The only good news in the March weather impact results is…we saw the smallest decline of the quarter in the closing month as Golf Playable Hours (GPH) at the national level registered -7% vs. year ago (following January and February’s -20%+ readings). That made a small dent in the Year-to-Date (YtD) deficit which closes the quarter at -16% at the three-month mark. The YtD regional breadth metric was unchanged at a 1:4 ratio comprised of 5 favorable regions vs. 19 unfavorables and 2 in the neutral zone (+/- 2%) with the remaining 19 regions out-of-season.
National Played Rounds for February had not yet been published by Golf Datatech when we went to press (that’s 1-2 wks late for them based on historical release timing) so there are no Utilization figures to report at national or market level.
Jim Koppenhaver comments on the results, "I thought the major bullet we were going to have to dodge in ’25 was the on again-off again tariffs but, based on the opening 3 months of the season, our bigger fight this season may well be against Mother Nature. For the 12-month markets who do significant play in Q1, they’re going to have to dig out of the weather hole as they move into the lower rounds/revenue off-season months (places like SE coastal still have Apr-May to get some of that back). For the northern latitudes, the poor Q1 is less problematic as long as April opens at parity or better to last year IMO. Another “yellow light” is that our continued work with AccuWeather to refine the year-end “call” is now suggesting a down for the year between 3-5% nationally which seems more realistic given the Q1 opener and would be a 4th consecutive year of sub-normal (10-yr average) weather impact; ouch. that drives our national, long-range projection, is anticipating a healthy rebound during the months and regions where the bulk of the rounds are played. Looking at the regional map for the current month, we see that the (few) weather “benefactors” were the Pacific NW joined by North California coastal while SE coastal north managed a “flat”. At the 61 Golf Datatech markets-level for the month, there were 3 markets of note having weather favorability; Las Vegas Orange County and Honolulu while Nashville and Little Rock AR both suffered 20%+ deficits in GPH. We’ll report on Utilization and where it landed relative to my previous month’s prediction when (if?) Golf Datatech publishes their February report. The not-uninteresting question during this quarter of incredibly unfavorable weather which this figure will answer is “Are we seeing demand decline in tandem, more or less than the very unfavorable conditions we’ve been given?” Our Golf Market Research Center (GMRC) subscribers are just turning the page on their March results (just over half of them are in 12-month markets so we get decent visibility for the winter months) and I haven’t yet compiled the “early returns” to see how they performed net-of-weather. In addition to knowing their weather-adjusted performance, our GMRC subscribers also have visibility into the summarized portfolio of participants and a limited number of markets to reference whether their performance is pacing, leading or lagging the GMRC portfolio universe; you could too (hint, hint)."
Speaking of the GMRC and the ability for courses to see their monthly performance in comparative reports the day the month closes, we're always looking for more subscribers to give us either more market breadth or bigger samples in the markets where we have current participants. We know from our visibility to the Golf Revenue numbers that courses are generally flush with cash (we've also seen all the public domain articles on renovations, massive CapEx spending etc. to corroborate) so we'd hazard a guess that the $500 investment decision isn't being hampered by lack of funds. Program participants have been able to view graphic, single page monthly trend reports for Rounds and Utilization from '19-'23 as well as having a 7 measure KPI single page report for any month and YtD period for which they entered data. The GMRC gives you visibility to your Market Profile and, after you enter your Rounds, Golf Revenue and Peak Season GF Rate by month, to immediately see your results through our comparative reports with integrated weather impact. So how do you "get in on the action"? Glad you asked...
You can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
, to subscribe (see below for benefits) and get started by inputting your information through th current month or if you'd like to engage in the 2-wk trial
If you'd like more information you have two options:
- Watch the 18 minute GoToWebinar recording of the program overview and a demonstration of the portal and reports (fill in your name and email and it will open the video link; you're not signing up for anything)
- Review the 2-pg program overview (Download Here)
Here's the details on what you get in the current promo deal:
- GMRC Market profile (golfers, supply/mix/demand balance, Utilization etc.)
- Monthly trends report (Rounds & Utilization, any month and YtD '19-'21)
- KPI Scorecard (7 KPIs for month & YtD, single page, Year Ago comparisons)
- Cognilogic (historical facility-specific Golf Playable Hours and Capacity Rounds, normally sold as separate service at $180/yr) and
- Foresight (brand new, facility-level 60-day Capacity Rounds forecast and key weather variables used to produce it, normally sold separately at $360/yr)
- National Golf Consumer Franchise Scorecard and commentary outlining the change in the size of the golfer base, the demographics (not as much additional diversity as advertised by the industry but expanding) and involvement levels (sold separately for $199)
- We think this package of services including GMRC at $500/yr ($450 for NGCOA members) is a great value and timely for assessing '21's performance and beginning your '22 planning
Final cherry-on-top, GMRC is a product in the NGCOA SmartBuy program so there's a member benefit (10% discount) for the annual subscription.
Sincerely,
Jim Koppenhaver
