Hello golf stakeholders:
With the drama of Oakmont behind us (we’re writing this prior to the champion being crowned) and 3 majors in the rearview mirror, those in the golf operations sector are in prime season and trying to successfully navigate the twists and turns of tariffs, labor uncertainty and golfer price sensitivity for the Summer of ’25.
Publisher Jim K. leads this month with the results of the ’24 national golf consumer survey which are predominately favorable for a 5th consecutive year (post-COVID gains persist!). Turn the page for the 6 KPI graphic of the results and his topline commentary. In his typical analyst fashion however, he does point out the cloud in the silver lining which is that golfers are currently driving the train during this trend based on his observations of golf course marketing. He outlines how facility owner/operators continue to lag in using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for data collection, analysis and outbound marketing and the necessity to up their game in this area to better control their destiny and be able to compete for share-of-golfer more effectively when the current trend wanes.
Contributing Editor Stuart Lindsay builds on that theme by pointing out that building CRM “muscle”, in addition to future-proofing your gains, will come in handy as many courses fight early-season deficits due to unusually persistent and pervasive unfavorable weather through 5 months. He outlines how advances in the “tech stack” options for courses are helping make that easier for owner/operators but “nirvana” (having them all talk to each other or capture all the data needed) is still a ways off. We’re also actively involved with those providers and initiatives that we think have the most promise for making your life easier and more profitable.
See below for the headlines to each of our recurring sections from the regional May weather impact (5th consecutive down month, the streak remains unbroken in ‘25) to By-the-Numbers which provides the April and Year-to-Date results for Rounds (up) and Utilization (up more). We’ve already compiled the May golf operations performance scorecard “preview”, courtesy ofour Golf Market Research Center (GMRC) early-responders, and the sneak peek suggests that Rounds held their own (but didn’t grow) vs. the GPH drop which would produce another Utilization gain. 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).
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 discussion and healthy debate.
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