What Recession?

[Dean Stokes]

I just got to work this fine Sunday and on my desk was the new Golf Week.

Flicking through I landed on page 16. "Sneek peak at Old Macdonald available".

For $110, if I am one of the 'lucky' 32 golfers permitted each day (April 1- Oct 1), I can play 10 holes at The Bandon resort on their new design.

Cheers

[cary lichtenstein]

I think Bandon Dunes is great, but I'd be shocked if they don't suffer a significant drop in the number of rounds, rooms, dinners, pro shop surchases just like everyone else.

I'm sure they are prepared for a 25% drop off in all of the above.

[J_ Crisham]

Cary,   I agree.  Yesterday I attended the Chicagoland Golf Show. Attendance was good but not great. Most of the booths were selling merchandise at very reasonable prices in an effort to unload inventory. I had several conversations with tour operators and golf destinations and the consensus is that it will be a tough year for the industry. The folks from HH are suggesting at least a 25% decline. Time will tell.  Jack

[Mike Wagner]

I believe they are extending the spring rates through June - best value in America!

[Cory Brown]

This is just anecdotal evidence, but we tried to make reservations for next February at Bandon, 364 days beforehand and got the last Chrome Lake room and were not able to get an early morning tee time any of the days we will be there.  Maybe Presidents Day is one of their biggest weekends?  There didn't seem to be any signs of recession within that property.

[Don_Mahaffey]

I worked our local high school's big annual track meet ealier this week. Two of my fellow dads and timers are real estate brokers. They both wrote up five contracts this week, and this is very rural TX. Of course there never was much of a bubble here, so there was no burst.

Reminds me of another story. A few months ago my 10th grade son comes home from school complaining about an impossible assignment his English instructer has given him. He was asked to interview someone who lived through the great depression and then write a report on the interview. My uncle Jake, who turns 90 this June, was who I suggested he call. It's turned out great as they've hit it off, but that's another story. Uncle Jake who grew up in rural OK says they never even realized they were in a depression. They lived on a farm raised most of their own food and money was tight before '29 and stayed that way until he returned from WWII.
You have to have something to lose before you can crash.
Chicken Little doesn't live here.

I think Bandon will survive.

[Craig Sweet]

I asked our Super how things were shaping up for Spring and he said we had budgeted for something like a reduction in membership of 20 members and it looked like we might lose 1/2 that...so not so bad.  But then we tend to lag the national trends by 6 months to a year.

[Dean Stokes]

Gents,

This thread was started to get a reaction from a golfing audience on the asking price of $110 to play 10 holes of golf.

From the reaction, or lack there of, I must be the only one on this site that thinks it is ridiculous and overpriced given these uncertain economic times.

Must be wrong, AGAIN.

[Tim_Cronin]

Jack, there was a big crowd at the golf show on Friday. One outlying resort operator said bookings were up compared to 2008, and he'd raised prices. I guess it's all in the quality and cachet of the course.

[Craig Sweet]

$110 for 10 holes is a rip off...

[Joe Fairey]

My family has been in automobile biz since 1926... been  thru many recessions, Great Depression, World War, and numerous conflicts.... due to manufacturer incentive program variations, we track our biz in three running averages.....

Nov, Dec 2008, Jan 09   up 17% vs same three month period 2007-08
Dec, Jan 09, Feb 09       up 21% vs. same 2007-08

like in rural  Texas ,   our area has really not been a part of the real estate bubble...

just maybe ...there's a 'light'....

Joe Fairey
Fairey Chevrolet-Cadillac
Orangeburg, SC

[Mark Smolens]

Jack, there was a big crowd at the golf show on Friday. One outlying resort operator said bookings were up compared to 2008, and he'd raised prices. I guess it's all in the quality and cachet of the course.

The reason crowds were up on Friday (I was there as well) was due to the fact that the entry fee was cut in half.  I talked to a friend who went today, and it was a "ghost town."  I was unimpressed by the volume and quality of golf inventory available, and it sure seemed that the ## of exhibitors were way down. . .

[Ken McGlynn]

Gents,

This thread was started to get a reaction from a golfing audience on the asking price of $110 to play 10 holes of golf.

From the reaction, or lack there of, I must be the only one on this site that thinks it is ridiculous and overpriced given these uncertain economic times.

Must be wrong, AGAIN.

Dean......actually you've got it half right. The $110.00 will get you to the first tee. Play on Old Mac is caddie mandatory. Plan on spending in the neighborhood of $200 for the 10 hole preview round. If it's any consolation, I have played the 10, and think when it's all said and done, this links might outshine all the others. Mike Keiser hits another out of the park!

[Mike Erdmann]

This is just anecdotal evidence, but we tried to make reservations for next February at Bandon, 364 days beforehand and got the last Chrome Lake room and were not able to get an early morning tee time any of the days we will be there.  Maybe Presidents Day is one of their biggest weekends?  There didn't seem to be any signs of recession within that property.

Cory, many of the clubs in Oregon take groups down to Bandon in the winter months.  Our club, for example, takes a large group every Presidents' Day weekend.  Bandon may have those times booked that far in advance for those group bookings.

As for the recession, I can tell you that when I was down there a couple weeks ago the caddies were commenting that business was most definitely off.

[Pete_Pittock]

Dean,
   The $110 for 10 holes comes to $11/hole. In April the rate per hole is pennies above $9 a hole. May thru Oct the rate is about $12.25/hole.
   Your answer is yes, people already pay that much per hole at Bandon.

   When I'm driving down for the King's Putter I might make a detour.

   I'm with Ken on this one, based on walking the 10 holes three times, taking 100+ pictures and scoping out what I could of the other holes.
My prediction is hosting theWalker Cup in '15 or '17.

[jeffwarne]

$110 for 10 holes is a rip off...

If you pay the $110, do you get replay rates on more golf that day?

[Ken McGlynn]

Dean,
   The $110 for 10 holes comes to $11/hole. In April the rate per hole is pennies above $9 a hole. May thru Oct the rate is about $12.25/hole.
   Your answer is yes, people already pay that much per hole at Bandon.

   When I'm driving down for the King's Putter I might make a detour.

   I'm with Ken on this one, based on walking the 10 holes three times, taking 100+ pictures and scoping out what I could of the other holes.
My prediction is hosting theWalker Cup in '15 or '17.

Pete....I'm with you on the Walker Cup idea for Old Macdonald but it will require changing some minds at the USGA in Far Hills, New Jersey. I had the good fortune to caddie for current Walker Cup Captain Buddy Marucci Jr. at the 2007 mid-Am at BDGR and he nixed any suggestion of bringing the GB/I team to compete on a true links. His premise was why give them a home court advantage when it's our turn to host. If Buddy remains on the Walker Cup committee past his current Captain's tenure, expect some opposition.

[Tom Yost]

What's the deal with only 10 holes?

[PCCraig]

$110 is steep for the normal golfer. For us GCA types it is a steal!

[Garland Bayley]

What's the deal with only 10 holes?

Only 10 are built. The rest will be available next year.

[Garland Bayley]

$110 is steep for the normal golfer. For us GCA types it is a steal!

Rustic Canyon is a steal. There is no way that Bandon Dunes is a steal just because you are an architecture fan.

[Craig Van Egmond]

Back when Bandon first opened and it was $75.00 and then half that for a replay, then it was a steal!

[PCCraig]

$110 is steep for the normal golfer. For us GCA types it is a steal!

Rustic Canyon is a steal. There is no way that Bandon Dunes is a steal just because you are an architecture fan.

I should have put a      after my post

[Kalen Braley]

If normal rack rates are $250+ for 18 holes, then why all the furor over $110 to play 10?

Thats a much better $per hole ratio as has been pointed out.... 

[tlavin]

What recession?  I'm in Maui and my hotel is maybe at 60% capacity.  The hotel next door is probably around 35%.  You can get any tee time you want at Kapalua or any of the other great courses.  You want a 7:00 table for four at Mama's Fish House?  Mahalo and enjoy your meal, my good friend.  I'm really enjoying the weather and the cuisine (no golf, I'm on my mulligan honeymoon) and it's great to always be able to get seating around the pool, but it is truly depressing to look at the various businesses around the island and realize that this is the beginning of the travel downturn.  In six months, the situation will be beyond bleak.  Meanwhile, the government gives another $30 billion to the biggest pig of them all, AIG.  Too big to fail, we're told.  How about, "too big to succeed"??