Tim:
I do appreciate your feedback and understand exactly what you are referring to as we came across that same conundrum in developing the survey. We may have erred in the spirit of consistency with our ratings explanation and in the future will be more flexible from question to question. Your comments are not being overly critical at all.
At the end of the day, hopefully most people understand what we are trying to figure out.
Carl, you are correct. We would like to know what the consumer is willing to pay for (or up for). In other words, do golfers think that a particular item is a Need (acknowledges that it is something he/she will always pay for, and gladly), Want (wouldn't mind having it and as a result, wouldn't mind paying extra for it), or a Luxury. We also want the operator, developer, architect, greens chairman, etc. to determine whether their efforts may or may not be worth the dollars those efforts require based on what the golfer thinks.
Luxury is where we really struggled with the survey but came to this conclusion in its development: Some people would see that a certain item was a luxury and classify it as such and others would see that same item as an abosulute need and classify it as such. For example, when confronted with the question of putting surface color: Some would say that they think a perfect shade of vibrant green (think Augusta National) is a luxury and not required for them to enjoy their golf experience. Others may say it is a need for them to enjoy their golf experience. At the end of the day, if more people say that they believe that the perfect shade of green is unnecessary to the enjoyment of the golf experience, then maybe someone somewhere would decide not to make it a requisite of their maintenance regimen and as a result, save a few dollars of expense (and hopefully pass that savings on to the consumer).
On the flip side, if most people felt that green perfection was an absolute need, then that would be a sign that maybe golf in many places isn't intended to be affordable. I am not sure what to take from that. The information we glean from this survey may reveal many things that we can build on if we are looking at costs, or may reveal nothing and it tells us nothing. The all-encompassing topic of whether golf can or should be affordable, and for whom, leaves much interpretation for many different people. If we don't ever at least attempt to think about it, then that would be a disappointment.
The bottom line is that this whole effort (including the Symposium itself) isn't intended to be "one answer for all". it is intended to provide a different perspective for those who want that information and to make incremental improvements along the way on a person by person basis.