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 Robert Gibson Photo by GM Pinkston |
No one knows more about golf in the desert than Bob Gibson. For more than fifteen years his annual publication, "Golf Guide to Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities," has been the bible to which all others turn for accurate and up-to-date information on golf courses in the Coachella Valley. Bob's golf guide has received national recognition in Golf Week and Sunset Magazines, and, as recently as just a few weeks ago, in the Travel Section of the New York Times.
In 1984, armed with the unsurpassed knowledge of desert golf he had acquired in creating that guide, Gibson launched "Golf a la Carte," the first advanced tee time reservation service in the valley. The concept of booking tee times in advance was initially viewed with skepticism and Bob encountered considerable resistance in introducing his new service. Conventional wisdom of the day said the high percentage of no-shows on advanced bookings would cost courses more revenue than they generated.
Ultimately, it was only Gibson's personal perseverance in his vision that won the day. He wrote articles on the advantages of booking advanced tee times. He worked tirelessly with the Visitors Bureau and the local Chambers of Commerce and he made repeated visits to course operators arguing the virtues of the concept. His success in these efforts ultimately resulted in the creation of an entire new valley industry in golf vacation packaging and reservation services.
The intervening sixteen years have seen a dozen more such firms blossom across the desert. Together, they attract thousands of visitors to the valley each year. Visitors who not only play golf but stay in local hotels and resorts, eat in local restaurants and shop the valley's retail outlets. Many end up retiring here, buying homes and becoming permanent members of our community.
Robert Gibson's golf guide is the foundation upon which that industry stands and his contribution to the growth and prosperity of the valley has been significant, indeed
Following his graduation from Annapolis Gibson served thirteen years as a US Naval Officer. From there Bob entered into a twenty-year career in aerospace engineering and civilian consulting to the McNamara Pentagon under JFK before retiring to the desert. During his working years he traveled the world several times over and played golf everywhere he went--from Scotland to the Orient and all over the US. It was while playing in the Myrtle Beach area that Gibson learned of how they attracted visitors to their 75 mostly-public courses by providing guaranteed tee times through advanced booking. A concept unheard of anywhere else in the country at the time.
"I was approaching retirement at Lockheed Areospace up in Sunnyvale," says Gibson, "when my wife Betty came home from a vacation down here in the valley. She told me, 'I've found where you're going to retire to.' So when the time came in '79, that's what we did."
Four years after their arrival here Betty joined the Desert Mice; a group of women golfers who got together several times a week to play at various courses around the desert. Bob innocently asked his golfing buddies why they weren't doing that, too? The answer was they simply knew little about desert golf outside their own clubs--and like most men who won't stop in a gas station to ask directions when lost, they weren't about to ask their wives, the mice. Bob set out to solve the problem by visiting a few local courses and learning something of the desert golf scene. Little did he know he had just set in motion a chain of events that would forever alter the course of the golf industry in the valley.
A fortuitous coincidence soon added extra impetus to Gibson's quest for desert golf knowledge. His buddies from the club in Northern Idaho where he and Betty maintain a summer home asked him to send up the local desert golf guide to help in planing their vacations.
"It never occurred to me that there wasn't one," says Gibson, "but I looked around a bit and I couldn't find anything worthwhile to send them."
The third in this rapid-fire series of fateful conjunctions occurred when Bob was forced to lay off playing golf for a few weeks to recover from an eye operation. He found himself with some time on his hands. Bolstered by the experience and contacts he had made in his efforts on behalf of his men's group, Gibson set out to compile the information requested by his friends in Idaho.
Being the engineer that he is, Bob attacked the project as if documenting a space vehicle for the pentagon. He visited every course in the valley; there were about fifty at the time. He talked to every head pro about their courses; how they played, what kind of grasses they had on their fairways and greens, and inquired as to their fee structures. He walked every course, recording yardage, counting dog-leg lefts and rights, even counting sand traps and hazards. Upon finishing the field work he sat down at his computer and compiled the data, cross-referencing by accessibility; private, semi-private and public. By the time he was done he had created the most comprehensive aggregate of valley-wide golf information that had ever existed and established himself as the most knowledgeable golfer in the desert.
Gibson slipped a few copies of his guide into loose-leaf binders and sent them off to his friends in Idaho.
"Well, my friends showed it to their friends and they wanted a copy, and those people showed to their friends and they wanted a copy, pretty soon it was starting to cost me money. So I said, 'I think I'll try to sell it'."
Gibson soon realized, however, that though only three months old, his guide was all ready out-of-date.
"This was in '84 and things were changing very fast," says Gibson. "Several new courses were opening every year--one a month there for awhile. Course personnel were moving around a lot and rates were changing all the time. So I decided to turn the guide into a database service. I publish it once a year (in December) and then up-date it quarterly."
It turned out to be an easy sell. Today, Gibson's course guide is geared more toward the golf and hospitality industry rather than the visiting golfer. Most of the local golf courses keep a copy, as do the concierges at the valley's hotels and resorts. The local Visitors Bureaus, Chambers of Commerce, and tourist information services rely on it. The course information in the majority of the valley's golf related publications is also derived from it.
The guide established Gibson as the resident expert on golf in the valley and he soon found himself acting as consultant to the Visitors Bureau and several local Chambers of Commerce. The guide was also beginning to make Bob's phone ring with requests to book tee times at the local courses. Remembering what he had learned in Myrtle Beach, Gibson wrote an article promoting the booking of advanced tee times. The local civic agencies thought it a great idea but the course operators were highly skeptical. Fear of losing money on the no-shows was the major concern but some were simply afraid of change, itself.
"I remember one head pro, "says Gibson, "who stood up in an early visitors bureau meeting on the subject and said, 'It's impossible, this can't be done.' I asked him why and he said, 'Because my tee-sheets only go out three days.' That's the kind of mind set I was up against in the beginning and it was tough going at first."
But Bob saw clearly the changes overtaking the valley's golf scene. After all, he knew it better than anyone. The vast majority of new courses being built at the time were either resort or public. The valley was being rapidly transformed from its thirty-year-old country club nature into a burgeoning destination resort area. Gibson believed guaranteeing potential visitors they would be able to play golf when they got here was what was needed to stimulate that tourism. The only way to provide that guarantee, however, lay in convincing the course operators to accept advanced bookings. To accomplish this, Bob engaged himself in a campaign of education as to the virtues of his idea.
"It took someone to go out and beat on them," says Gibson. "To convince them it was in their own best interest to take advanced bookings."
The primary objection of lost revenue from no-shows was overcome only when Gibson began requiring advanced payment for advanced bookings.
"A guy who has already paid for his golf is probably going to show up," says Bob, "and even if he doesn't the course still gets paid. That was the key that made it work."
With that final hurdle negotiated the Visitors Bureau set up the valley's first golf packaging operation. They lined up the hotels and resorts and hired an agent in Newport Beach to handled sales, room reservations and rental cars. Bob, of course, was selected to handle the golf booking and Golf a la Carte was born.
The Newport Beach agent dropped out of the arrangement early on but Bob was committed to make a go of it. His guide was providing a number of referrals and with a little advertising the business began holding its own.
"The golf guide was starting to generate some calls," Gibson remembers, "when an agent in New York called me saying he had a party that wanted to book into the Marriot Desert Springs, but that they wouldn't come unless he could guarantee their golf reservations. I was able to do that for him so we booked the package. That was the first on my own, and it's just grown from there."
That was sixteen years ago and Bob is an octogenarian now. The business has grown to the point where it's no longer a one man operation. A year-and-a-half ago Gibson took on Certified Class-A PGA Professional David McKeating as an Associate. McKeating spent thirteen years at Desert Princess where he was Head Professional and, eventually, Facility Manager. Before that he was the Head Pro at Cathedral Canyon. A fine golfer in his own right, McKeating was last year's SCPGA Inland Desert Chapter Senior Player of the Year.
MacKeating's impressive credentials are not the only reason Gibson brought him onboard, however. Just as important to Gibson as David's knowledge and experience was the fact that he looks at the business through the same eyes Bob does.
"The heart of my business is giving advice to out-of-towners who don't know the area," says Gibson, "so I ask a lot of questions before taking a reservation. What's your price range? What time of day do you want to play? I don't put 36 handicappers on the Stadium Course at PGA West or a two on the Legend at Palms Springs. I chose David because he is as meticulous about these things as I am."
© Gary M. Pinkston, 1999
