Rounds dip, revenues flat

Golf Course News, May 2003 by Rice, Derek

JUPITER, Fla. -According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), two out of every three golf facilities in the United States reported a decrease in rounds played in 2002. In addition, the NGF said, revenues at facilities were flat, thus creating a potentially dangerous mix for the golf industry.

The research study, conducted in conjunction with several industry organizations, showed rounds played dropped three percent from 2001 levels. Revenues increased, but only by 0.9 percent, according to the NGF. These numbers came from a January 2003 survey of 2,191 golf facilities, with the data weighted to be nationally representative.

According to NGF president Joe Beditz, the decrease in total rounds played was not unexpected.

"Lack of growth in the number of golfers continues to inhibit any material growth in rounds played or facility revenues, making facility owners and operators vulnerable to increased competition and the poor economy," Beditz said.

Rounds revenue, defined as the sum of green fees, golf car rentals, annual dues and trail fees, increased 0.6 percent, from $13.1 billion to $13.8 billion. The rest of the increase in revenues was attributed to food and beverage and merchandise revenues.

The rounds data cloud is not without its silver lining, however. Despite being outnumbered in the survey by nearly two to one, there are facilities around the country that experienced an increase in total rounds played in spite of difficult economic times, according to National Golf Course Owners Association executive director Mike Hughes.

Hughes said facilities cited a number of factors as having contributed to the changes in rounds played in 2002.

"Operators who had fewer rounds in 2002 than in 2001 cited weather, the economy and competition as the top reasons for the decline," Hughes said. "Meanwhile, those who had more rounds in 2002 cited weather, improved course conditions, improved or increased advertising/ marketing and improved management as the main reasons for the increase."

On a regional basis, only central/south Florida and the Gulf Coast posted moderate gains in rounds of 0.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. Hardest hit regions were the lower Midwest (down 5.5 percent), the Southeast (down 5.1 percent) and the Northeast (down 5.0 percent). For a complete list of rounds played numbers for each of the 11 regions the NGF defined for the study, see the chart at left.

The NGF's rounds played numbers largely agree with those published each month in the Databank section of Golf Course News. Those numbers, provided monthly by golf research company Golf Datatech, showed a 2.9 percent decrease in rounds played from 2001 to 2002.