"Great golf courses are doing well"

[Mike_Young]

I just read the article:  "https://www.golfcourseindustry.com/article/Kemper-Sports-Skinner-Bandon which states that the great courses are doing great.  .  And then I came across two threads on GCA, 1- "resort golf age" and 2"Kipp Schulties billed as golf industries leading course architect".

The thing they all have in common is they are just industry PR.  This GCA site probably goes all in for the Kemper article and yet may not like the sound of the "resort" or "leading course architect" article.   We have had so much smoke and mirrors in this business for so long that it is smothering it. 

Almost every interview regarding the state of golf will be with a large management company executive.  Sharp guys knowing numbers but maybe not knowing how to plug in a cart changer.  Check out Golf Course News and the "Top 40 in Golf" deals and they will be loaded with management company guys.  These guys see a different world.  Not that it's a bad world.  I love Bandon and the other great new courses that have been built but that is not the industry.  Take the housing market as an example.  One builder might be building three or four 10 million dollar homes in an area and the magazines can grab that story line and say the "luxury home market is solid" and all the while the average home market is non existent.   It's like that with so many things.  The magazines wish to sell copy and the associations wish to gain the power of the multi course operators etc and that's fine but don't believe the hype.  The resort courses have the money for advertising and depend on such.  And who are we to say an architect unknown to many is not a leading industry architect when he has a 8 million dollar project.  20 years ago there was a magazine called "Golf Course News".  It was saturated with all of the new projects and related advertising.  One could not get mention of a bunker renovation ( if a firm would even consider doing one at the time) and today the leading industry mags are touting such.  Tom Doak just recently mentioned somewhere how he had found many qualified staff in various regions and how it was much more economical to use such instead of shipping staff all over. 

Well, for "great courses" to continue to do well and have a clientele, it is imperative that across the country there be local courses that work for the same customer on a daily basis while he is dreaming all year of going to one of the "greats".  The so called "top minds" in golf know nothing of this.    Even this site goes bonkers over some guy touting rework of three or four bunkers on some great old course and at the same time has no idea what is going on "underground" on less than great courses.  The glamour has got to get out of this business.  Kudos to the guys who have gained that status but so many will go broke just chasing that while they could have done very well servicing regional needs. 

Sorry for the rant...I tire of the BS some mornings....if I hear one more "Top Management company guy" tell us how to run the golf business, I might post a naked picture of Hillary....

[BCowan]

''Sharp guys knowing numbers but maybe not knowing how to plug in a cart changer''

That is some good stuff there.  Mike, if there wasn't financial engineering of interest rates there wouldn't of been so much of the nonsense. Hold on, Negative interest rates around the corner!  We need some more Mal investment.

[Greg Tallman]

Perhaps a bit of an overreaction Mike. It's hardly a new concept in stating if you build a compelling course, look after it properly and provide great service you will be successful which is bascially what he said.

Beyond that Skinner is a pretty good guy.

[Mike_Young]

Perhaps a bit of an overreaction Mike. It's hardly a new concept in stating if you build a compelling course, look after it properly and provide great service you will be successful which is bascially what he said.

Beyond that Skinner is a pretty good guy.

Greg,
I don't disagree with any of what you say above.  I'm just saying that at some point we have to realize the plight of the everyday mom and pop and keep them healthy.  The management company guys can't do that and don't know how.  I'm not saying any particular one of them is a bad guy but they definitely don't need to be filling up the "50 most important people in golf" list...IMHO
Cheers

[Mark Pavy]

The 50 most important people in golf are all teaching golf to kids.

[Jim_Kennedy]

The 50 most important people in golf are all teaching golf to kids.

The number of people playing golf is pegged at around 24.7 m, about what it was in 1995 ... so, from a grass roots perspective, another important segment of golfers are the players themselves. if just 3% of them brought one new person into the game next season there'd be 741,000 new players. Do that for the next ten years and the tears would end.

[Ken Moum]

Perhaps a bit of an overreaction Mike. It's hardly a new concept in stating if you build a compelling course, look after it properly and provide great service you will be successful which is bascially what he said.

Beyond that Skinner is a pretty good guy.

Greg,
I don't disagree with any of what you say above.  I'm just saying that at some point we have to realize the plight of the everyday mom and pop and keep them healthy.  The management company guys can't do that and don't know how.  I'm not saying any particular one of them is a bad guy but they definitely don't need to be filling up the "50 most important people in golf" list...IMHO
Cheers

Mike,


I couldn't agree more.


FWIW, I think one of the factors is that there's altogether too much free golf.  For a couple of reasons. As you may recall, I worked for GCSAA for 9 years and I felt so strongly about it that I virtually never took a free round, and now I am Golfweek rater and I haven't once used it to get free golf.


Back to why i think it's bad. First, I have talked to a couple of folks who said some days the "association" golf that brings in 0 dollars is a significant factor in profitability. Although I suppose it's only a factor in resort areas.


But the REAL problem is that the people making decisions in golf have NO CLUE what it's like to pay today's green fees in vacation areas.  Imagine how few people in the industry have ever taken their family of four on a golf vacation and paid rack rate... or paid anything, for that matter.


I'm in Arizona right now and even with a "loyalty card" that cost 150 bucks it cost my wife and I 150 to 200 dollars to play one round of golf. And this is on courses with some open tee times almost every day.


I know you don't like what Golfnow has done to prices, but the fact is, my wife and I cannot pay anything like those prices and play more than 3-4 times a month.


Simplish courses that can keep prices low are essential.  The problem is that too often these courses aren't just in poorer condition, they are in pitiful condition.  Somehow a balance has to be struck.


Ken

[Scott Weersing]

I think Kemper is doing well because they pick the right courses to manage and then develop good rates for their fees.


I wonder why other course management companies don't follow their mantra, " a unique product and unique vision for the property, and then great service because everybody is looking for value."


[/size]So many courses want to be like everyone else. Or even worse, they want to be like the courses people see on TV.

[George Pazin]

Nice post, Mike.

Part of me understands what the big guys are doing. They simply can't speak honestly, they have to sell their product at all times; they're like a governor or president in that respect - straight talk would panic many people.

Having said that, no industry can really thrive if the bottom and middle are not healthy. The top players may thrive, but the industry will begin a long decline that ultimately hurts everyone. The people who are at the top can enjoy things for awhile - perhaps even a long while - but ultimately it will not be good for them, either.