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Analyzing three golf center websites to identify common missteps and key takeaways for creating a great user experience.
Whether you’re an avid golfer or a casual fan of the sport, you’ve likely visited your local golf club at some point. These centers are always aiming to draw newcomers, and the first impression they make with their website design makes a big difference.
Three local golf clubs I’ve played at are Virginia Golf Center, Reston National Golf Center, and 1757 Golf Club. I’m going to analyze each of their website homepages and provide key takeaways that will benefit both website owners and designers.
While image carousels may have historically been popular, there are many reasons against using them today. Studies have shown that after the first image banner, the click through rate drops significantly to where only 10% of users see the third image banner and beyond.
This carousel for Virginia Golf Center uses six banners and each one automatically transitions after 10 seconds. That’s a full minute of waiting to see the different banners. There's the ability to click through the carousel indicators, but you can see that there's still a three second delay for the heading and Call-To-Action (CTA) button to appear.
Every business can usually identify one or two actions they want customers to take. My hunch is that booking a tee time is the number one action they want to encourage. That should be the primary CTA in the header section. Currently, the other banners mention:
While these are all wonderful programs and amenities that Virginia Golf Center offers, they would be more effective in a separate section where you can highlight them simultaneously.
Overall, this site utilizes many great high-quality images, but they don’t need to all fight for attention within a carousel when most of them will probably not be seen.
I like how the social media icons are sticky positioned to the right to garner attention but don’t detract from the main page content. There's also a thin blue banner above the navigation bar that provides quick access to the hours, tee times, shop, calendar, and contact number.
As you move down the homepage, there’s a section with two cards - one highlights golf lessons and the other gift cards.
Once again, you’re required to either use the carousel indicators to switch between them or wait for the transition. Alternatively, both cards could easily be displayed side-by-side and no information would be lost.
Finally, there’s one section on the homepage that displays logos of other Raspberry Golf Management Properties. I believe this is to show that Virginia Golf Center is part of a wider network of golf clubs owned by a reputable management company.
I don’t quite see the full value in devoting a section to this. There isn’t any context about the other centers outside of a logo that would encourage someone to click away to another website. Moreover, Virginia Golf Center offers so many reasons to come visit that any number of those in the beginning carousel could be emphasized here instead. The other property information is still important but should be moved to a secondary page.
Business owners can benefit from putting themselves in the customers’ shoes and carefully considering why they visit your website to begin with. By emphasizing the key call-to-actions for the business and reprioritizing the most relevant information for the customer, this homepage could be a great landing spot for visitors.
This overhead drone footage of the greens does a masterful job of captivating visitors.
In a matter of seconds, you get a feel for what your golf experience at Reston National will be like. Whether or not they are “Virginia’s Top Golf Destination” or not, using a background video makes a solid argument and increases the premium feel of this site.
One small change I’d make is to rethink the wording and number of the buttons in this section. There are four different actions that someone can take, but it’s usually advisable to stick to one primary and at most one secondary CTA. Too many options can lead to inaction or confusion.
These are the current four buttons:
I’d bet that the number of visitors who come to this site looking to host a private event or tournament is significantly less than the number who come here to book a tee time or look to enroll in classes. Also, information about the driving range can naturally be featured later in the homepage. While having all the buttons here may seem efficient, they’re not all on equal footing. I’d stick to "Book a Tee Time" and "View Learning Programs" as the primary and secondary CTA respectively.
Small details in a website add up to impact someone’s impression of the quality of a business’s product or service. Another one of my favorite parts of this website is the custom icon set. The thin line icons are unique and add some playfulness to the overall feel.
I also appreciate the consistent use of the blue and gold brand colors. Just adding those colors to icons and buttons goes a long way. However, I would push for more consistency with the buttons. You can see that on the homepage alone, the buttons have different letter spacing, padding, heights, border thickness, and border radius. They also exhibit different hover behavior.
The last improvement is to use consistent layout and spacing.
You can see that the image and video thumbnail sizes are different, and there’s no margin between some of the photos. It’d also be cleaner to either have the text consistently on the left and the images on the right or to alternate them.
Overall, there are many things this website does right, especially nailing the background video that greets visitors. Their branding is fine, and cleaning up small inconsistencies can raise them to another level.
I won’t go into my reasoning against using carousels again since I addressed that earlier in the article. It’s worth noting that this carousel transitions a lot quicker after just three seconds. That’s not a lot of time to decide if you want to take action and by the time you decide, it may have already moved on to the next banner. It also doesn’t have indicators for you to control which banner you want to see, so if you miss one then you have to wait for it to cycle through again.
The first things that stick out to me with the 1757 Golf Club homepage are the typography and copywriting choices. Copywriting is the art of writing persuasive content with the intent to promote or market a service or product.
These headings could be improved:
And another carousel banner:
Good copywriting inspires action. Changing the wording to "Memberships to Fit Every Lifestyle” or “Experience Our Shot Tracking Technology” makes a visitor feel more inclined to take action.
Below the carousel is a section with membership benefits that they’re selling themselves on. This section needs to be bigger and more prominent since it’s easy to miss.
This description of 1757 Golf Club is great. It’s punchy and persuasive. “Consistently Ranked Best of Loudoun” also makes me want to visit although I’d drop the “Come Experience 1757” as that doesn’t flow grammatically. But this tone is exactly what was missing in the top section, and employing it consistently can bring an energy to the website.
I like the 1757 logo and the unique font choice that’s incorporated in that. This section on the homepage also reflects the brand well.
The serif font type used here matches very well with the brand. I only wish they utilized this more across all of the headings including the main header section because it brings out a more luxurious feel. The choice to predominantly use the generic Arial font doesn’t capture the prestigious nature of 1757 Golf Club.
The top navigation bar is vital to anyone finding their way easily around the site, and clear organization hierarchy and labels are key.
1757 Golf Club’s website already has all of the elements to tell a good story. With some modifications to the wording, tone of voice, and typography choices, it can be that much more welcoming.
Overall, each of these websites provides us valuable takeaways, from avoiding common pitfalls like layout inconsistencies or vague wording to embracing good design with the use of background videos or cohesive brand colors.
I hope this in-depth analysis was helpful for you! And if you're a business owner looking to refine your website this year, please fill out the contact form and mention that you'd like a website review in the project description. I'll personally evaluate your site and provide a consultation with tailored feedback and a plan of action.
