Eric Hardy – Director of Research

Eric Hardy is the Director of Research for Longitudes Group, LLC, and manages the Longitudes research office in Stillwater, OK. Eric has conducted market analyses, site location studies, sales force productivity research and travel market studies for an impressive list of golf equipment brands, resort destinations and non-endemic companies interested in utilizing Golf as a marketing vehicle. As a professional geographer, Eric utilizes GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to analyze business and participation trends and spatially identify strengths and weaknesses in clients’ business patterns at both macro and micro levels. He has maintained a close affiliation with Dr.’s Rooney and Tweedie for nearly fifteen years, applying geography to generate ideas, promote understanding, and provide solutions for business clients, both in and out of sports. Eric’s prior experience includes employment with Golf Digest from 1992 to 2004, first as a New York Times Fellowship recipient while in graduate school, then as a Research Analyst and Database Manager for The Database of Golf in America. Focused primarily on the supply and demand of golf, his work has included data collection and management, learning multiple GIS and database software packages, helping clients develop their own databases from product registration data, evaluating and creating sales territories, drawing golfers to resorts, professional tournaments, and demo days, administering primary research surveys at numerous golf facilities and events, and analyzing potential sites for pro tournaments, courses, driving ranges, and off-course golf retailers. Highlights include a thesis on managing sales territories remotely using GIS, creating and mapping male and female avid golfer data at the zip code level, working with every major golf equipment company at one time or another, helping many small or start-up companies grasp the landscape, contributing to articles and research pieces for Golf Digest, Golf World Business, Golf for Women, Golf Digest Woman, Golf Course Living, PGA Magazine, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and helping build a web-based tool that can map and report golf supply and demand information at any geographic level. Eric has also participated in research for many other sport, leisure, and general business entities – including tennis, skiing, rodeo, college and professional football and basketball, stadium expansion, automobile manufacturers and dealers, banks, professional organizations, and charities. Eric received his B.A. in Business/Marketing and his M.S. in Geography from Oklahoma State University. A streaky golfer, whose game has suffered in direct proportion to his family and waist-size development; he may shoot 73 or 93, and not feel any difference in his swing either way.