Golfers in Colorado, being the ardent lot that they are, can undoubtedly relate to that old quote that goes, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
Of course, little can be done about the weather, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take when it prevents rounds of golf from being played.
That comes to mind each year when the CGA compiles its public golf course rounds and revenue survey for the state. The data provide an interesting snapshot of the game of golf in Colorado, but it’s clear weather plays a very large role in each year’s results.
The numbers for 2012 and 2013 tell the tale better than most.
In 2012, good weather resulted in more than the typical number of playable days for golfers, and the result was a 7.8 percent increase in rounds compared to 2011.
Last year, however, wasn’t nearly as conducive for a big season, rounds-wise. April and May were unusually wet, and the mid-September rain and flooding certainly didn’t help matters, especially at the courses that sustained the most damage.
With that in mind, the statistics from the 2013 rounds and revenue survey — which were released last week at the Public Course Operators meeting — were largely predictable. With almost 70 public courses providing specific figures for both 2012 and ’13, the number of “18-hole equivalent” rounds dropped about 8.7 percent at those facilities last year compared to 2012.
“2012 was an incredibly good weather year,” noted CGA executive director Ed Mate. “Good spring, good fall, and rounds were up. Last year, we had a not-so-good spring” and rounds were down.
In coming surveys, the CGA hopes to incorporate some “playable days” weather data into the rounds and revenue report, so the year-to-year numbers become more meaningful on an apples-to-apples basis.
“It’s all really weather-based,” said Eddie Ainsworth, executive director for the Colorado PGA. “The rounds are pretty flat if you look at (playable) weather days. It’ll be interesting when you overlay the weather report. But golf now is just pretty flat.”
While an 8.7 percent drop in rounds took a toll on the bottom line, course operators made up for some of that financial loss because green-fee revenue increased about 84 cents per 18-hole round in 2013, according to the survey.
Though the number of rounds dropped substantially last year, that’s obviously just on an average basis. There were some Colorado courses that actually had more play in 2013 than ’12. Specifically, seven courses that reported figures for both years fall into that category. And though operators share their statistics on the condition that individual facilities aren’t named publicly, one Denver metro-area course saw a jump in rounds of almost 23 percent in 2013.
