Golf in a Crummy Economy

Not to state the obvious, but the economy is in a dismal state. The news is full of dire reports of mass layoffs and foreclosures. We’ve all seen enough of that to make us sick.

Golf is certainly not immune to the effects of these frightening times. If you’ve lost your job, golf naturally drops down the priorities list pretty quickly. We’ve already discussed how tournament sponsorships are being affected. We’re also likely to lose even more courses this year than we have over the past few years. And unlike those years when most courses that go out of business get plowed under for condos and housing, this year the courses that fail may well sit there, becoming ungroomed grass and weed farms. The PGA Tour Network, the radio voice of the PGA Tour, is threatened by the Sirius XM freefall.

If you plan to buck what could very well be a widespread trend this year and make golf part of your personal economic stimulus plan, you may find that you can stretch your golfing dollars a little farther. In the spirit of making lemonade when the world gives you lemons, here are five ways that the current economy might just give golfers a bit of a break this year.

Number Five: Something to Spend Your $13 a Week On
The stimulus package is expected to give every American a tax break amounting to about $13 a week. What will you spend yours on? It could be there might be a deal or two out there if you decide some new golf equipment is the way to go.

How long do you think all those brand new $400 drivers are going to stay at $400 this year? Sure, the ones that sell well early will be able to hold their prices, but other companies are likely to start discounting earlier than usual. And once the new drivers drop in price, what will that do to the already discounted year-old models?

If (and, understandably, that is a big if this year) you are looking to purchase some new clubs, you should be able to find price cuts pretty easily and some really great deals on clubs that were the latest thing just a season or two ago.

Number Four: We Need the Dues
Getting into that private club you’ve been dreaming about might be easier and less expensive this year than you’ve ever imagined. There’s always a finite amount of money to be spent on golf, and this year there will be less than usual. Clubs and daily fee courses will have to compete for your golfing dollar more than ever.

Some private club members, hurt by the economy, will have to resign. Prospective members may be relunctant to risk an extra expense. If you’re lucky enough to be in relatively solid financial shape this year, you may find yourself offered discounted membership or other incentives to join a club. Could this be the year you join the country club set?

Even if you’re not interested in a private course, many public tracks are slashing the price of annual memberships. A midrange public course that’s about an hour’s drive away recently sent out an email notice that for a limited time they were offering an anytime, seven-days-a-week, golf membership for $1,000 for the season. Not bad, but it went on to say that for that same $1,000, a friend or family member could get the same deal – two for one (thousand). And this isn’t some farmer’s field with a few flags stuck here and there, it’s a nice public course with bent grass tees and greens. If it wouldn’t mean two hours in the car every time I wanted to play, I’d seriously consider it.

Number Three: Some Spam Is Good Spam
If you’re not interested in playing the same course every week, you’ll most likely still be able to find discounted rounds for courses in your area. Even in recent years, before the economy tanked, courses around Central Ohio were trying to attract players with email specials.

You can sign up for email announcements and/or specials for many of the better public courses these days, usually on the course website. “Announcements” usually turn into “Specials” when the rounds per day start to drop. But several courses in my area, in an effort to get some money in now, have been offering “pay now, play later” specials at substantial savings off the rack rate. This while a half foot of snow was on the ground.

Central Ohio is a little oversaturated with golf courses these days, which makes them very competitive when it comes to attracting golfers. But with the curretn economy and all, courses all over will probably need to sweeten the deal a little to keep the daily traffic up.

Number Two: A Course to Yourself
Which brings up another point, for better or worse, the economy is going to prevent some golfers from playing as much, or at all, this year. That should mean fewer five-hour-plus rounds and more available prime tee times.

Less play is a double-edged sword, however. We’d all better hope that we don’t get to enjoy the less crowded fairways for too long or soon there will be fewer fairways to choose from.

Number One: Getting On
If you’re getting a little bored of playing the same old public courses, you may just find an expanded number or courses to choose from this year. As members cut back on extras or drop their memberships entirely, private courses are going to need to make up for that cash flow. We’ll probably see a number of private courses offering at least some public tee times this Summer to help cover the loss of membership revenue. (The addition of these tee times to the local mix will in turn drive deeper discounts at the public courses.) Private course daily rates will most likely equal or exceed premium public course rates and may be limited to certain times (like after 11:00), but if you are looking for variety here’s your chance.

Don’t get too excited though… The top clubs are not going to open up their courses to daily fee golfers (I’m not going to get on nearby Muirfield Village GC without an invite… anyone? anyone?), but most of the lower tier, and many of the middle tier, clubs are going to need to get some more money in the door. And one of the easiest ways will be to go temporarily semi-private.