There wasn’t a lot of good news in August rounds and revenue numbers for U.S. golf course owners and operators. But given the nation’s current economic climate, the numbers are better than might be expected.
Total rounds for the month were down 1.0 percent, according to the National Golf Rounds Played Report. And median revenues in August showed a 7.8 percent decline from the same month in 2008, as reported to the PGA of America through its PerformanceTrak data collection program.
Private club rounds showed the biggest drop in August, falling 2.4 percent. Public course play dropped just 0.6 percent.
For the first eight months of the year, rounds totals were virtually identical to those in 2008, the report indicated.
The biggest drops in the PerformanceTrak median revenue numbers for August were in food & beverage and merchandise. Per facility, F&B fell 11.1 percent and merchandise revenue was down 11.2 percent. Median golf fee revenue dropped 5.7 percent.
Overall, median gross revenue per facility for the year so far is down 5.8 percent from 2008.
Here are the rounds totals for selected metropolitan areas.
August YTD
Washington-Baltimore -3.0% – 2.3%
Orlando -17.9% – 4.0%
Atlanta – 0.4% – 6.7%
Myrtle Beach – 2.2% – 5.8%
New York City – 9.2% – 4.2%
Boston 0.0% – 2.8%
Chicago – 5.6% – 0.8%
Detroit – 9.1% – 3.8%
St. Louis +4.5% +7.5%
Dallas/Ft. Worth +3.3% +2.3%
Los Angeles 0.0% – 1.0%
San Diego – 4.2% +0.9%
Phoenix – 2.8% – 2.5%
Las Vegas +10.3% +1.5%
Seattle + 2.7% -1.5%