, and 143 of these shoppers
agreed to complete the survey.
Team 2
This team conducted a study of the JMU student population. Because two members had extensive experience
building Web pages, the group decided to take an innovative approach. They obtained the e-mail distribution lists
for 12 campus organizations and sent an e-mail mes- sage
to every fourth person on each list (a total of 2,219
messages) asking the person to visit the team’s Web site
and complete an online survey. Using this approach, the
team obtained 392 completed questionnaires.
Team 3
This team examined the ‘‘Staunton residents 18–70 years
of age’’ population. Because Staunton is 25 miles away,
the team decided to conduct telephone interviews.
Moreover, the Small Business Development Center
agreed to pay for the long-distance calls as long as they
were made from the center’s telephone bank. The team
members worked at the center during normal hours
of operation (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). Using systematic
sampling, and the Staunton telephone directory as a
sampling frame, they made 472 calls and obtained 96
completed surveys.
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