The Pellucid Perspective - October 2013 - (Page 16)
THE LAST WORD
The show must go on
W
ith many of us receiving early,
early, early bird notices that registration is now open for next
year’s round of golf industry conferences
in Orlando (PGA Merchandise Show,
Golf Industry Show and CMAA Global
Conference), and having just returned
from the Crittenden Golf Conference
in Phoenix last week, the topic of golf
conferences was on my mind. It appears
that those gatherings, having weathered
the last five years of golf industry gloom
and doom, are alive and well and hoping
for, if not a return to the glory days of
packed houses, at least a renewed interest
in networking and showing the corporate
wares.
A number of our readers are aware that
I used to play a role in the Crittenden/
Golf Inc. Conferences during my years
with Golf Inc. magazine. Attending the
last two in Dallas last year and Phoenix
this year as a member of the media was
a unique perspective (no pun intended)
and a chance to truly see the experience
from an attendee point of view. When I
returned from Phoenix, one of my colleagues at Pellucid Corp. wondered if
people were still attending the annual
Crittenden get—together, and if so, why?
My answer was yes, people still go, albeit
not in the same number of general attendees or exhibitors as a few years back,
but there is still a good representation of
many of the industry’s movers and shakers and subject matter experts. As to why
people attend, the primary reasons are still
pretty much what they always were — the
chance to network with fellow industry
stakeholders in person and perhaps cut
or cement a new deal or two, and for the
paying attendees (speakers get in free),
the chance to perhaps learn a few tricks
they can put to use at their course back
home. Exhibitors show up knowing that
virtually every sales prospect they know is
attending the show will at least pass by or
linger in the vicinity of their booths during the various breaks between sessions or
the nightly cocktail receptions in the exhibit area, unlike the PGA, Golf Industry
Show or CMAA with their much larger
exhibit venues and attendance.
16 The Pellucid PersPecTive
As is typically the case, this year’s
opening keynote on The State of the
Golf Industry, featuring OB Sports
COO Phil Green as moderator and including Century Golf Partners CEO
Jim Hinckley, KemperSports EVP Jim
Stegall and CNL Financial Group SVP
Gary Rosmarin as speakers, dropped no
bombshells. They did present, for those
who were blissfully unaware of them, the
somewhat depressing state of the industry’s rounds, revenue and participation
demographics, interwoven with a few
optimistic notes, mostly along the lines
of golf has survived another economic
attack and will persevere, as long as we
make it fun and run our businesses like
businesses.
Several sessions addressed one of our
favorite topics here at Pellucid — third
party tee time marketers. With folks like
Kurt Albertson of EZLinks, Scott Merchant of Golf Pipeline and Brett Darrow of Quick 18 on various panels, there
were numerous veiled references to “the
elephant in the room” or “the largest tee
time aggregator,” mentioning no name, of
course. Finally Sunrise Golf CEO Mark
Tansey, moderating a panel ominously
entitled “The Biggest Mistakes Top Operators are Making,” halted the bush—
beating, saying “Folks, it’s OK to say the
name — it’s GolfNow,” to the amusement of the audience.
In another session, Steven Ekovich,
Managing Director of the National Golf
& Resort Properties Group, probably
the most prolific of the golf course sales
brokerage firms, raised more than a few
eyebrows (and blood pressures) when
he made the statement “Golf devalues
real estate.” Hands quickly went up in
the audience at such blasphemy, and it
was clarified in the ensuing discussion
that what Ekovich really meant was that
zoning and environmental restrictions
permitting, land could typically be put
to a more lucrative use than erecting a
golf course on it, such as residential or
commercial development. Once that was
clarified, and the point was made that
once built, golf courses tend to accelerate
the value of the neighboring real estate,
the villagers put down their torches and
Ekovich escaped unscathed.
While chance meetings at the PGA,
Golf Industry Show or CMAA Conference on the floor or in the bar at the
Peabody or the Rosen can lead to impromptu business discussions, it’s more
likely at a smaller show like the Crittenden event. Last week, one of Ekovich’s fellow speakers on the Golf Course
Finance panel was Ray Munoz, who has
assembled most of his former executive
team members at Textron Financial in
his new Leisure Financial Group. After
Munoz touched on some of the emerging alternative ways to finance golf course
deals, he and Peter Nanula, the Chairman
of Concert Golf Partners and one of the
industry’s most active recent course buyers, were seen heading off together to talk
a little business.
As for the exhibitors, there are a certain core group of repeat exhibitors at
that particular show, although like any
show, there are other one—hit wonders
who exhibit once, run the cost—benefit
analysis afterward and decide to spend
their marketing dollars elsewhere. The
reason for the repeaters was probably
summed up by one long—time exhibitor,
who told me, “Every year I think about
whether I should come back or not, but
the bottom line is that I almost always
get some worthwhile leads. This year, I’ve
already talked with one company that
looks like they’re going to turn into some
business for us, so I’m glad we came.”
All in all, while the PGA’s Fall event
in Las Vegas has become a shell of its
former self, and largely serves the apparel
side of the business, the industry’s major shows seem to be holding their own.
This year, the Orange County Convention Center will be the center of the golf
industry for nearly 3 weeks, as the PGA
Merchandise Show, Golf Industry Show
and CMAA come and go one after the
other. Depending upon how many attendees are able to wheedle free or reduced greens fees from their Orlando
compatriots, it should be a banner start
to the year for Orlando area courses.
—Jim Dunlap
October 2013
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - October 2013
The Pellucid Perspective - October 2013
ontents
Are golf ’s nonprofit “emperors” fiddling while Rome burns?
Seniors in their golden years, but are you?
A new determinant on “weather” golfers play or not?
Golf needs a voice in the regulatory process
September golf weather impact: Positive month caps positive Q3
Established SF courses leap-frog larger markets
ClubCorp IPO shares priced lower than expected at opening, rise 10% in debut
The show must go on
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