Rounds of golf played in the first eight months of 2012 jumped considerably compared to last year — both in Colorado and nationally — but industry officials are attributing the increases primarily to unseasonably warm weather in the early part of the year.
The CGA compiled figures from 74 Colorado public golf facilities that responded to a rounds and revenue survey based on the period from January through August. The association reported the results earlier this month at a public golf operators meeting.
The figures show a marked improvement over the same period last year. Rounds were up an average of 8.9 percent, while green fee revenue jumped 9.5 percent.
“The positive outtake is that when the inventory is there, it’s going to get used,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “So there is a desire among our core golfers to play more golf if the weather is conducive.
“But my takeaway isn’t, ‘Wow, golf is growing again?’ No.”
Figures nationally are also up. The National Golf Foundation reports that, through August, rounds countrywide had increased 7.7 percent compared to the same period in 2011.
That’s at least a step in the right direction after the number of golfers in the U.S. dropped from 30 million in 2005 to 25.7 million last year, according to the NGF.
“My overall feeling is it’s great that revenue is up (in Colorado), but a lot of it for sure is based on weather,” said Colorado PGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth. “But there are a lot of individual operations that are really trying to implement programs that get that golfer to come back, whether it be through retention programs or new player development programs.”
The Colorado rounds and revenue survey results are shared by the public course operators on the condition that numbers for specific individual facilities aren’t divulged.
Only a half-dozen non-par-3 courses that responded to the survey reported rounds down in the first two-thirds of 2012. And increases range up to 46 percent compared to the same period in 2011.
On the green fee revenue side, one course’s numbers jumped 25 percent. Only two reported green fee revenue dropping from last year.
Overall, the facilities received an average of 15 cents more in green fees per round ($24.68 vs. $24.53) than for the same period in 2011.
Regionally, northern Colorado courses collectively posted the top increases, with rounds up 11 percent and green fee revenue up 12.5 percent.
“We probably need to dig a little deeper into the analysis to figure out what’s going on because the raw gross numbers of rounds and revenue don’t tell the story,” Mate said. “It’s not like a hotel business where your inventory from year to year is the same. So you need to have apples to apples, and we’re not comparing apples to apples (year to year). Over a 10- or 20-year period when you measure this stuff, weather kind of works itself out where you’ll have ups and downs and ebbs and flows.
“But year over year, this year underscores the need to do some sort of playable-days analysis as well. Because my sense was from May to September rounds were pretty flat (compared to 2011). It was March and April that really made the difference.”
While Ainsworth realizes the weather was the main driving force in the rounds and revenue increases this year, he believes that other factors can have a significant effect over time. This year, PGA of America sections have put a heavy emphasis on “Get Golf Ready”, a nationwide program in which PGA and LPGA professionals teach people everything they’ll need to know to play golf with confidence — in five lessons, usually for $99 total. The idea is to bring new and former golfers into the game as seamlessly as possible in a no-pressure environment.
Ainsworth said the Colorado PGA, with more than 120 facilities offering Get Golf Ready, leads the PGA of America in the utilization of that program.
“I think where the rubber will meet the road will actually be next year,” Ainsworth said. “I think everyone is trying to make golf more welcoming in reaching different markets. So next year will really be the tale of the tape.”
