Update on New Golf Trail Idea

Representatives from the proposed Abraham Lincoln Golf Trail met with pros from the top courses in Southern Illinois yesterday at Rend Lake. The goal was to brief them about the trail idea as well as to secure their buy-in with the program.

The Southern's Karen Binder has more...

"Northern Illinois goes to Alabama, Florida and South Carolina," Granberg said. "If this works we can expand this to become whatever we want it to become. We want to tie in with wine trail, state lodges, restaurants and everything else. This is about economic development."

...The idea is to make the Web site a virtual office for the trail, allowing golfers to make tee times, lodging reservations, learn about other area attractions, see course layouts, check out golf packages and even eye the weather forecast.

Todd Ely, a Springfield economic development consultant, said targeted marketing and advertising, such as billboards and article placement in golf publications, would drive golf traffic to the site.

From the site, "we want to cross-promote everyone," Ely added.

Check out the entire article on the Southern Illinoisan's website.