Golf is Growing! Uh oh, golf is growing!!

The National Golf Foundation has just put out some recent research that tracks what we already know. Golf is awesome! And growing! Yay golf!

Here are some stats:

• Economic impact of over $100B for the first time

• 3.4M junior golfers plays a grass round, the highest level since 2006 (seeing a cycle here, anyone?)

• Similarly, 6M+ female golfers or more each of the last three years - the last time that happened was 2007.

• Golf is now more popular than tennis and baseball and just behind basketball. All great news.

But here is the biggie in my opinion:

This means that a lot of these gals an guys out there are experiencing golf today that incudes five hour rounds/slow play, lack of resources/golf carts, lack of staff at the 19th hole/improper scheduling, unnecessary waiting around for weather delays to clear, etc. The current experience is stretched. Not broken, but certainly not efficient.

What this all fails to cover with any real depth is the risk of the industry resting on its laurels, so to speak. I know I sound like a broken record, but booming demand with relatively flat supply, tied in with an outdated operating structure, all is predictive of a leveling-off, if not a pullback.

What are we doing to keep up and avoid this? A few things, which is nice, including enhanced facilities, raising rates (oh fun), and working our poor GMs and their teams to the bone. As you might imagine, some of these are not sustainable.

We are here to save the poor GM from burnout. Save the customer from a bad experience. And yes, save the owner operating costs while increasing revenue. For $100 a month, why not give that a shot, don’t you think?

GMs - see you next week in Orlando! And hopefully on a tee box!