Vital Signs: U.S. rounds, golfers down June 10, 2013 HVS Golf has attempted to calculate the losses suffered by U.S. golf properties since the salad days of the mid 2000s. In the ensuing years, says the Boulder, Colorado-based consulting firm, our average course has lost 15 percent of its rounds and 10 percent of its ancillary revenues and seen its average greens fee drop by 20 percent. “The golf industry is in a painful period of distress,” notes a report by Darius Hatami. “Golf course values are down, lending is still difficult and the ability of the industry to alter these constraints is going to be tested in the years to come.” That being said, HVS Golf has reason to believe better times are ahead. It promises to tell us why in the next installment of Hatami’s report, which will be published later this summer. • The number of U.S. golfers continued to fall last year, although the pace of the decline eased. According to a brief provided by Pellucid Corporation, our business lost nearly 2 million golfers in 2011 and 400,000 more in 2012. The total number left standing: a little over 24 million. Pellucid’s report raises several red flags, the biggest one being this: The demographic group that saw the largest percentage decline was juniors. In other words, the desperately needed replacements for our aging golfers are slipping through our fingers. • The golf courses in California’s San Joaquin Valley are “headed for their third straight year of growth,” according to the Business Journal. This is good news, but it’s a small sample size. Membership sales at Copper River Country Club in Fresno are said to be up by roughly 15 percent, and sales of annual passes at the city of Dinuba’s golf course are said to be 7 percent ahead of projections. “The economy is getting better, and people are wanting to play a little golf and spend a little more for recreation,” a local general manager explained. So far this year, unfortunately, markets with chillier, wetter weather haven’t fared as well. • The National Golf Foundation has a new idea for growing the game, one that has a familiar ring to it. The trade group is encouraging our industry to tap “latent” demand – that is, people who have some desire to play golf but haven’t yet acted on the impulse. There are something like 25 million Americans who are either “very” or “somewhat” interested in giving the game a try, the NGF has determined, a number large enough that even a 20 percent slice of it would have a salutary effect on our fiscal health. “They are fresh, optimistic prospects who, if welcomed to the game properly, can become committed golfers on some level,” the NGF believes. The trouble is, golf has never had a problem finding qualified prospects. Our problem is the “welcoming” part, especially as it applies to women and minorities. That’s the one we need to solve.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:06:29 +0000
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