Merchandisers of the Year – Feilmann, Moore And Fisher

Oct 1, 2021

Feilmann Wins Private Merchandiser of the Year
Riverside, Iowa –
Grant Feilmann of Wakonda Club has been named the 2021 Iowa PGA Private Merchandiser of the Year. This award is presented to the PGA Professional who demonstrated superior skills as a merchandiser in the promoting of golf at a private facility.
 
Grant has been with the Iowa PGA Section as the year of 2021 marks his tenth season and his seventh full season at Wakonda Club. This season has continued to a busy season following their record 2020 season. Merchandising continues to be Feilmann favorite job duty at Wakonda Club. He thoroughly enjoys meeting with sales reps, preparing buying plans, received/displaying merchandise, providing members with products they need, and analyzing financial performance.
 
Visual merchandising is one of the favorite duties of Feilmann’s job. He enjoys setting new displays and cross merchandising different products into one display. His goal is to make every display pleasant to the eye while also making the display organized and shoppable. General rule of thumb is to keep the displays fresh and up to date every two weeks. This provides a fresh look to the shop and has led to increased sales. Additionally, he tries to create “mini stores” within the shop.
 
Feilmann was quoted saying, “It is a great honor to be recognized by my peers for this award. Thank you to my staff, my vendors, and my members who make this possible. I am truly grateful!”
Feilmann also was awards the Assistant of the Year Award back in 2016.
 
The PGA Congratulates Grant Feilmann as our 2021 Private Merchandiser of the Year.
 

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Moore Wins Public Merchandiser of the Year
Jeff Moore of Finkbine Golf Course has been named the 2021 Iowa PGA Public Merchandiser of the Year. This award is presented to the PGA Professional that demonstrated superior skills as a merchandiser in the promotion of golf at a public facility.
 
Since Finkbine is home of the Hawkeye Men’s and Women’s Golf team, Moore says, “If it has a Tiger Hawk on it we will sell it, and that is a major reason for our success.”  Moore credits his dedicated professional staff for making this award possible due to their team-oriented approach.  “We all take pride in promoting Finkbine and everyone on my staff gets credit for making this possible,” Moore said.  All three other management staff have been with Moore for at least four years.
 
The course is owned by the University of Iowa and managed by Troon Golf, which took over management in 2020 after the building and completion of the 18,000 square foot Nagle Family Clubhouse. The new facility has a 1,000 square foot pro shop.  Compare that to the old clubhouse built in 1960, and only 500 square feet to merchandise, and it’s easy to see why the added space has enhanced the promotion of the signature Hawkeye logo.  The new building has a full service restaurant and bar that seats 100. This added restaurant presence has added to increased traffic into the golf shop.  Moore notes that he’s surprised at all the non-golfers that come through now to shop and that added foot traffic has helped increase sales by 30 percent from last year.
 
One new strategy that Finkbine added in the past year to their merchandising capabilities to help increase sales was the adding of an online store to their website. Moore says, “That added online presence for Hawkeye fans searching for golf items has helped spread the word of our unique University of Iowa branded merchandise such as belts, pint glasses and head covers.”
 
Another merchandising plus that has helped their success is the designing of a new logo to go along with the clubhouse and management by Troon. The new logo has crossing clubs with a Tiger Hawk in the middle. This cleaner version of their logo has allowed Finkbine put logos on merchandise they hadn’t been able to in the past.  
 
Moore was quoted as saying, “Winning this award is just a celebration of momentum I think I’ve tried to create at Finkbine since I arrived in 2010 to promote Iowa Athletics and the Hawkeye brand.  People come from across the state and region to play here and now with our new facility we can really display golf merchandise every Hawkeye fan likes.  I’m blessed to work with a great staff who has been with me for years and is like family to me. We love what we do to enhance Finkbine and have people enjoy coming to our facility.  You never set out to win individual awards but it’s nice to see our hard work paying off.”
 
This is Moore’s first Iowa PGA Section Award.

The Iowa PGA Congratulates Jeff Moore as our 2021 Public Merchandiser of the Year.
 

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Fisher Wins Resort Merchandiser of the Year
Darin Fisher of The Preserve on Rathbun Lake has been named the 2021 Iowa PGA Resort Merchandiser of the Year. This award is presented to the PGA Professional that demonstrated superior skills as a merchandiser in the promotion of golf at a resort.
 
This is Fisher’s fourth year to be awarded the Merchandiser of the Year for Resort he previously won in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He has also been awarded for the Low Scoring Average in 2016 and 2018.
 
Chris Black of Hickory Grove Golf Course. “Darin does an excellent job in a confined space. Servicing his guests with usable but memorable merchandise. Well, displayed with intriguing layouts.”
 
Quality merchandising is truly a coordinated effort among his entire staff. Fisher feels that nothing can be accomplished successfully without a solid core group of employees who have all “bought into” and have a vested interest in your system. Fisher feels it is vitally important to listen to our guests and watch industry trends. Each guest is of value and providing them with a special experience in the areas of golf, merchandise and F&B can and will have a dramatic effect on daily sales and repeat business.
 
When creating displays, Fisher and his staff concentrate on multiple sale opportunities. He encourage his staff to “Build the Sale” and show the guest what we have to offer. It’s not simply the single pullover or polo sale that maximizes revenue; it’s the polo that matches the shorts that will ultimately increase your bottom line. This is especially crucial and true when displaying ladies’ apparel. They are looking for the outfit from top to bottom – something unique and complete.
 
If they can sell the experience along with the sale, they help create a very personalized experience with every sale. They turn over our displays monthly to ensure guests are seeing fresh and new apparel and love to tie in color schemes to special events such as the Masters, US Open, Olympics, and Ryder Cup.
 
Fisher prides himself in training his staff to be welcoming and approachable and urges them to use their resources to be knowledgeable and current with industry trends. If not with a guest at the golf counter, his staff is encouraged to come out from the counter area and interact with the guests. By showing them all our merchandise, guests see roughly 50% more of what you have to offer rather than if just browsing and have all the information possible to make an educated purchase.
 
Fisher was quotes as saying, “I am humbled to win an this award and represent my staff within our section.  My team works extremely hard and this award belongs to them as well.”
                                                                                                                                                                                                           
The Iowa PGA Congratulates Darin Fisher as our 2021 Resort Merchandiser of the Year.

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