The Pellucid Perspective - October 2022 - 7

impacted. More importantly, the programs such as Klarna and
Afterpay involve " soft checks " that do not impact their credit
score. Longer term Affirm and Synchrony do require real credit
checks, but the interest rates can be lower than those on credit
card balances when the retailer is promoting sales through interest
" buy downs " .
If we pay attention, we know that the Millenial shoppers are
metrics for each of your managed facilities (to wit, we have several
of the leading management companies which use this platform
on a weekly basis, while the others are noticeably MIA). Another
glaring weak spot in the industry is that very few of the brokers,
appraisers or feasibility firms provide this level of draw area/market
analysis. For the life of me, I can't see how you can do any of
those services by the wing-and-a-prayer approach ( " I know this
geography pretty well because I did another study like it years
ago " ) but they currently do and have done during my industry
tenure. Maybe the sellers/buyers will just have to apply more
pressure to require a CARFAX-type component to every project
(we obviously have a biased viewpoint and vested interest in that
outcome but listing and selling a property
without any quantitative, independent
3rd party analysis of the market, really?).
The final logical consumer of this type information
would be various suppliers to
the golf industry (consumer golf equipment,
facility equipment, turfcare product
providers etc.). Our logical application
would be to provide annual market
analysis as a value-added service for their
purchases and loyalty (i.e. you provide it
free for your " gold " customers rather than
offering a race-to-the-bottom on price
point?) as well as identifying " target rich "
geographies or doing route analysis if you
have a sales team making regular calls.
As a final point, we are seeing increased
looking for installment payment opportunities and are using
these new fintech options. The challenge is looking for ways
to accommodate these smart, informed shoppers as we try to
attract and retain them as golfers. Most major manufacturers
have " rental club " programs that provide additional discounts
from wholesale. We can use that in two
ways - first to provide discounted rentals
for golf course use (paid greens fees)
to those that have completed an introductory
clinic. Second, the rental clubs
can be offered with good discounts at
the end of the season to recover the
cost to buy them. John Deere has had
a similar profitable and self-liquidating
program for its compact diesel tractors
for years.
In its promotional material for Welcome2Golf,
the NGF refers us to the
ski industry and the fact that virtually
interest in this application by investment
firms evaluating the golf industry in general
as well as assembling portfolios of facilities
quietly, one-at-a-time and across a
range of geographies. Previously what we
had seen was buyers assembling portfolios
by geographic proximity (i.e. buy several
Carolina courses because you know
the area and you can spread key management
across proximate geography).
What we're seeing now is these firms are
looking for properties that fit their financial/investment
parameters regardless of
geography and they're using our tools
to be able to evaluate them vs. the local
market benchmarks and performance
levels (weather-adjusted % Utilization
and knowing Capacity Rounds comes in
really handy there).
The most progressive-thinking operators
have already asked the question,
We are encouraged that
the golf industry is
recognizing the historical
data that tells us the
most fertile ground for
attracting new golfers is in
the 25-40 Age Group.
every one of the 470 ski areas in the US
offers introductory clinics for all age
levels. As a former ski instructor, I can
tell you that these clinics are designed
to be as affordable as possible. As Pellucid
outlined in our detailed comparison
of Skiing, Tennis and Golf several
years ago; it's important to note that
" 70% of all new skis sold annually go to
rental enterprises " . (July, 2014 Pellucid
Perspective and July, 2014 Outside the
Ropes for those of you with Pellucid
Memberships).
We are encouraged that the golf in " How
does this fit into the Golf Market
Research Center (GMRC) initiative? "
For those who aren't aware, we launched
last year a facility-level performance
measurement and benchmarking service
called GMRC. In that tool, they're produstry
is recognizing the historical data
that tells us the most fertile ground for
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attracting new golfers is in the 25 - 40 Age Group. It is also the
Age that many kids exposed to golf through Junior Programs
return after their detours into high school, college and team
viding 3 numbers monthly (rounds, golf revenue (membership
and non-membership) and highest GF rate for the month) in the
GMRC web portal to immediately see comparative reporting to
last year (and previous years if they've entered those figures) as
well as their 7-KPI scorecard with both views incorporating their
specific weather impact. GLMA 2.0 will be part of that offering
in the future providing an annual market analysis to subscribers
as part of the annual GMRC program/fee. In summary, the
overall investment and operations landscape is changing and local
market analysis needs to improve and evolve with those needs.
We're stepping up to the challenge. Better information and insights
drive better business decisions.
" club " sports. Providing more access to affordable instruction
will only serve to help with faster skill development - we know
that people respond to improvement and will stay involved
when they get better.
It is also clear, however, is that we will have to adjust our
methods for getting these new golfers equipped for staying engaged.
This will entail rethinking " rental programs " and probably
getting familiar with some of these new fintech options
that the Millenials are already embracing.
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The Pellucid Perspective - October 2022

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