National Golf Foundation wants to transform golf marketing

The National Golf Foundation (NGF), the industry’s leading authority on golf research, data, and consumer insights will partner with KONETiQ, a leader in digital marketing innovation known for its data-driven and precision-targeted marketing solutions.

The collaboration aims to “enhance golf marketing capabilities by merging the NGF’s unmatched golfer data and behavior insights with KONETiQ’s direct-access media expertise.”

What will be the result? According to NGF, it is “the unprecedented ability to deliver custom-built, hyper-targeted campaigns across all digital media platforms, empowering golf brands and businesses to maximize engagement and ROI.”

“This partnership takes NGF’s existing best-in-class marketing services and unlocks unprecedented digital ad targeting for golf companies. KONETiQ will leverage NGF’s proprietary consumer and facility databases across a gamut of marketing platforms,” said Greg Nathan, President and CEO of the National Golf Foundation. “This partnership further positions NGF as golf’s data-driven marketing leader, now supplemented with the media buying power, expertise, and custom audience capabilities that KONETiQ brings to the table.”

According to the NGF, 47 million golfers represent a high-income, high-spending demographic. That makes them an attractive target for various industries beyond golf.

Those industries include:

• including automotive
• financial services
• luxury brands
• travel destinations.

Reaching a perfectly targeted segment of the golf population is a key to marketing success.

“The National Golf Foundation brings unmatched depth to its golf industry research — the organization understands everyone who steps foot on a golf course in the U.S. or participates in the game in other ways,” said Josh Goodin, Managing Director of KONETiQ. “We specialize in direct media buying, with access to platforms like Netflix, Spotify, Disney, Hulu and more — no middlemen. By combining NGF’s audience insights with our ability to target them precisely, we’re enabling golf brands to reach exactly the right people. That means we can integrate data about golf with the ability to buy media. So, for example, do you want to reach female golfers older than 25, who live in America’s top 25 DMAs, have a household income of more than $150,000, and have been shopping for clubs in the last 60 days? That’s what we’re bringing to the data.”

The partnership began through a joint initiative supporting the “Make Golf Your Thing” campaign,  focused on engaging underrepresented demographic cohorts and encouraging people to experience the game at grassroots golf facilities, led by golf’s governing bodies (including the PGA TOUR, PGA of America and USGA).

“This partnership eliminates wasteful marketing by delivering exact matches to client goals,” explained Goodin. “Golfers are valuable sports consumers but also high-value targets across sectors like travel, tourism and home improvement, making this partnership a game-changer for brands seeking ROI-rich engagement.”

The partnership also benefits small and medium-sized golf businesses improving marketing ability while larger businesses can access larger audiences.

“Our long-term vision is to elevate the standard of marketing performance across the golf industry,” said Nathan. “Putting your message in front of the perfect audience is data science in today’s world.”