The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010 - (Page 9)

peak weekend rates for non-members are $160 and even the twilight non-member rate is at least $80. Combined with the time required to play the regular layout, its difficulty and the cost, the course was seeing very little play from beginners and was, in general, not fully utilizing its “factory.” An employee naming contest came up with The Big Easy for the 2,715-yard, par 58 layout that was created in April 2009 by Director of Golf James Spadoni and Superintendent Javier Avalos. Physically, essentially all that was required was to closely mow 18 teeing areas, ranging in length from 60 to 290 yards from the greens on the regular course. Big Easy tee times are available during the last two hours of the day on the front nine and an hour and a half after the last tee time on the back nine. Although Tustin Ranch General Manager Steve Plummer declined to reveal the exact number of Big Easy rounds the course has hosted, he said the course hosts “a few groups per day,” and has sold a number of corporate 9-hole shotgun events for team-building or local hotel conference groups. Doing the math, assuming a “few” groups per day amounts to a conservative 10 players at $22 weekday, $24 weekend for members and $26$28 for non-members, and using the low rate of $22, that comes out to slightly over $80,000 in extra revenue per year. And that doesn’t count any cart fees or other ancillary revenue, or the potential “bunny slope” value to beginning players trying to decide if golf is worth the T.E.D. people paying for The Big Easy but sneaking back to the regular tees when out of sight of the clubhouse. “Hey, it’s supposed to be a game of honor, so I don’t think many people are going to do that, but if they do, I’m not going to worry about it,” he said. n P E L LU C I D I S M Golf facilities are factories – When we created the measure of % Utilization and Revenue-perAvailable Round (RevpAR), the easiest way I found to get operators and owners to understand it was relating their course to a factory. It does have a flat-out capacity of rounds constrained by season length, daylight hours and weather and their job is to produce as many rounds as possible up to that capacity limit. This analogy has also come in handy in trying to explain to clients that the answer to the time-constrained golfer condition today is not building smaller “factories”, it’s repurposing our existing factories to better accommodate “bite-sized” golf (i.e. 9 hole rounds, back-nine early weekend times etc.). Why not 9? There has been increased discussion in recent years of 3, 6 or even 12-hole short courses, and a few have been built, generally as add-ons to existing 18-hole facilities, but there has not been much enthusiasm for the idea. More surprisingly, many courses around the country still do not offer a 9-hole rate, despite the fact that the time it takes to play golf (read 18-hole golf ) is by far the number one reason given by people for not playing the game, or not playing it more. One Pellucid client, Red Hawk Ridge in Castle Rock, Colo., perhaps weary of hearing that their “factory” was under-utilized, initiated a 9-hole rate in June of this year. The course previously had only a 9-hole women’s league. By the end of August, the course had generated nearly 1,500 9-hole rounds and over $35,000 in 9-hole greens fee revenue. In years past, many course operators were leery of pricing alternatives such as 9-hole rates or per-hole pricing. In some cases it was bookkeeping and staff training laziness. In others it was paranoia that a few people might sneak in a few extra holes without paying for them. Increasingly, operators are more worried about having no customers at all than the chance their customers may be getting a bit more than they paid for. “We did a lot of crazy things like late afternoon rates where an adult could play for $1 per hole if they brought a kid with them,” said Little. “Our staff said people would cheat and play more holes than they paid for, but we didn’t care if they did, because otherwise they wouldn’t be there at all.” Plummer said he feels the same way about the possibility of www.PellucidcorP.com THE ART, SCIENCE & BUSINESS OF GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE. ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance provides the specialized organization, expertise and resources to care for the most unique and challenging of outdoor environments, America’s golf courses. As the national leader in golf course maintenance contracting, we’re a trusted steward of all manner of golf properties throughout America. 24151 Ventura Boulevard Calabasas, CA 91302 (888) 406-GOLF www.valleycrest.com Comprehensive Golf Course Maintenance The Pellucid PersPecTive 9 http://www.valleycrest.com http://www.valleycrest.com http://WWW.PELLUCIDCORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010

The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010
Contents
Bringing a Pellucid Perspective to Golf Industry Information
What's In a Name.... and an Email Address?
September Weather Impact, August YtD Utilization
Will the PGA TOUR be Subject to Repricing?
Alternative Uses for your Golf Course 'Factory'
Los Angeles Market Profile
Survey Says... You're Still Employed
SCGA-PLGA Merger: Sign of the Times?
Sunshine Laws and Midnight Marketing

The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010