Do You Think 52,920 Rounds In a 30 Week Season Is Possible?
There is a paradigm in the golf industry that a golf course can host about 35,000 rounds per year (based on a 30 week season). In fact, most people in the industry believe this is absolutely the maximum rounds a property should host to guarantee the golfer the most valued experience. I too, agree with this arbitrary number if your course has the golfers willing to pay the fees necessary to support the course while providing the owner(s) with a modest ROI.
The push-back I have with the 35K model is it has been built around only 10 hours of the week, i.e., Saturday & Sunday 6:00 AM till 11:00 AM which are the desirable tee times for most golf courses and therefore, treasured and guarded. Think about it, these are the only tee times (for most golf courses) that are in high demand. The rest of the times and days, most golf courses are wide open, especially during their off season.
Some people in the industry are setting themselves, and their courses, up for financial suicide by the limitations of their own minds that are transposing this imprisonment directly to their golf courses and the owner’s bottom line. You must shake this old, out-of-date, financially devastating paradigm and replace it with a new one. Besides, when is the course the most fun…when it’s rocking! You have to be there anyway so you might as well be busy doing what you love…spending your time with golfers. Don’t think of increased rounds as…more work for the same money. Instead, think of more rounds as more lessons, more job security, more stability for your family, etc.
MMC® has consistently increased rounds at our partnering golf courses (well over 100 thus far since 2006) by 10,000-15,000 rounds per year which has, as a by-product of these increased rounds, increased annual revenue by as much as $300,000 per year. Our clients are normally hosting between 20,000 to 28,000 rounds before partnering with MMC® so even after we complete our golfer acquisition campaign, we still fall short of the industry maximum standard of about 35,000 rounds per year and far short of the 52,920 possible rounds.
Here are the numbers:
If you set your tee times every 8 minutes, which gives you 7 tee times an hour x 4 golfers = 28 golfers (giving the starter time to catch up with a grace period of 4 minutes an hour) and if you are open 7:00 AM till 4:00 PM, you have a solid 9 hours of play (not factoring in additional operational hours, e.g., 5:30 AM – 7:00 PM). Multiply 9hrs x 28 golfers and you get 252 rounds of golf per day (with 36 minutes of grace time for the starter) and this isn’t even crazy busy, this is just operating at peak performance.
Seven (7) days x 252 rounds = 1,764 rounds per week; 1,764 rounds x 30 weeks = 52,920 rounds.
52,920 rounds – x (x = number of rounds you are currently hosting) = “____” available rounds.
I understand you want the course to be in the best shape possible and do not want it to be over-played. But again, put your commonsense cap on and think….isn’t it far easier to keep course conditions at their best when you are not worried about revenue?
Besides, the reality is, most of you will never get to experience the joy of 52,920 rounds (in a 30 week season), but if you could, there would never be any reason for concern because just like the numbers above prove, it is possible to host the rounds, there are numbers just as plausible that prove the enormous increase wouldn’t last long because everyone is always most excited in the beginning and some will inevitably drop off.
Maybe if you got out of the paradigm, you’re stuck in, you’d see things for how they really are and not the way they were 20 years ago. Stop putting the cart before the horse, and quit worrying if you can handle the additional rounds and get started on acquiring the additional rounds.
In closing, this is not an attempt to get everyone striving to host 50,000 rounds of golf, but what it is, is an eye opening snap shot of possibilities for those of you not seeing an acceptable return on your investment thinking there is no way to grow because you are at capacity. If you are hosting 30,000 rounds and are happy with your revenue stream then stay with 30,000; but if you are hosting 30,000 rounds and are dissatisfied with your revenue stream…know there are ways to become profitable.
Call MMC® today and let us fill in the “blanks” for you.
MMC®, is a performance-based, data-driven golf marketing company that hits ‘em straight.
Thank you for partnering with MMC® in growing the game, your golf course and your golf career.