Can Courses Handle the Golfer Influx Long-term?

Canadan

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A bit of a spin off from another thread, I think it's a really interesting discussion to have.

Anyone trying to get a tee time in 2020 probably experienced either limited options, or slow play due to stacked golf courses. While it's incredibly positive for the industry to have this massive boost in activity and purchasing, do you think our current course infrastructure can actually handle this kind of play for a more long term basis?
 
I don’t think so. There either needs to be more courses or less golfers..
 
I think if courses are going to continue to see full tee sheets, that a balance needs to be struck between enjoyment/playability and maximizing profits. I’d imagine cramming as many people as possible into a course that results in 5+ hour rounds is going to put a swift end to those full sheets.
 
A better (or equally important) question is, will the increase in play continue on a long term basis? Once all the 'Rona stuff is over, will there still be as many people playing, or will the crowds diminish as people go back to work and have access to their other hobbies/diversions again?
 
...and if it does continue long term, another question is how many courses will prioritize maximal profits (cramming the tee sheets full) over pace of play? Will they really care about 5+ hour rounds when their cash registers are overflowing?
 
A better (or equally important) question is, will the increase in play continue on a long term basis? Once all the 'Rona stuff is over, will there still be as many people playing, or will the crowds diminish as people go back to work and have access to their other hobbies/diversions again?
Will copy and paste my reply from the other thread here to keep on topic.


Absolutely, and all the more reason to make every round as enjoyable as possible to the player. The game has to grab as much of the free time market as it can while the iron is hot. Other entertainment is going to be back sooner than later and the game needs to make an impression if it wants to keep these players. I’d also be curious how many more tee times are being taken up by new remote workers carving out a few hours when they would normally be in the office.
Another interesting scenario to watch out for is how many people actually go back to the office, rather than remain remote. I know for me personally, I’d much rather play at the a** crack of dawn, roll home and start my work day at home, head into the office for a few hours in the afternoon and call it a day. I’d bet a hybrid approach is going to be much more acceptable after the last year.
 
Between about a dozen different courses in my area, I had no issues booking a tee time last year. These courses catered to different audiences and I don’t see any of them having issues maintaining the course long term with an influx of golfers.
 
During a time that is seeing courses close, or for sale in our immediate area, I see the supply and demand hitting a crossing point. What I see occurring is higher prices, which may cause pause for some golfers, or at least reduced rounds, maybe. But, I also see the people just wanting to get out of the house and have some recreational activity at any cost....

Even before the pandemic I would get out on the first tee time in weekends, or go fir a later weekday round to avoid crowds. I see no reason to stop this now.
 
...and if it does continue long term, another question is how many courses will prioritize maximal profits (cramming the tee sheets full) over pace of play? Will they really care about 5+ hour rounds when their cash registers are overflowing?
I almost feel that you increase the time between tees right now. Keep pace of play up and spread the cost difference among all the other tee times. If I had the choice of paying $5 more to ensure I wasn’t playing a 5 hour round, you’d bet your you know what I’d pay for that.
More money coming into the courses should theoretically end up providing greater results for the player in both course maintenance and hopefully new course growth.
 
Between about a dozen different courses in my area, I had no issues booking a tee time last year. These courses catered to different audiences and I don’t see any of them having issues maintaining the course long term with an influx of golfers.
It's been a mixed thing for us. At the peak of the shutdowns, we had a lot of Californians coming over here to play golf because their courses were all closed. But it put a dent in our usual winter crowds because we're usually inundated with Canadian/northerner snowbirds this time of year, and a significant number of them didn't/couldn't come because of all the restrictions/quarantine rules. We never had difficulty booking a tee time, but the courses were a lot more crowded than usual during the summer/fall months because of all the Californians.
 
I almost feel that you increase the time between tees right now. Keep pace of play up and spread the cost difference among all the other tee times. If I had the choice of paying $5 more to ensure I wasn’t playing a 5 hour round, you’d bet your you know what I’d pay for that.
More money coming into the courses should theoretically end up providing greater results for the player in both course maintenance and hopefully new course growth.
I always choose one of the courses with 10 minute intervals before ones with less. There are a handful of courses I will go to first because I know pace will not be an issue.
 
I almost feel that you increase the time between tees right now. Keep pace of play up and spread the cost difference among all the other tee times. If I had the choice of paying $5 more to ensure I wasn’t playing a 5 hour round, you’d bet your you know what I’d pay for that.
More money coming into the courses should theoretically end up providing greater results for the player in both course maintenance and hopefully new course growth.
I enjoyed the more space between tee times and hope it stays. Agreed about paying $5 more for better pace of play and not getting as stacked up.
 
I always choose one of the courses with 10 minute intervals before ones with less. There are a handful of courses I will go to first because I know pace will not be an issue.
Admittedly, I didn’t play at all last year and traditionally would avoid normal busy course hours like the plague (too soon?), so I’m genuinely curious as to what people’s experiences were with golfing in 2020. My wife just gave me the gl ahead to join the country club down the road from us, and one of my biggest questions for them was how stacked up is membership right now. For golf to work for me in the next few years, I need to be out first thing in the morning and curious as to how much competition I would have for that right now.
 
I enjoyed the more space between tee times and hope it stays. Agreed about paying $5 more for better pace of play and not getting as stacked up.
As much as I know it’s not sustainable for the course or the game of golf in general, I do love an empty course. It’s counter-intuitive to think that less people on a course would bring more business, but I think that just might be the case for those courses which are seeing an influx of golfers.
 
Admittedly, I didn’t play at all last year and traditionally would avoid normal busy course hours like the plague (too soon?), so I’m genuinely curious as to what people’s experiences were with golfing in 2020. My wife just gave me the gl ahead to join the country club down the road from us, and one of my biggest questions for them was how stacked up is membership right now. For golf to work for me in the next few years, I need to be out first thing in the morning and curious as to how much competition I would have for that right now.
We were always able to still find early tee times when looking getting out during 2020. Sometimes if they weren't available online, we could call and get an earlier tee time than what was listed.
 
Courses have adjusted to more golfers and full tee sheets... what hasn’t adjusted is course maintenance... this and 5hr rounds is an issue for a few of the courses in my area and this will eventually cause people to consider alternatives
 
Admittedly, I didn’t play at all last year and traditionally would avoid normal busy course hours like the plague (too soon?), so I’m genuinely curious as to what people’s experiences were with golfing in 2020. My wife just gave me the gl ahead to join the country club down the road from us, and one of my biggest questions for them was how stacked up is membership right now. For golf to work for me in the next few years, I need to be out first thing in the morning and curious as to how much competition I would have for that right now.
I played over 150 rounds in 2020. Our courses never shut down and changes were really pretty minimal (all the usual precautions - no rakes in bunkers, altered cups, no pulling the pin, etc.). None of our local courses jacked up their greens fees, but their round counts definitely increased. The real difference for us was that crowds and pace of play during summer and fall was like it usually is for us here in the winter (summer is usually our offseason).

I really think the whole scene will differ according to where you live. The city I live in is mostly a retirement area, so everybody doesn't have to play at the crack of dawn to get their round in before work. I think the impact will be felt more in big cities than more rural areas, it's pretty hard to generalize.
 
I played over 150 rounds in 2020. Our courses never shut down and changes were really pretty minimal (all the usual precautions - no rakes in bunkers, altered cups, no pulling the pin, etc.). None of our local courses jacked up their greens fees, but their round counts definitely increased. The real difference for us was that crowds and pace of play during summer and fall was like it usually is for us here in the winter (summer is usually our offseason).

I really think the whole scene will differ according to where you live. The city I live in is mostly a retirement area, so everybody doesn't have to play at the crack of dawn to get their round in before work. I think the impact will be felt more in big cities than more rural areas, it's pretty hard to generalize.
Thanks for sharing that. Up here in the frozen Midwest I’m in a outer suburban/rural area, so I’m hopefully not off base in my confidence that I can get out before anyone most week days at this club. It’s a good point to clarify that there are going to be 100 different solutions if looking at 100 different courses, because each location as its own unique characteristics.
 
Courses have adjusted to more golfers and full tee sheets... what hasn’t adjusted is course maintenance... this and 5hr rounds is an issue for a few of the courses in my area and this will eventually cause people to consider alternatives
This is where you would hope that the influx of income would go back into appropriate maintenance. I agree that failure to maintain adequate playing conditions would most likely result in decline of participation.
 
I may be wrong but I don’t think that this massive boost in play will continue. I think that golf’s popularity in 2020 was directly influenced by it being an accessible activity during the pandemic. That popularity will decline somewhat as society progresses with the pandemic. Golf is expensive and people may go back to less expensive recreational and sporting activities.
 
A better (or equally important) question is, will the increase in play continue on a long term basis? Once all the 'Rona stuff is over, will there still be as many people playing, or will the crowds diminish as people go back to work and have access to their other hobbies/diversions again?
No, play will not continue long term once 'rona is over and yes people will go back to their pre-'rona activities that they couldn't enjoy due to lockdowns/restrictions.
Of course its relevant on which state you live in and how long the idiot running said state further restrict other activities
 
Courses have adjusted to more golfers and full tee sheets... what hasn’t adjusted is course maintenance... this and 5hr rounds is an issue for a few of the courses in my area and this will eventually cause people to consider alternatives

I had a similar though. Courses take a beating now.
 
Locally, not a chance in hell is this sustainable.

We either need more courses or less golfers. Pace of play is at an all time slow. Courses are being absolutely trashed. Green fees are up considerably across the board, while the golf experience declines. Private courses are having assessments and dues increases - if you can get past the massive wait lists. Money grab policies being introduced. Can only book with a 4some at many courses.

Like I've been saying for years - #ShrinkTheGame
**opinions based on my local environment**
 
2020 was a perfect storm for golf courses across most of the country:

1. Very few people were allowed to work for extended periods of time
2. Uncle Sam not only paid us anyway, but
3. Wouldn't let us do participate in competing forms of entertainment, either.



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Of course not. But if having the demand to support the creation of more golf courses is a problem, sign me up! Also, once this pandemic is over it remains to be seen how much of this increase in demand sticks around. The return of several other activities is sure to siphon off some of the newbies. Hopefully, not too much.
 
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