Pellucid Corp. reports that a healthy 5% gain in Golf Playable Hours (GPH) in November should provide a Q4 tailwind for increases in rounds played vs. 2004. Importantly, 17 of the 24 Pellucid weather regions posted November gains in GPH vs. the prior year meaning that the favorable news was broad-based across geographies. Looking back to October with the recent release of Golf Datatech’s % change in rounds played for the previous month, rounds at the US level once again lagged favorable weather previously reported by Pellucid coming in flat vs. YA against a positive change in GPH of 2.6% for the month.
The continued positive weather results in November vs. 2004 also pulled several regions into positive territory for the year as the Breadth Ratio (number of regions reporting increases of 2% or greater vs. number of regions reporting decreases of 2% or greater) increased to 2.5:1. This means that the November YTD results show 10 regions in positive territory as opposed to only 4 regions still in the red. Pellucid’s weather rules effectively incorporate determining which geographies are still capable of playing golf so the Q4 numbers increasingly are driven by the warmer climate regions which will control the direction of the national aggregate over the next several months.
Pellucid President Jim Koppenhaver comments on the results and their potential implications, "The net appears to be that we finally got a break on weather in 2005 after a couple of challenging years but, unfortunately, the industry hasn’t been able to take full advantage of it in generating commensurate increases in rounds played. On the brighter side, it appears we’re headed for a flat 2005 vs. 2004 in rounds but, after 3 years of 2-4% annual declines, it’s a start toward stabilization and potentially recovery."
The Regional Weather Impact Tracking report, which provides current month and YTD results for the 24 Pellucid-defined weather-based geographies, is the entry-level application in Pellucid’s suite of Weather Impact reports for golf facilities. In addition, they produce individual facility-level reports covering 10-Year Weather Impact History, the Annual Weather Impact Analysis and the Monthly Weather Impact Tracking available as either individual reports or as a group at a discount.
Pellucid’s Regional Weather Impact Tracking report is available at an affordable price of $200/yr for the 12 monthly reports. Subscribers to Pellucid’s thought-provoking bi-weekly newsletter, Outside the Ropes, pay only $100 for the Regional Weather report. The 10-Year Weather Impact report starts as low as $95 per facility and has proven to be a key annual planning tool for their current clients. Koppenhaver concludes, "Not only have we begun to quantify one of the significant "unknowns" in this industry, we’ve made it an affordable option within the reach of nearly every US facility. The Regional Tracking report is ideal for those industry entities that need a picture of weather’s impact at some level outside the gates of their individual golf facility. The facility level 10-yr Weather History report should be a cornerstone in annual planning by allowing operators to plan off the 10-year average of Golf Playable Hours vs. last year’s numbers which may be abnormally high (you miss revenue target) or abnormally low (unnecessarily constricts spending).
Interested parties can find more information on Pellucid’s weather capabilities at www.pellucidcorp.com. For more specific information on the Regional Weather Impact Tracking report and to receive a sample, interested parties should contact Jim Koppenhaver at jimk@pellucidcorp.com.
Contact:
Jim Koppenhaver
President, Pellucid Corp.
jimk@pellucidcorp.com
www.pellucidcorp.com
