Dear Golf Industry Professional:
With both the major industry shows now in the rearview mirror, it’s time to start planning in earnest for the upcoming season for the northern climes while the all-weather markets are now roughly halfway through their peak season. As we had predicted in the State of the Industry, January turned in what will be the first of many favorable “comps” for weather impact as we lap the abysmal ’18 figures as our benchmark. We also have the full-year figures for ’18 now that the rounds demand tally is in and we got pretty much what we had expected; rounds down but not as much as Golf Playable Hours (GPH) so we’ll take solace in our Utilization Rate gain for the year and otherwise just forget about 2018 (except the consumer equipment manufacturers who actually did pretty well, in spite of the substandard golf weather). Publisher Jim Koppenhaver observes and comments on the fact that our industry associations have been taking a beating in the golf media over the past several months and, somewhat ironically, asks if it’s well-deserved constructive criticism or misdirected rants by various parties looking primarily to generate controversy. Click below to see how he handicaps the various recent articles and authors and where he lands:
In addition, the February issue covers the following unique and novel topics which have become the Perspective hallmark:
* Contributing Editor Stuart Lindsay complements the question of whether associations are being unfairly criticized with his observations and opinion that the average course operator is often being criticized by various entities that are “playing the wrong song” using the analogy of an organ grinder and the monkey (guess who’s the monkey?).
* Guest writer Harvey Silverman does a more in-depth follow-up to the evolving story of TeeSnap and Allegiant Airlines and the parent’s intent and financial interest in marketing to players of golf courses who subscribe to TeeSnap’s service. After listening in to the quarterly earnings call for Allegiant, it becomes obvious that this strategy and tactic has always been a feature, not a bug of the acquisition and investment in TeeSnap. In retrospect, we collectively should have seen this coming…
* Plus the monthly Industry Scorecard (the only integrated scorecard of multi-source performance indicators) including the January weather impact results (up double-digits) and the December YtD Utilization (flat but ending the year up marginally, Played Rounds fell less than Available Rounds). We also chart the monthly timeseries for the year of Golf Playable Hours and Utilization while our Market Focus continues with the profile of Houston, TX which registers as the 6th healthiest of the Top 25 US Golf Markets in our annual ranking. Plus our Comings & Goings section (we tracked 35 activities, continuing the theme of “shift happens”)
We recognize and thank our continuing sponsors; KemperSports, Troon Golf and EZLinks Golf. For all those service providers and suppliers to the golf industry out there with the latest-and-greatest to offer to the industry thought-leaders who read our monthly publication, might we suggest considering joining our merry little band through our most popular 12-month sponsorship program? (offered at an improved value relative to our entry-level 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 Publisher Jim Koppenhaver (847.808.7651, jim@pellucidcorp.com).
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.
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. While no database will ever be 100% accurate, we continue to be surprised at the quantity and range of inconsistencies in course directories out there as well as the fact that most of the major tee time providers and recommendation sites (like GolfAdvisor) are propagating these phantom facilities and errors 5-10 fold for people doing Google searches online. Talk about an “echo chamber”… For more information on our comprehensive database, updated quarterly and refreshed completely every 9 months (all 15K+ US courses), contact Jim Koppenhaver.
