Soft Start to 2009

I purposely divert from the most direct route when driving from my home to the office and my office to home to drive by a very esthetically pleasing golf course in my community. While the course is looking beautiful these late spring days, something is missing. First, I just do not see the folks on the practice teaching facility I normally see. Usually, the long-standing pro can be seen from morning to night on the teaching tee working with individuals or groups. Only one day this week did I see the pro teaching two individuals. The other obviously missing sight is the traffic on the course during non-league hours. This is a public course reasonably priced and well maintained and usually showing consistently high rounds played.
I received an email this week from the organizer of a local fund-raising golf tournament we have sponsored for the last ten years. The tournament is in late June. As of this week only 35% of the slots had been filled and the sponsorship was down.
My observations, while anecdotal, appear to be accurate based upon reporting being done by facility operators and industry manufacturers.
Current research seems to indicate that this year rounds played will be down, players will be looking for deals in greens fees, golf purchasing will be down, there will be more closings than openings of facilities and openings will be delayed.
On the positive side, the golf industry tends to be supported, by consumers at the middle and upper end of income brackets. Many folks belonging to private clubs and paying monthly fees will try to maximize their expenditure by continuing to play as much or more than usual. Leagues usually collect their money all before the season starts so golfers once committed to the league will see the season through.
As discussed in my May 2nd blog, “Success from Adversity,” it is more important than ever that you remain aggressive in marketing and take extra special care of existing customers if you want to vault out of the current recession rather than climb out when the opportunity arises.