Finally the grip of a snowy cold winter is loosened and we have a golf season underway. The NGF predicts play will continue to slowly improve. We in the Great Lakes region have seen a little better utilization each of the last four years, but we also know that weather is the key for a good season. So far, weather has not helped. But let us have faith we’ll see a nice Summer/Fall pattern!
Acquisitions
Have you noticed all the acquisition activity? Many golf courses are changing hands, looks like about 250 in the past year. Some even involve money from Wall Street investment companies.
Those folks are looking for 5 year deals that give them a good return on investment. What are they seeing in the golf course world? Does their investing tell us they see good things coming? An interesting development.
Golf World Environment
Yes, there were more closing last year too. And there will be some more. A natural phenomenon for a market that remains overbuilt in some areas. Don’t be discouraged by articles in the main stream media about the coming closings, which they will say indicates golf is a declining industry. Closings are a healthy, although sad, condition that will improve the market for all survivors.
In many areas in the Ohio River region, the golf industry must also contend with demographic issues. People have left the area as manufacturing and other businesses moved out or closed shop. While the trend leveled out in some metros like Columbus and Cincinnati, it is still active in others.
Coupled with stagnate family incomes means golf courses fight for spending from customers less able to do so. Things are getting better, but we still need an economic revival in much of our region.
It is good news that golfers want to play and are doing so as weather permits. The past two years suffered long ugly winters. Weather seriously hurt rounds played in the 1st quarter and slowed rounds in the 2nd. But the 3rd and 4th quarters were robust. Just proves the impact weather can have.
Millennials now make up about 25% of the golfing population. Articles claiming Millennials will not take to golf appear to have been in error. They want to golf. What they need to golf more is better paying jobs. Young people were deeply impacted by the recession. Many are still attempting to build well-paying careers. As they do, they are picking up the clubs just like their parents and grandparents did.
Golf Course Trend
Golf Course Architects are often working under a new set of parameters. Words like smaller, simpler, less flashy, and less costly define what architects are now designing for new courses or major renovations.
It comes down to designing a course that owners can afford to build and maintain and being a place golfers like to hang out at. Architects openly talk about “the golf business lost itself in a miasma of excess” when remembering the 90s and early 2000s.
Is this another example of returning to the industry’s early roots? The big question is whether golfers will respond. Early results show they are.
