The Pellucid Perspective - March 2020 - 8

INDUSTRY
IMPACTS

Golf and Corona

If only this were about the beer
By Harvey Silverman

aybe Gilda Radner as Roseanne Rosannadanna said it
best, "It's always something. If it's not one thing, it's another."
Just when rounds played appear to be percolating upward, the
U.S. and many countries around the world mobilize to contain
and fight the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. Stock markets
recently tumbled into bear territory (down more than 20%), taking with it trillions of dollars of wealth. Our Federal Reserve
knee-jerks with a 50-basis point reduction in the prime rate and
experts across the economic spectrum predict a global slowdown
of economic growth, and possibly a recession. Stores like Costco
run out of things like cleaning supplies, baby wipes, paper towels,
and toilet paper (because if you are quarantined for two weeks,
you still have to poop).
Will COVID-19 affect golf ? I suspect it will, but to what
extent is impossible to say. Let's take a look at the micro - golf
courses and rounds played; and the macro - golf tournaments,
especially with The Masters and the PGA Championship coming up over the next eight weeks.
The U.S. economy has seen a steady expansion since the Great
Recession of 2008, 2009, and the slow recovery of 2010. Here are
rounds played (measured by Golf Datatech) against the weather
(measured by Pellucid's Cognilogic):
2008: -1.8% rounds/-0.4% golf playable hours
2009: -0.6% rounds/+0.7% golf playable hours
2010: -2.3% rounds/-1.3% golf playable hours
Rounds dropped by almost 5% during the time frame. The
weather didn't help, but rounds played didn't suffer as one might
think considering how close we came to a full-blown Depression.
Golf courses located in infected areas can only hope for the
best for their business. But there are lots of things they can
and should do at their facility. The Center for Disease Control
(CDC) issued "The Interim Guide to Businesses and Employees," updated regularly. You can find it HERE.
The guide emphasizes encouraging, maybe demanding, that
sick employees stay home. Most golf course employees are
hourly workers, and this guidance hurts them the most. I'm not

Gilda Radner as Roseanne Rosannadanna
on Saturday Night Live.

one to tell anyone how to spend their money, but a gracious and
"woke" owner might consider paying hourly employees to heed
the best advice to stay home and protect both themselves, other
employees, and customers. You don't want to be the place where
an employee tests positive for COVID-19.
The second issued guidance is to "Perform Routine Environmental Cleaning." Wow, golf courses have a lot of touchpoints.
The obvious ones are the golf shop counter, bathrooms (including on-course facilities), food and beverage areas, and golf carts,
including steering wheels and GPS screens. But what about
ball washers, golf shop merchandise that's handled but not purchased, range baskets, and flagsticks? You can probably think of
more, and if so, how can you possibly keep your environment
"clean?"
Now the macro. Health experts issue daily updates as new
positive COVID-19 cases pop up around the country. The warnings get personal for me as I'm in the prime target group. I am
65 with a chronic, underlying health condition - I'm a Type 1
diabetic going on 43 years.
Around where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, schools,

Will COVID-19 affect golf?
I suspect it will, but to what
extent is impossible to say.
8 The Pellucid Perspective

March 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hYGtXIqDa0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hYGtXIqDa0 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdc.gov%252Fcoronavirus%252F2019-ncov%252Fspecific-groups%252Fguidance-business-response.html

The Pellucid Perspective - March 2020

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