Hello golf stakeholders:
The “apex month” for rounds (July is ~15% of the annual total based on the 5-yr average) is now in the books as well as filling out 3 of the 4 “core quad” months (May-Aug is nearly half the annual rounds) and, while it hasn’t been all rainbows and lollipops this year the golf operations sector is showing surprising resiliency as Jim K. quantifies and storylines in his article this month. Stuart Lindsay headlines this month with two “shadow factors” he believes are helping golf operations and have some runway ahead for the industry’s benefit: 1) The industry is relying less on the halo effect of the PGA TOUR (which is having its own struggles) and figuring out marketing and customer relationship management course-by-course and 2) Continued growth in the higher household income groups plays into golf’s historical strength, whether those are affluent old or young HHs. On those elements, Stuart is downright optimistic about this season and the next couple of years; someone take a picture and document this moment! (ha, ha)
This month’s By-the-Numbers section tracks the critical Utilization Rate figure for June which was up a healthy 3 points and, even more interesting, was that rare combination of Golf Playable Hours down/Rounds up. We’ve already compiled the July rounds “preview”, courtesy of our Golf Market Research Center (GMRC) subscribers, and it suggests that we’ll get another “up” on Utilization in similar fashion. If you want to know those numbers on a regular basis, you can either participate in GMRC (course operators) or sign up for a Publications Membership (everyone else).
INDUSTRY BAROMETER
2 Taking Stock of Shadow External Factors
By Stuart Lindsay
GOLF OPERATIONS PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
6 July Wasn’t as Bad as Industry Will Think
By Jim Koppenhaver
COMINGS & GOINGS
10 16 Activities; Transactions continue dominance with 10
WEATHER IMPACT
14 July GPH declines -4%, Year-to-Date improves slightly (-8%)
BY-THE-NUMBERS
16 Jun Utilization gains on weather down/rounds up, Year-to- Date continues resilience!
MARKET FOCUS
18 Boston at #7 shows healthy rebound; demand increases outpace supply growth
We recognize and thank our sponsors; Troon Golf, GOLFNOW, KemperSports and Club Caddie for their continued support of intelligent dialogue on key industry issues and health metrics tracking. For all those service providers and suppliers to the golf industry out there with the latest-and-greatest to offer our industry thought-leaders audience, might we suggest considering joining our merry little band through our most popular/best value 12-month sponsorship program? Twelve-month sponsors also receive all Pellucid industry-standard reports (State of the Industry, Outside the Ropes and Monthly Weather Impact Tracking (Nat’l, Reg’l, Markets)). 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, may we 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 our ad partner options, contact Publisher Jim Koppenhaver (847) 612-6717, jim@pellucidcorp.com).
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We also continue to spread the word on Pellucid’s next-generation golf course database, the Internet Golf Course Database (IGDB) with partners Apparation LLC, Never-Search and GolfCourseRanking.com which now offers annual subscriptions for <$2.5K (that’s a compelling value!). IGDB powers Pellucid’s Golf Local Market Analyzer, the Top 25 US Golf Markets Scorecard and now the GMRC as the facility master-record “backbone” as well. For more information on our comprehensive database, updated quarterly and refreshed completely every 9 months (all 15K+ US courses), email support@theigdb.com.
