News
National Rounds Played Report One Year Anniversary
6/1/2001
These reports mark the first time the industry has been provided this type of information on a timely basis. The reports are broken out into nine regions and an expanding number of sub-regions. “The common denominator in judging the strength of the golf industry in each region of the country, whether you’re selling golf balls, tee times, condominiums, or golf carts is the rate of participation, or ‘rounds played,’” said Tom Stine, co-founder of Golf Datatech. “Historically, our industry has been handicapped with a lack of timely, accurate data for the number of rounds played throughout the country, particularly on a regional basis. Annual data comes too slow to be helpful and national data isn’t relative to each region.” Golf Datatech derives its data for the National Rounds Played Report (NRPR) from a representative sampling of public, private and resort courses in each of nine regions and additional “golfagraphical” sub-regions across the country. The reports are designed to give the industry a concise, comparative “snapshot” of golf participation in defined regions to previous years. The National Golf Course Owners Association has given its endorsement to establishing this report and has encouraged its members to participate. Golfagraphical sub-regions are defined as regions where enough golf courses report their rounds played to Golf Datatech in order to be broken out from the rest of the state or region. “Now that we have the national report established it is important that course owners and operators in sub-regions of the country become proactive in their areas to ensure that as many courses as possible participate in the report. Course operators in South Florida should know their rounds played percentages (rate of participation) separate from other areas of Florida. Every major city and region can be broken out on the report if enough courses in that area participate. And why shouldn’t they participate? There’s no cost, all individual numbers are confidential, it’s easy to do and it’s to their direct benefit,” Stine said. All golf courses are invited to participate in the report by contacting Golf Datatech at 888-944-4116. “We are not attempting to count the total number of rounds played nationally or regionally, but rather to provide a percentage indicator of whether rounds played are up or down compared to the same period in previous years,” Stine explained. “The total number of rounds isn’t as relative to the business of golf as the trend of rounds played. Tracking these trends provides a reliable and consistent barometer of the strength of the game in particular regions and sub-regions.” Stine said the NRPR doesn’t interpret the numbers. “Why rounds are up or down is for individuals in the industry to determine. It could be the weather, pricing, saturation or other factors inherent to each region,” he said. “For example, if a course owner sees rounds played are up one percent in his region, but are up 10 percent at his course, he might say, ‘Gee, that lunch-green fee special we started last month is working.’ He may also use the information to determine to raise his rates. “It was generally accepted that El Nino severely damaged golf sales in Southern California and the Sun Belt in the first quarter of 1998,” Stine pointed out. “But by how much? Five percent? Ten percent? Thirty percent? The numbers of the National Rounds Played Report indicated it could have been as much as 35 percent. “This is not a Golf Datatech report. This is an industry report. We’re happy to be the conduit to collect and disseminate the information,” Stine said. “We don’t charge for the report and there is no charge to participate. We would be happy to have every course in the country involved. The more courses that report their numbers the more useful the reports are for the operators and the industry. The names of the participating courses are never be revealed or linked to the reports. “The industry should know on a timely basis whether rounds played are up, down or level,” Stine added. “The vitality of the industry should not be determined by a calculation on Wall Street, but rather by the enthusiasm of golfers around the country.” The nine regions of the country covered by the NRPR are: Pacific (California, Washington, Oregon); Mountain (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico); West North Central (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri); West South Central (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana); East North Central (Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan); East South Central (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky); Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New York); New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island); and South Atlantic (West Virginia, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida). Alaska and Hawaii are designated as sub-regions. Additional “golfagraphical” sub-regions, such as Mrytle Beach, SC, and Central Florida will be continually added.
