The Pellucid Perspective - April 2022 - 10

GOLF CONSUMER
BASE
variance was also more pronounced on a " revenue per visit " basis.
We
also put the 70,000 through our data hygiene process and
got more information on Age, Gender, Ethnicity and Income.
Customer survey data was also collected on some of the projects
providing additional support for our data hygiene derived
analytics. We also created a " national new golfer profile " using a
balanced sample from a outside third-party firm specializing in
consumer panel creation.
We did get new golfers that were younger. We didn't see female
participation increase as much as had been anecdotally reported,
but it still increased. Unfortunately, it appears that diversity
efforts are not showing up as positive in our data.
A closer look also shows that our " problem age group " of
GenX had decent 2021 retention. As we said last moth, there are
about 4 Million fewer golfers in GenX than there were when the
Baby Boomers when they were in that roughly 40 - 60 year old
age group. As we mentioned above, the GenX golfers appear to
lag the spending of the younger golfers and the older golfers 65+.
At least the GenX gofers are staying in the game and increasing
their frequencies consistent with prior generations as they have
aged.
There's more to get excited about. While past golf industry
survey data has indicated that only 10% - 15% of golfers take lessons;
our data suggests our new golfers are more willing to seek
instruction. Club fitting is becoming more prevalent. We would
suggest that the rapid growth of Club Champion and other independent
fitting studios support those findings. The success of
GolfTec in the instruction realm also is a key indicator that instructional
opportunities are getting better customer adoption.
Our data also suggests the greatly increased instructional material
easily digitally available makes golfers more willing to seek
instruction. Even one of my cynical friends said " golfers no longer
have to wait for their monthly print magazines to screw with
their swings " . All kidding aside, our younger beginning golfers
are using both digital instruction found on the internet and more
likely to embrace launch monitor and/or simulator feedback in
person.
In the end, however, we still need to retain the participants
Older golfers 65+ generally outspent the golfers
between 45 - 64. The variance was also more
pronounced on a " revenue per visit " basis.
10 The Pellucid PersPecTive
we have and keep as many of the new golfers as possible to grow
participation going forward. While the " net retention rate " based
on gross participation remains the best available metric to determine
the health of our golf consumer franchise; the year to year
retention we are now doing a better job of evaluating may be a
different analysis,but still integral part of measuring our progress.
Also, the year to year retention metrics framework we have developed
will give us faster feedback. We will be able to evaluate year
to year retention within two months of the end of 2022. We can't
really evaluate the gross participation " net retention rate " until
at least May when we get our National Sporting Goods RecreApril
2022
The Pellucid Perspective - April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - April 2022
