March Pellucid Perspective

Dear Golf Industry Professional:

Spring is peeking out here in Chicago and the Masters is within sight for golf fans and the subset of those viewers who actually play the game and power our industry. At the PGA Show we saw the preview of what’s new and how the landscape of golf course service providers continues to shift each season. One of the shifts not readily visible or apparent in Orlando was the relatively stealthy entrance of Supreme Golf to the world of Online Tee Time Agents (OTTAs) as what Contributing Columnist Harvey Silverman posits to be the third industry “super-player” in this space in pursuit of golfer eyeballs. He outlines how the “Kayak of Golf” made the decision to absorb Golfbook (formerly Golf Pipeline, keep up now) in the belief that to effectively compete with GolfNow and TeeOff.com they needed a PoS engine and a business model effectively binding the two. It’s an interesting quick read on how their business model evolved as they aspired to move from supporting cast to leading actor. Click below to take the journey: March Pellucid Perspective

In addition, the March issue covers the following unique and novel topics which have become the Perspective hallmark:

• Contributing Editor Stuart Lindsay attempts to distill several of the thornier questions around whether tee time aggregators, barterers (is that a word?) and digital/social media purveyors are a force in the industry for good or evil into less than 1,500 words (those of you who know Stuart realize he’s an incisive writer but tends toward elongated conversations). It’s likely the most concise, conclusive summary of this topic we’ve ever seen.
• Publisher Jim Koppenhaver (conversely known for incisive speaking but can’t form a written sentence in less than 40 words and at least one parenthetical statement) weighs in on the recent bankruptcy filing of Warrior Golf whom he portrays as “Not legit enough to quit” (see, 44 words, 1 parenthetical). As a consumer of their clubs (1 free wedge) and a recipient of countless of their marketing messages over 10+ years, he summarizes their journey from direct marketer of modest quality clubs to golf course portfolio owner/operators to now the latest poster child of how to make a million dollars in the golf industry (i.e. start with $10M).
• Plus the monthly Industry Scorecard (the only integrated scorecard of multi-source performance indicators) including the February weather impact results (down double-digits) and the January YtD Utilization (down, Played Rounds didn’t follow sharp increase in Available Rounds). We also chart the monthly timeseries for the year of Golf Playable Hours and Utilization while our Market Focus heralds the annual update of the Golf Local Market Analyzer and starts a new countdown of the Top 25 markets with a summary view of the present supply/demand equilibrium picture at the national level (oversupplied by 16%). Plus our Comings & Goings section (we tracked 17 activities), which chronicles the continuance of “shift happens” in the golf course ownership picture.

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. IGDB now powers Pellucid’s Golf Local Market Analyzer and has added functionality to our project work like being able to tally and profile course closures within key US markets over time. 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 at jim@pellucidcorp.com.