Hello golf stakeholders:
With April now “in the books” and most all of the country being open for the ’21 season, we’re starting to get our first look at what golf in the ’21 version of COVID is going to look like and if it’s similar or different to how we left the ’20 season (riding high). Publisher Jim K. illustrates in 4 pictures how the Golf Market Research Center’s (GMRC) pilot participants are viewing and measuring their April month and Year-to-Date results via the web portal in near time. In addition to comparisons to ’20 (most are inflated because Mar-Apr were the peak lockdown months last year), they also can view ’21 vs. what we’re calling the pre-COVID baseline (same months in ’19) for a 2nd perspective. For the pictures and the underlying “storyline” for one of our (anonymized) participants’ actual data through April, go here:
The Pellucid Perspective – May 2021
Our May monthly dose of infotainment on the industry at large also includes:
- Contributing Editor Stuart Lindsay takes a clever approach in linking the concept of “defectors” between the PGA TOUR alternate tour kerfuffle and the challenge that all golf owner/operators face in ’21 to both retain their “new faces” from ’20 as well as trying to maintain the increased frequency of their returning customers in the new season. This builds on several of his points from the State of the Industry regarding how contact management, enhancement and communication planning (i.e. defector messaging using the “declining balance” method of chasing defectors) will be key to maintaining momentum vs. “giving back” golfers and rounds to either other courses or competing recreational activities
- Plus the monthly Industry Scorecard (the only integrated scorecard of multi-source performance indicators) including the April weather impact results (healthy up) and March Utilization (double-digit gain, rounds up against flat weather). We also chart the monthly timeseries for the year of Golf Playable Hours and Utilization. Our Market Focus this month continues working our way up from the bottom as we visit Minneapolis MN occupying the 16th spot in the latest scorecard and ranking. Rounding out the issue, our Comings & Goings section catalogues, classifies and comments on 31 (wow!) activities dominated by transactions (Sales and For Sales as ongoing golf operations) with a lot of humor and interesting “stories” to report this month
- You’ll also see (again) references to the recent launch of our Golf Market Research Center (GMRC) which is nearing the end of its free, no-obligation pilot phase (5/31). That means anyone can register to be the admin for their facility(ies), get access, put in their historical Rounds, Golf Revenue and Peak Season GF Rate and test drive the Market Profile, the Comparative Trends View and the KPI Scorecard (Pellucid’s 7 KPIs on one page, compared to Year Ago and incorporating our proprietary weather for the metrics of % Utilization and Revenue-per-Available Round). Post-launch of the full product in the summer, we’ll also include market/peer group benchmarking in those markets with enough participating courses to create the blind and balanced sample. For those interested in registering to participate in the pilot contact jim@pellucidcorp.com if you’re interested in “playing”
We recognize and thank our sponsors; Troon Golf, GOLFNOW and KemperSports 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, Monthly Weather Impact Tracking (Nat’l, Reg’l, Markets), Top 25 US Golf Markets Scorecard, National Golf Consumer Franchise Health Scorecard and US Golf Supply on Sale report). 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 (847.808.7651, 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 discussion and healthy 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 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.