11/20/16......7:58 a.m.
Played Thursday, it was mid 60's Friday and snowed yesterday.
Olde Homestead, which is a mile from my house, had their fall 8-inch cup tournament today. They go out as 8-somes (two 4-man teams) to help prevent cheating. Played in it for a couple years until it finally dawned on me that spending 6+ hours watching 7 guys four and five-putt from 30 feet, in frigid temps no less, was no longer my idea of fun.
I drove by there today on my way to the grocery, as one of the greens is visible near the main highway... the snow was flying like crazy. None of it was sticking, but it was windy as hell and they looked absolutely miserable.
Why on earth anyone would host such a big event this time of year is beyond me, but they always do. And for whatever reason - it's most always a packed event with two 4-man teams on every hole.
I love golf, and I love playing in 8-inch cup tournaments. But not that much.
Sorry to say it was 80 here today and probably will be the same tomorrow. Winter is hard - it gets down to about 50 in the mornings ... 
johnnyjava nice
Understood. But having worked at this facility in an assistant professional capacity for several years, not to mention being a former member there for more than several years prior, I'm overly familiar with the average total of rounds played there this time of season, and absolutely nothing has prevented them from moving the tournament date up a week, maybe even two weeks, as there is virtually very little activity at this facility from November onward.
They average 30k rounds per year, which primarily consists of April through October play. But for whatever reason they continue to push this event to the latter part of November because of maybe 20 rounds they might otherwise lose with moving the date up a few weeks. The tournament participants would gladly pay the extra ten bucks or so to help make up the difference, if for nothing else than to enjoy more seasonable weather and better greens conditions. And I note the latter because they've traditionally made the irrational decision to do their fall aeration mid-November, in an effort to avoid loss of rounds earlier in the season.
So not only are these tournament entrants having to deal with the pressing extreme cold weather conditions, but (at least in the past anyway) they're also having to manage putting on slow, bumpy putting surfaces.
They keep doing it though because they offer great prizes and it's a fun event overall, which appeals to a lot of golfers. But it could be so much more enjoyable, and bumping the entry fee up a few bucks to account for the difference I mentioned wouldn't detract from it whatsoever.
Greens conditions and weather has historically been the two big drawbacks in their post-tournament surveys over the years. One would think they'd accept the feedback and take appropriate action, but they don't. After three years of encountering said frustrations with the tournament - my team decided to bag it altogether. Otherwise we would've most likely made it an early-November tradition.
Another case of mismanaged golf course.
They should boost the activity level instead of counting the coins. When the activity level is up, all other golf course facility benefit from the increased activity, Food and drink from the restaurant and bar, more rounds played because golfers enjoyed their rounds more, promotion with the proshop merchandise..... More tournaments in the peak season with properly managed schedules will always yield more profit.
They've done some good things there since I left, some positive things. I still keep in touch with the owner's son, consider him a good friend. He took over the operation shortly after I left, and he's actually increased revenue quite considerably over the years without increasing the rates. He's very business-savvy, and he's not afraid to try something different. It's a lot easier to raise the price of a beverage or a hotdog, where the profit margins are actually higher, than it is raising the rates. I'll pay a few extra bucks for a bite to eat, no problem. All the other restaurants in the area are doing it, so it's not like it's out of the ordinary. At least you can hide some of the price increases that way, unlike disclosing that your daily fee has gone up 3 bucks from last season to this season, which suddenly gets the typical budget-minded senior up in arms and revolts by taking his weekly group somewhere else.
And let's face it - the entire industry as a whole has been forced to rethink the way do business because of the economic recession back in '08. Those that didn't are either no longer around or on the verge of no longer being around.
But above and beyond the stats and figures, the endless number crunching and posturing - you still have to provide something valuable to the customer. I don't care who you are... Augusta National, Pebble Beach, or any other iconic golf facility you care to think of - the people ain't coming to your facility because of the drinks or the food, or the impressive gate entrances or stately clubhouses. They come to your facility because of the golf course. Not that good service and making people feel welcomed doesn't matter... but if the golf course fails to live up to expectations, and for a lot of golfers the conditions are a huge part of those expectations - nothing else really matters.
I communicated that to him shortly after he took over. I voiced my concerns about the manner in which they go about punching the greens and how doing it so late in the season, essentially, all but guaranteed that the greens would still be in a major state of disrepair for the first four months of the following season, when golfers are chumping at the bit to finally see the snow melt, get out of the house and hit the course!
And they don't (or didn't back then anyway) just do a single hollow-tine aeration, like every other course. They would actually punch the greens twice, with twice as many holes. Which obviously means nearly twice the length of time required for them to grow back in and completely recover! "But you don't understand - while everyone else is losing rounds in September and October because of aerated greens - we're gaining business." Yeah. And when do you do your spring aeration? May? And you double-punch them, which means you're looking at mid-June at the earliest before the greens are back to normal. You ever thought about how much business you lose in April, May and June? Two of those three months are the most active months of the golf season, and you're losing rounds. Furthermore - people who come here to play during those months, no discounts because of the conditions, no forewarning whatsoever when they call to make the tee time... four golfers come here, can't believe how bad the greens are, aren't interested in coming inside and having a beer or bite to eat, but rather getting in their cars, going back home and sending out mass emails to every golfer they know that your greens suck. That's how this goes.
For whatever reason, despite all of the other good things he's done, this continues to be an ongoing problem.
I just don't get it.
- Edited
We do our aerification in March and September. And quite a few top dressing in between. They had been doing more maintenance since the out break of a very strong fungus 5-6 years ago which killed off most of the grass on the greens. I had seen all sorts of the exports from maintenance crew, representatives from the manufacturers of chemicals used by the golf courses and even college professors in related fields on the golf course doing clinic and examinations. Seemed they had it under control for now, temporarily anyway.
What's facing the golf industry is the same as everything else. Golf industry is more sensitive to the change of economy because it's considered a non-essential and a luxury other than shelter and food.
If people have decent jobs they will spend more. Since the depletion of savings account and timed deposit. the consumers are not spending as they were a decade ago. This is not just from the retiree with fixed income, the majority of the golfers whom played daily fee golf courses are more cautious of how they spend the remaining the the income after the essential bills.
It's easier said than done, I realized now not all want to work, they just want hand out.
Report from Dixieland :
We had our first killing frost this week, my wife's true love, her tropical exotic plants are now warmly nestled (aka stuffed) into a make-shift green house . Three nights of low 30s ,Fahrenheit that is, now back into lows in 50s. No significant rain now for 2 months. Burn bans in force. Sunny sky's , highs in mid to high 70s, low humidity . Folks out waking 18 in their Bram u da shorts & short sleeves.
Y'all come on down , ya heah?