Paul McEldon is the CEO of Clubface-golf.com which is a social network just about golf, for golf and only golf.
"I turned up at the golf club and I spoke to the general manager Steve and I said "how do I connect with other golfers in the golf club to arrange a game?" And his answer was perfect - perfectly bad but perfectly good. He said "Paul, take yourself in the car park. When you see somebody putting their bag in the car, don't speak to them because they finished. When you see them taking it out, go and have a word with them and ask if you can join them." I thought, "Wow, okay we're paying 3,000 pounds a year to be a member of a golf club. There has to be a better way for this to happen."... Paul McEldon
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We want to thank our sponsor partner Golf Genius Software for helping support The ModGolf Podcast
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Golf Genius powers tournament management at over 10,000 private clubs, public courses, resorts, golf associations, and tours in over 60 countries. So if you’re a golf professional or course operator who wants to save time, deliver exceptional golfer experiences, and generate more revenue, check them out online at golfgenius.com (https://www.golfgenius.com).
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So I sat down with Steve and said to him, "how do you communicate with your members of the golf club" and he said "we send out weekly newsletters, we've got the notice boards everywhere, I walk through the bar two or three times".
I replied "that's all communicating AT". The question I asked was "how do you communicate WITH?" And as soon as I said, "how do you function with social media?" you could see his eyes glaze over. What dawned on me was that if the whole golf community of diverse yet like-minded people, could come to a place that was safe and relevant, would there be space for them? So that's when we created the first version of ClubFace-Golf.
Click on the image below to watch our extended conversation with Paul on our Youtube Channel (https://youtu.be/vVEPe5x0mEE)!
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Episode Chapters
[03:00] Paul and Colin open the show talking about when they met up in person for the first time in London two weeks before recording the episode.
[04:10] Paul shares his first golf experience, which curiously involves a dog.
[06:10] Paul provides us with his professional background and experience that led up to the start of his entrepreneurial journey and the launch of ClubFace-Golf.
[08:40] Paul describes what ClubFace-Golf is, the value it creates for the users and why he is so passionate about this venture.
[13:30] Paul talks about the value of aligning yourself with investors and partners that embrace the vision of what you are creating.
[18:20] Paul shares the ClubFace-Golf growth and monetization strategy.
[20:20] Colin asks Paul how ClubFace-Golf strikes the balance between moderating the conversations and posts while not influencing the narative of the content.
[21:20] We learn about the size of the ClubFace-Golf community and the global breakdown on where users are.
[23:30] Paul shares the plan to scale the business model with the launch of ClubFace-Cricket, ClubFace-Football, ClubFace-Gyms and others.
[27:50] We hear about the importance of ensuring that ClubFace-Golf is a safe space with zero tolerance for abuse, bullying or derogatory behaviour.
To learn more about the impact Paul makes to support the golf-loving community, check out the ClubFace-Golf website (https://clubface-golf.com).
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