Arkansas Tourism Expands Natural State Golf Trail

September 1, 2005


Arkansas Tourism Expands Natural State Golf Trail
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Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

Overlooking the practice green of Cabot's Greystone Country Club, Arkansas tourism and golf officials announced the expansion of the Natural State Golf Trail today. The five new courses will increase the size of the trail by a little over 50%, to a total of 13; all eight of the facilities currently on the trail have filed applications to retain their presence for the future.

The project is part of a targeted effort to market Arkansas' premiere public golf courses to Arkansans and out-of-state visitors. The five new courses added this year are Mountain Ranch Golf Club in Fairfield Bay, Eagle Crest Golf Course in Alma, Glenwood Country Club in Glenwood, The Course at Eagle Mountain in Batesville and Tannenbaum Golf Club in Drasco.

"Golfers spend a lot of money annually on their sport," said Joe David Rice, Arkansas' tourism director. "In our first year, the Arkansas Golf Trail added over $2.15 million to total travel expenditures in our state and 30 jobs were created. This program is a way for us to market our outstanding courses, beautiful scenery and mild climate to golfers who might not know about us."

Only public courses are eligible to participate, and each course had to apply to participate. Jim Shamburger, president of the Natural State Golf Trail and a commissioner on the State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission noted that in the second year, the golf trail committee was very selective in adding new facilities. "We wanted to add quality, not quantity," Shamburger said. The trail's executive committee appointed an advisory group to play and score each course based on a set of established criteria. Courses with the highest scores were accepted in the trail.

Ten 18-hole courses at eight facilities across the state were featured in the trail's first year. Those courses included Big Creek Golf and Country Club in Mountain Home, Harbor Oaks Golf Club in Pine Bluff, Red Apple Inn in Heber Springs, Stonebridge Meadows in Fayetteville, Sage Meadows in Jonesboro, Thunder Bayou Golf Links in Blytheville, the Mountain Springs and Cypress Creek courses at Greystone in Cabot and the Arlington and Majestic courses at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs.

Marketing efforts, including an advertising campaign, highway signage, brochures, a Web site, toll-free number and special golf travel packages, have been effective in helping the state capture the attention of golfers, resulting in increases rounds at member courses.

Fairways Golf, Inc. of Mobile, Ala., owned by Don Faggard, is partnering with Arkansas to help develop golf travel packages and administer the toll-free number (866-2-GOLF-AR). Faggard also works with the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama, and similar trails in Louisiana and Tennessee.

To ensure that golfers visiting the state will receive top-quality customer service, the staff at each of the courses and tourism businesses in the surrounding communities participate in the Arkansas Hospitality Association's training seminar, Hospitality University.

The development and marketing of the trail is a partnership effort between the member courses, their surrounding communities, Fairways Golf, Inc., the Arkansas Hospitality Association, the Arkansas State Golf Association, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.
 

Submitted by the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism
One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201, (501) 682-7606
E-mail: info@arkansas.com

May be used without permission. Credit line is appreciated:
"Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism"