By Jeremy Lee, PGA, CEO & Founder of GolfCritique.com and Club League USA.
The pandemic has negatively impacted a lot of small businesses around the world, but fortunately for golf, it has changed the immediate landscape of the game. We are seeing more rounds and more people coming to the game in recent months than we did in the early 90’s or during the Tiger boom. I guess we would call this the “Covid Boom,” which makes us all feel a little guilty because the pandemic has hurt so many.
Golf just happened to be the outlet for those who saw it as a “Safe Sport” and quite honestly didn’t have anything else to do. So golf it was, and we are reaping the benefits. As the pandemic moves on, we find hope that the vaccine by Pfizer will bring the world back to a bit of normalcy. Yet, for golf, that may actually hurt our business as people go back to their daily routines. Our hope is that during this time, a lot the new golfers got hooked on the game and, fingers crossed, they will continue to play beyond the pandemic!
Looking back on the year, you are going to see some interesting numbers. If you currently use the barter system, I’m just going to prepare you: it’s probably going to make you sick when you realize how much you gave up this year. You see, barter far more benefits the company offering it, and they are leveraging the lack of capital that golf courses have, to make millions. It’s like a high interest credit card that doesn’t look too bad at first glance with a minimal payment, but then you realize wow……..that is what I paid!
Let’s dive into some numbers and give both golf course operators and golfers the truth about what the barter system really does. Let’s just say……. You simply exchange marketing for a single foursome per day. First, you know that those rounds are going to be sold at a reduced price to attract golfers to purchase them, but the kicker is, the course gets nothing from these rounds no matter how many they sell. That is the travesty in all of this! So here are some numbers……
Normal Golf Course Tee Time Rate for a Foursome = $50.00 X 4 = $200.00
Average barter round reduced rate is 25% = $37.50 X 4 = $150.00
The sale rate of barter rounds is extremely high and with golf booming, these companies are making $30,000 to $55,000 per tee time each year on these courses based on a $50 tee time rate. We understand that marketing is expensive and if customers are purchasing other full paying rounds, well, then you could see value in this type of system. It starts to go haywire when courses are bartering beyond just one tee time for the lure of free services or products like, POS (Point of Sale) systems.
A top-of-the-line POS system runs about $12,000 a year and if your course is bartering for this system, well, you are getting robbed, literally. Some courses are paying upwards of 4 times what the system should cost and it’s time to take back control. As we move into 2021, we need to take a hard look into how we attract golfers to the course, why it’s important to get out of the POS side of barter, and find a standalone POS system that doesn’t price gouge courses.
Here at GolfCritique.com, we believe in a different system. We want you to have an independent POS system that works for you and doesn’t deceive you with a free system. Our system is designed to take nothing from the course and even give back beyond course revenue to help pay for POS systems, not charge you four times the amount they should cost. We are creating the best search engine in golf and it starts with no booking fee and driving golfers back to the course to book their rounds. Golfers can usually find the best rates on the course website and the best thing is, the course usually retains 100% of this revenue. When golfers only buy deals on booking sites, those are usually barter rounds and the course doesn’t get anything from them. So golfers, please listen: if all you buy are deals and you continually play the same course, this explains why you may experience funny looks as the course doesn’t receive revenue from your round. Spread it out a little and buy a non-deal round to balance it out a little.
Golfcritique.com is all about finding ways to give golfers perks, but not cutting the legs off the courses who are using our system. We ask courses to provide perks to our members and we use the perks to attract golfers to the platform, but why is that different from barter? Here’s why: because 100% of the perk goes to the golfer and 100% of the revenue goes to the course. Since we charge no booking fees and connect our site to the course booking engine directly, golfers save money by getting better rates. Our system saves an extra $10 to $12 per foursome in fees and the course retains 100% of the revenue for the sale.
Our system provides the course with a free marketing system, as well as the ability to drive traffic to our site and collect data on their golfers. This is done through a QR Code that drives the golfer to the course’s page on our site, which is simply a summary of the course website and a way for golfers to get marketing information for that course quickly and easily. The courses benefit from this system because GolfCritique.com shares in membership revenue that we receive for the life of every premium member the course sends to us. This gives the course additional revenue that offsets the cost of their POS system, giving them more flexibility, a better system, more data collection and most importantly, higher revenue.
GolfCritique.com is based in Pinehurst, North Carolina and is here to serve the great courses around the world. We are the best search engine in golf. We also have the best instructor directory online, and we give courses and resorts options to list their stay-and-play offers. We simply send free leads for golfers wanting to book a trip. Check out Golfhub on GolfCritique.com for all things golf, including videos, blogs, and golf’s best podcasts around the globe.
Let’s make 2021 the best year yet, capitalize on the boom, and keep golfers engaged beyond the pandemic!
