March weather followed February as a national non-event registering +1% vs. Year Ago (YA) for Golf Playable Hours at the national level. That again erodes the very favorable January start but still putting the Year-to-Date (YtD) figure at +7% after 3 months (which, on average, represents ~15% of annual rounds nationally). The YtD regional breadth metric remained (slightly) favorable at a 2:1 ratio comprised of 16 favorable regions vs. 8 unfavorables, 2 in the neutral zone (+/- 2%) and 19 out-of-season.
National Played Rounds for February, as published by Circana (the artist formerly known as Golf Datatech), produced a nice surprise with their +5% figure at the All Facilities level. That compared favorably to last month’s flat GPH results (+1%) which produced a slight gain in Utilization of +3 pts for the month and bringing the YtD figure to -2 pts.
Jim Koppenhaver comments on the results, "We’ve had a nice 1st quarter weather-wise at the national level but hopefully those tuned to “the Pellucid channel” won’t get lulled into thinking that the healthy start to ’26 has been due to stronger fundamentals and operational excellence. That said, we’re not proud and we’ll take a good opening to any season as a win and helpful momentum. Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but the full year GPH forecast is +/-1% so the Q1 tailwind of +7% will get offset somewhere later in the year if the forecast is directionally accurate. Looking at the regional map for the month, lots of green in the SE coast & Florida, Texas was a split decision (South up, Central down), Phoenix was flat and CA coast was in the green as well. At the 61 Golf Datatech markets-level for the month, focusing on our Top 25 golf markets, Houston and Dallas were standouts at (50%+ gains) while San Francisco took the biggest hit (-10%). Looking back at February Utilization results at the 61-market level, applying a screen for key rounds and 12-months season markets, biggest gainers were Houston and Atlanta (up 9 pts+ each) via different combinations of weather and rounds while San Diego was the unusual biggest loser with rounds cratering 20%+(?) according to Datatech. Looking at February Utilization, I got the rounds direction right but undershot the magnitude so we’ll call that a draw. For March, I’ll stay mildly bullish and go with rounds up 2-4% which will produce a slight Utilization gain when coupled with the +1% GPH results above.”
Understanding weather impact on performance down to individual facility level is at the core of our GMRC initiative as we build out the participant base in size, geographic distribution (24 markets now with at least 1 participant) and representation across the Public-Regulation length facility groups (Premium, Value, Price). GMRC subscribers have the ability 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-'25 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.
, with questions or to subscribe (see below for benefits) and get started by inputting your information through the current month
- If you'd like more information:
- 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)
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 your ’25 performance and how it compares to the COVID surge years of ’20-‘22
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
