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No, really — the price is right
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A golfer enjoys customer appreciation day at Brown Deer Park GC in Milwaukee. The course hosts the PGA Tour’s U.S. Bank Championship in mid-July. Tim Wegner, a 13-year member of GCSAA, is the Class A superintendent at the course. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee County Parks/Jeff Baudry |
With the economy in a recession and golf rounds down, many courses may be tempted to discount green fees to lure in more golfers.
But the message at the State of Public Golf session at the Golf Industry Show in New Orleans was simple: don’t.
While one attendee called discounting “the biggest problem in golf right now,” Brian M. Zimmerman, director of golf for the Milwaukee Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture, warned that courses should find alternative methods to get more golfers.
“During the peak season — June, July, August — we have a firm stance not to discount golf at all,” Zimmerman said. “Discounting is a very slippery slope to get on.”
Zimmerman, a GCSAA Class A member who oversees 15 Milwaukee golf courses and was one of two presenters at the seminar, said he has had success at bundling extras into a package to lure in golfers. For example, the courses would include a hot dog and a fountain drink as part of the green fee as an added value for playing the course.
Todd A. Lupkes, CGCS at Palouse Ridge Golf Course in Pullman, Wash., and moderator of the seminar, warned that lowering green fees can change the demographic, and therefore the spending habits, of a course’s golfers. A bump in rounds played, therefore, might not mean a bump in overall cash flow.
Lupkes told the story of a course he was familiar with that saw this happen first hand.
“The (regular greens fee) crowd comes in and buys things in the golf shop, they stay after the round and have dinner,” he said. “But the (discounted) crowd played golf and just left. And (the course) had more wear.”
Christopher S. Gray Sr., Class A member and director of golf operations at Marvel Golf Course in Benton, Ky., and the other presenter of the seminar, wondered if the attrition of some golf courses would relieve the financial stress on the surviving courses.
“In my area there are too many golf courses,” he said. “We’ve overbuilt. We’ve got six courses; we can probably only support three or four. Maybe it’s time to thin the herd out a little bit.”
The panel made it clear to the attendees that in this tough economy, now is not the time to be conservative.
“You can’t be afraid to try something, especially in this market,” Zimmerman said.
“You need to find out what works,” Lupkes echoed. “This is the time to try it. If you’re a superintendent and you have a good idea, this is not the time to stay quiet.”
“Uneven Fairways — The Story of the Negro Leagues of Golf,” a documentary about golfers who confronted prejudice and struggles for the right to play golf at the highest level, premiered on The Golf Channel last month. The 60-minute program covers stories of several of golf’s trailblazers, such as John Shippen, GCSAA 2007 Old Tom Morris Award winner Charlie Sifford, Bill Spiller, Ted Rhodes and Joe Louis. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the documentary also features interviews of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Calvin Peete, Jim Thorpe and Joe Louis Barrow Jr. of The First Tee. For more information, visit The Golf Channel, (www.golfchannel.com). With New Orleans barely in the rearview mirror, GCSAA is already calling for presentation requests for seminar and session topics at the 2010 GCSAA Education Conference and Golf Industry Show in San Diego. The deadline for proposals is March 12. To share your expertise, submit your proposal online at www.gcsaa.org/education/teach/rfp/rfp.aspx, or contact GCSAA Education at 800-472-7878. |
