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Direct Golf UK DIRECT GOLF UK £2 Million Giveaway at The Open

By: Golf Shake | Tue 24 Jul 2012


Direct Golf at The OpenDirect Golf UK, Europe’s leading multi-channel golf retailer, is celebrating their biggest ever Open Championship promotion, a £2 million giveaway.

During the course of The 141st Open Championship, the team at Direct Golf UK handed out 50,000 caps and £20 gift cards to spectators at Royal Lytham and St Annes. The caps, featuring a distinctive Union Jack, not only ensured visitors stayed dry, but also made a great souvenir of the world’s most famous Major championship.

In a time where the UK retail economy is suffering, none more so than golf due to the past couple of months unprecedented levels of rainfall, which has seen the number of rounds of golf being played drop by over 30%, Direct Golf UK teamed up with Your Golf Travel to re-ignite the golf industry at the biggest event on the UK golf calendar.

John Andrew, Direct Golf UK Founder and Chairman, commented: "As a proud British company we see The Open Championship as a wonderful and unique opportunity for the UK golf industry to create a genuine feel good factor that the game needs, particularly with the horrendous weather these past couple of months. Our promotion was extremely well-received by both spectators and many within the golf trade.”

With a base of St Thomas’ Road, the main route for spectators into the golf course, a team of 40 Direct Golf handed many of the 185,000 spectators throughout the week a free cap and £20 gift card, to spend with Direct Golf UK at any of their 21 stores nationwide, by mail order or online at www.direct-golf.co.uk. In total 50,000 caps and 100,000 gift cards were given out amounting to a staggering £2 million promotion.

The caps provided welcome relief from both the rain and sun and were not only seen all over the course, but were also picked up by the hundreds of TV cameras from the worldwide media covering the event.

What’s more the British Golf retailer continued their biggest ever Open promotion by procuring a fleet of double-decker buses to transport the thousands of spectators to and from the course at Royal Lytham & St Annes, as well as painting the town red (white and blue) with lots of branding around Lytham.

“We’ve been extremely active this year at The Open and our efforts have not gone unnoticed by the UK golfing public. Many children used our caps to get signatures of their favourite players and others have been using the DGUK branded transport to get to and from the golf course. The Open is the biggest week in the golfing calendar and we want to do our bit to make it the best yet and get people buzzing about the game” added Andrew.

Other activities that took place in and around Lytham and St Anne’s during the major championship, included: ‘Golf on the Beach’ on St. Anne’s beach; a project aimed at increasing junior participation in the sport. Inspired by Seve Ballesteros’ 1988 win at Royal Lytham and the way Seve learned to play the game on the beach in his home village of  Pedrena in northern Spain, Direct Golf UK and Your Golf Travel partnered with John Letters to promote junior golf, inviting all the local schools and clubs to participate and raise funds for The Seve Ballesteros Foundation and Cancer Research UK.

And finally, DGUK staff were also offering free coaching throughout the championship on the beach front for golfers, of all ages and abilities, at the mini-links using inflatable nets, while at St Thomas’s Road golfers got to meet celebrity female golfer, Sophie Horn and have a go at a chipping challenge.  

 


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