Dear Golf Industry Professional:
With The Masters now behind us (great drama this year, classic finish!) and the general media once again turning their attention to more pressing matters of other sports, politics and entertainment, it’s time for us to focus on the serious work of starting another season for the full country geography and seeing what revenue, rounds and golfers results we can generate in ’17. As you’ll see in the By-the-Numbers section, disappointing March weather basically wiped out the Available Rounds cushion we had built through 2 months so we’re weather neutral coming into April and the official start of the season for the northern climes.
If you’ve been paying any attention to the golf industry media over the past two months, you’ve no doubt seen the alternate reality press releases by various industry trade associations claiming that the industry has returned to an upward trajectory or things “aren’t as bad as the media suggest.” You might be able to credibly defend the latter (the general media have a tendency to swing like a pendulum too far in both directions) but the primary storyline is the former position encapsulated by the WGF as, “I would make the argument it’s the best of times right now.” Publisher Jim Koppenhaver outlines the flaws in that argument’s supporting facts and logic and subsequently drives a truck through that hole. Rest assured that the sky is not falling on the industry/sport of golf as we know it but to parlay that into “things are good” can only be described as “lipstick on a pig”:
In addition, the April issue covers the following topics in our pursuit of providing monthly edutainment for our readers:
• Contributing Editor Stuart Lindsay provides an informative view of what can be learned at the intersection of the Internet Privacy Rules being repealed at the federal level and his email being hacked and used semi-maliciously. The bottom line in his observation of technology and how it can be (and shouldn’t be) used going forward by golf courses is both enlightening and scary. The trick will be using the myriad of data being collected and assembled legally to your benefit while still respecting consumers’ privacy and acting responsibly to their permissions and restrictions. It will require walking a tightrope but not taking advantage of the future technology will alternatively expose you to competitive risk.
• Editor-in-Chief Jim Dunlap covers a different angle of the alternative reality news. The industry is publicizing that there has been $3B invested in golf course redevelopment over the past decade and that suggests economic interest and confidence in our industry. While we’re not necessarily reading the tea leaves that way, there are true “reasoned bets” on redeveloping and expanding golf in select situations and Jim covers one in Watford City, ND which is doubling down on its current 9 hole layout and expanding to 18 holes along with additional amenities in a town with minimal competition for recreational (and dining) dollars. Get his “handicapping” on the race ahead.
• Plus the monthly Industry Scorecard (the only integrated scorecard of multi-source performance indicators) including the March month (ouch, off 20%) and Year-to-Date (slightly up now) weather impact, February Utilization (off, but no surprise when the weather was up 30%+, we weren’t going to match that number), the January equipment sales figures (some “green numbers” here, nice relief from the ’16 finish) as well as Washington DC as this month’s Market Focus which registers as the 7th healthiest of the Top 25 US Golf Markets in our annual ranking.
We recognize and thank our continuing sponsors; KemperSports, Troon Golf and Bayer CropScience as well as welcoming returning sponsor EZLinks Golf to the Perspective family! As the season opening approaches here in the northern climes and stakeholders move from strategy & planning to execution, those wanting to increase their brand exposure and be associated monthly with intelligent discussion on key issues could benefit from our successful 12-month sponsorship offering at a slight discount vs. the basic six month sponsorship rate. Twelve-month sponsors also receive all Pellucid industry-standard reports (State of the Industry, Outside the Ropes, Monthly Weather Impact Tracking (Nat’l, Reg’l, Markets), Top 25 US Golf Markets Scorecard and National Golf Consumer Franchise Health Scorecard). Sponsorship provides monthly exposure to approximately 30K industry leaders and followers and associates your brand with Pellucid’s effort to expand intelligent thinking on today’s most challenging industry issues. For more “opportunistic” spenders, we might suggest one of our smaller-bite “Ad Partner” programs for those who may not be able to make a 6 or 12-month commitment (as short as 3 months are now available) or who may not need a half page or more exposure (quarter pages now available). If you’re interested in knowing more about sponsorship opportunities or are interested in a preview of our ad partner options, contact Editor-in-Chief Jim Dunlap (760-212-3714, jdgolfer@cox.net).
If you know of associates who would benefit from the topics and insights covered in this issue, feel free to forward this email and encourage them to register on the Pellucid website (http://www.pellucidcorp.com/news/elist) to join the conversation, discussion and debate.
As always, you can review and order any of Pellucid’s range of reports and services at www.pellucidcorp.com. We also want to bring to your attention Pellucid’s recently- announced participation in the next generation golf course database, the Internet Golf Course Database (IGDB) with partners Apparation LLC, Never-Search and GolfCourseRanking.com. For more information on this comprehensive database, updated quarterly and refreshed completely every 12 months (all 15K+ US courses), contactjimk@pellucidcorp.com. From the numbers and details of how our industry’s consumer base is changing at the national level to our individual facility-level services including weather impact (Cognilogic) and market analysis (Golf Local Market Analysis), we’ll keep you one step ahead of the competition in this continuing challenging industry landscape.
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