The Pellucid Perspective - January 2020 - 14

MARKET FOCUS

Boston still oversupplied but posting
healthy Utilization

Boston-Cambridge, MA-NH Core
Business Statistical Area (CBSA)

n this monthly section we profile one of the Top 25 US Golf
Markets based on a Pellucid composite score of the golfer
base, the supply level and rounds demand. Within that Top
25 universe, we then rank them based on relative health using
a Pellucid weighted scoring system of 7 variables ranging from
Population Growth to Avg. Facility Utilization. In this issue,
we'll profile the 9th-ranked market, the Boston-Cambridge
CBSA. According to the web, the term and practice of Happy
Hour were banned in Boston in 1984 which continues to this
day (sounds like a good excuse to go to the golf course where
you can have "4 happy hours" during a round and drink to your
heart's content).
By rounds demand (one of our 3 selection criteria for initial
inclusion in the Top 25 list), Boston punches above its composite ranking weight coming in 6th among US markets with
facility-reported annual demand of just over 7M rounds (that's
facility-reported, through-the-turnstiles tally counts both local and (limited) tourist play). Looking at the golf consumer
base, we see that Boston is home to a healthy local golfer base of
over half a million golfers (this is local, resident population only,
doesn't count any of the golf tourist crowd). That golfer base
is served by a plethora of supply with 222 18-hole equivalent
(EHE) facilities producing an average ratio of just under 2,500
local resident golfers per EHE, a very healthy level at 1.5x the
national average.
The supply mix vs. the national distribution across Pellucid's

By rounds demand (one of our 3 selection
criteria for initial inclusion in the Top 25
list), Boston punches above its composite
ranking weight coming in 6th among US
markets with facility-reported annual
demand of just over 7M rounds.

five access/value/usage segments shows a meaningful bias to the
Private segment at 39% of holes (a 138 index vs. the national contribution). The split between Private/Public is 39%/61% which
is significantly more skewed to Private than the national average of 28%/72%. The balance between Value-added golf supply
(Private & Public Premium) vs. Value golf (Public Value, Price
and Learning & Practice) is 57%/43% skewing significantly to

14 The Pellucid PersPecTive

Private

PublicPremium

PublicValue

PublicPrice

Learning
& Practice

Boston-Cambridge,

Tot US
Golfer Base
MA-NH CBSA
- Est. # of Golfers (Ks)
528.9 25,500
222 16,749
- # of 18 Hole Equivalent Facilities
2,383 1,535
- Golfers per 18-Hole Equiv.

Supply Mix
- Private
- Pub-Prem
- Pub-Val
- Pub-Price
- Learn & Prac
Supply/Demand Balance
- '00-'17 Cume Supply Growth/Decline
- '00-'17 Cume Rds Demand Growth/
Decline+
- '00-'17 Cume Mkt Supply Dilution
(-)/Absorption (+) Level*+
Av. Facility Throughput & Efficiency
- Avg. Ann Rds Velocity (Ks, per EHE)
- %Utilization Rate

39%
18%
16%
12%
14%

28%
19%
29%
14%
9%

19%
0%

11%
-7%

-21%

-17%

32.5
59%

26.5
42%

Future
Facility

Index
vs. US

155
138
97
57
88
157

123
140

* Period % Chng in Rds vs. Period % Chng in Supply

Above average level vs. US (Index >105)
Average level vs. US (Index 95-104)
Below average level vs. US (Index <95)

January 2020

The Pellucid Perspective - January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - January 2020