The Pellucid Perspective - April 2021 - 8

PHOTO BY PASUWAN / SHUTTERSTOCK

COVIDend

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liminarily) compare this to the Golf Datatech-Public
facilities figure for Dec. Year-to-Date (YtD) which was
+12%...Two caveats here, the first being that the number
bantered around by the media is the All Facilities figure
(+14%) which ignores the fact that Public was +12% and
Private +19% so the appropriate benchmark is the 12%
number. The second being Stuart's sage advice that early
adopters are generally higher performers so these figures
are likely to " regress to the mean " as we get more " takers "
	Capacity Rounds - clearly shows that weather was not
a factor (+1%) in the geographies where these facilities
reside. This foreshadows the math of Played Rounds
way up + Capacity Rounds basically flat = Utilization
strongly up
	Utilization - after factoring out weather, the portfolio
had a very strong year averaging a 62% rate, up 13 points
from their '19 performance (49% Utilization)
	Golf Revenue-per-Available Round - Up a healthy 27%
after factoring out the fractional weather favorability
	Golf Revenue per Played Round - up 1% vs. year-ago;
this seems to suggest that, while we had pricing power
due to our " approved recreation " designation, we didn't
overplay our hand and raise prices indiscriminately (this
also doesn't account for the fact that there were considerable expenses involved in COVID compliance lest
some industry observers suggest that we were " gouging "
customers)
	Achieved % of Peak Rate - this is a measure we're using
as a crude proxy for the level of discounting and whether
that's going up or down. Based on Stuart Lindsay's
industry knowledge and guidance, this number is going
to be ~80% for starters just due to rounds dispersion
across days-of-week and dayparts (weekday discount
vs. weekend, PM/twilight discount vs. primetime etc.).
Below that 80% threshold, the rest of any lower number
reflects the sum of special rates ( Jrs/Srs), season passes,
leagues, promotions, loyalty program discounts etc.
Across our clients over the years, this number generally
rests between 60-70% as a reference point. This pilot
portfolio reinforces that range and, interestingly, suggests
that '20 was unlike pre-pandemic times. In that era,
when we saw facility rounds increases, it was generally
reflected in a higher discount rate which indicated that
we had simply " bought " those incremental rounds (at an
unfavorable exchange rate)

So what did it take for the owner/operators to get all that information and insight for their individual facility during this free

8 The Pellucid Perspective

pilot? It required them to:
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e	 mail me and say that they wanted to sign up (elapsed
time, 30 seconds)
	Get my email back with instructions on how to register
at GroupLooper so we could assign them as the " admin "
for their facility(ies) (elapsed time to Register 1-3 mins)
	Get my email back confirming they were now registered
and assigned to their facility (1 min)
	Log in and input their historical figures (monthly
Rounds, Golf Revenue and Peak Season GF Rate, 24
months for '19 and '20 calendar years) (most said this
took them ~15-30 mins per facility. After they had
input the historical data, the monthly updates they provided for Mar and Apr took them <5 mins per facility)
	Time to review the reports and play with the features
and functionality of the tool (up to them, some said they
did the tour and got insights in <30 mins, some have
been back multiple times and spent an hour+ on the
tool)

For the sake of space preservation here, all the details of the
program (both the pilot and the Charter Member subscription
program that will follow beginning on 6/1 and running until
7/31) are outlined in a full-page ad in this issue; head there if I've
at least piqued your curiosity. While you're there, you'll also find
a free snapshot offer for our new weather impact forecast service,
Foresight, which will provide the Capacity Rounds forecast between when you register and 5/31 as a freebie for just taking the
test drive.
Our intent for the GMRC is threefold: 1) Provide the average owner/operator a single source location for information
and insights on monthly and YtD course performance which
encompasses the market situation and their performance both
trended and scorecarded and 2) Have enough participants to
be able to create market-level benchmarks by facility type peer
groups against which participants can measure their relative
performance and 3) Be able to provide the industry-at-large
more robust, rigorous and consistent reporting regarding the
health of markets, states and at national level. That's a tall order
all in the '21 golf season but, the more people play with what
we've built, the number of interactions we've had with owner/
operators and their response and the relatively low bar we have
to clear to " be better " , we think we have decent odds to win.
Your call, over the next 45 days, is whether you want to be on
the inside helping shape it or on the outside waiting to see what
transpires and then deciding when to try and jump on the movn
ing train. Stay tuned...
April 2021
The Pellucid Perspective - April 2021

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