Industry news

Atlanta to provide services Houston can not

Lawrence, Kan. – Citing Houston’s inability to deliver previously agreed on services, officials of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the National Golf Course Owners Association moved the Golf Industry Show and the associations’ respective education conferences to Atlanta in February 2006.

The conferences and trade show were scheduled to be in New Orleans originally, however, because of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, officials announced Sept. 7 the events would relocate to Houston. Atlanta, which was one of a handful of cities examined for the original relocation, last hosted the GCSAA International Golf Course Conference and Show in 2003 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

The dates for the 2006 conferences and show will remain the same as were originally planned: the GCSAA Education Conference (Feb. 6 through 11), the NGCOA Solutions Summit (Feb. 7 through 10) and the Golf Industry Show (Feb. 9 through 11).

“We are disappointed to be making this announcement,” says Steve Mona, the GCSAA’s c.e.o. “Officials from Houston had said they could meet our needs, but as discussions progressed, it became obvious that significant hurdles needed to be cleared. In the end, we determined the proposed arrangement would not create an experience that would meet the expectations of attendees, exhibitors, the GCSAA and our show partners.”

Mona and Mike Hughes, the NGCOA’s c.e.o., say they’re confident Atlanta will provide a successful venue.

“The meeting and exhibit space, the hotel rooms and the supporting infrastructure Atlanta provides makes us confident the Golf Industry Show will not be compromised in any way by this moves,” Hughes says.

“The convention center and hotels will be convenient locations for education, networking and exposition activities,” Mona says. “Unlike Houston, there are no other events that will conflict with our ability to conduct the conferences and trade show.”

Despite relocating the events for a second time, Nov. 1 will remain the opening date for conference and show registration. A new registration brochure will be produced and distributed by a date to be determined, but online access at www.golfindustryshow.com and faxback forms will be available (800-472-7878). The GCSAA and NGCOA will be working with exhibiting companies to reconfigure the trade show floor.

Mona and Hughes say they’ve received strong support from attendees and exhibitors after making these unexpected changes.

“Obviously, we are dealing with some unusual circumstances,” Hughes says. “However, the respective association leaders and staffs are fortunate to have the understanding of its members and industry partners.”

The GCSAA had conducted its conference and show, known as the International Golf Course Conference and Show, in Atlanta on three previous occasions: 1979, 1983 and 2003. The NGCOA hasn’t conducted an annual meeting in Atlanta.

Gulf Coast superintendents recover from hurricane

Baton Rouge and Layfayette, La. – Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29 and left behind a path of death and destruction. In her wake, golf course superintendents were left to pick up the pieces. Some golf courses were completely destroyed, while others saw little more than scattered branches and flooded bunkers.

Mitchell Fontenot, CGCS, at the Louisiana State University Golf Club, says he, his staff and the course got by shamefully unscathed.

“Although traffic lights were out within Baton Rouge, we didn’t lose any major trees, even though we don’t have many to lose to begin with,” he says. “Several smaller trees were blown down, but we got by fine. I had power in less than 24 hours. We had small debris that has been cleaned up, and we are open for play.”

Pat Ardoin, a sales representative for Ewing Irrigation and a retired golf course superintendent based in Lafayette, La., says the Metairie Country Club and New Orleans Country Club were under water. Additionally, English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans is located right where the eye of the storm hit.
David McCallum, superintendent of The Island Country Club in Baton Rouge, La., was spared the worst of the storm – only losing a day’s play.

“We’re doing pretty good,” McCallum says. “A whole lot better than a lot of guys.”

Sitting about 60 miles northwest of downtown New Orleans, McCallum says his course received five inches of rain, had four or five trees knocked down and had sand washed out of the bunkers. Compare that with other Louisiana courses – Chateau Estates Golf and Country Club in Kenner and Oak Harbor Golf Club in Slidell – that were under water, and McCallum is counting his blessings.

Fontenot estimates there were about 40 golf courses in his local GCSAA chapter that were hit hard by the hurricane, some utterly destroyed.

“It will take a year to recover from this,” Fontenot says. “From a business standpoint, who will come and play the golf courses once they’ve recovered? There’s no infrastructure. When people do go home, what are they going home to?”

Ardoin agrees with Fontenot and says about 40 golf courses in Louisiana were hit hard by the hurricane. He says about another 20 were devastated from the Louisiana border to the Alabama border.

“It’s a matter of time,” Ardoin says. “Utilities are the most important thing needed to help get these golf course back up and running.”

Through it all, McCallum looks for a silver lining.

“As bad as it was – and this could be the largest natural disaster this country has seen – it could have been worse,” he says about Katrina moving to the east before it hit land and easing up on New Orleans. “We may not be looking at anything other than water.”

For more information about relief efforts, call 800-HELP-NOW or visit www.redcross.org or www.gcsaa.org. 

Owners group measures financial benchmarks

Charleston, S.C. – The National Golf Course Owners Association has begun a comprehensive initiative to measure the game’s key financial benchmarks. The program provides accurate and consistent industry measurements to help golf course owners and operators evaluate the performance of their facilities, compare their results to competitors and operate more efficiently.

Based on information provided by participating owners and operators, the reports measure participation, revenues and course usage on a monthly and rolling basis. The information will be confidential to participating owners and operators, who can use it for operational purposes and financing needs, or when providing information to analysts and media.

“A timely, accurate and unbiased set of industry metrics helps our members and other key stakeholders make informed operational, marketing and purchasing decisions,” says Mike Hughes, executive director of the NGCOA.

“This is the type of information decision makers in other industries rely on to understand and analyze trends. We believe these financial benchmarks quickly will become one of the most important management tools in our industry.”

The NGCOA is working with Golf Datatech, a golf industry market research firm, to collect and report the financial benchmarks. Tom Stine, co-founder of Golf Datatech, says participation is key to the success of the program.

“The better the participation, the more accurate the reports will be,” Stine says. The decision to launch the program nationally follows a five-month pilot study in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix earlier this year. Stine says the program is up and running in New England and Orlando, Fla. Ohio may be falling into place shortly. Golf Datatech and the NGCOA tried similar programs years ago, but lack of participation doomed the efforts.

According to Stine, courses should look at tee times as inventory. Once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. Getting the most out of available tee times is an important aspect of doing business.

“The operator takes money to the bank, not rounds,” he says. “The key is knowing the market.”

Hopes are, with complete backing of both groups in a unified stance, the program will be a success this time around. Stine says it was a group of multicourse owners within the NGCOA that got together and pushed for the information.

“These are the right metrics reported in an easy-to-understand format,” says Hud Hinton, president and c.o.o. of Troon Golf, which manages operations at more than 160 courses. “Before now, information hasn’t been gathered scientifically, and credibility was an issue. There’s no substitute for ongoing information in a standardized format that helps you operate more intelligently.”

Henry DeLozier, v.p. of golf for Pulte Homes, which owns 23 golf courses, says having access to a broad base of performance measurements enables owners to manage their assets more effectively, helps realize best practices throughout the industry and encourages owners to establish more targeted goals.”

The reports, which include information about rounds played, total rounds revenue, revenue per utilized round and revenue per available tee time, are available to every U.S. city for NGCOA members and nonmembers.

“We’ve needed this information for a long time,” says Bert Coghill, owner of Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park, Ill. “We have innumerable challenges, and this data will help me make more informed decisions as a course owner.” 

Program participants receive information that allows them to compare their facilities’ performance against their overall market. Once a critical mass of owners and operators in a given market decides to participate in the program, the reports can be customized to include competitive data.

“If you’re not mindful of the competitive marketplace, you’re continuing to participate in a one-horse race,” says DeLozier.

An owner might look at his numbers at the end of the season and see a 3-percent increase of rounds played. Being content with that is one thing, but if other courses in the same market increase 20 percent, then the owner might not be capitalizing on possible revenue.

Stine says it’s preferable to have a smaller market – as opposed to an entire state – when it comes to the reports. Though golf course owners in Cleveland can benefit from an analysis of Northeast Ohio, once enough courses are participating in the Cleveland area, they will be broken down into their own competitive golf market. A minimum of 15 to 20 courses will be needed to ensure accurate and confidential numbers that will benefit owners and managers.

The base fee for the first year of monthly reports is $200 – after a free six-month trial. The cost for the second year and years beyond is $100 annually.

“We want people to see how it works, how simple it is and that there is no downside,” Stine says of the six-month trial period.

2,4-D review completed
Washington – The Environmental Protection Agency released its comprehensive assessment of the herbicide, 2,4-Dichloro-phenoxyacetic acid under its reregistration program. The EPA concluded that 2,4-D doesn’t present risks of concern to human health when users follow the product instructions. This completes a 17-year review process.
The Industry Task Force II on 2,4-D Research Data developed and submitted to the EPA more than 300 Good Laboratory Practice toxicology, environmental and residue studies EPA scientists reviewed to assess the herbicide’s safety under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and the Food Quality Protection Act.
Task Force members hold technical 2,4-D FIFRA registrations and include Dow AgroSciences, Nufarm, Agro-Gor Corp. and PBI Gordon.
2,4-D was discovered 60 years ago and is used worldwide for a wide variety of applications in agricultural, noncrop, residential and aquatic settings.

Scientists study course runoff
Columbus, Ohio and St. Paul, Minn. – Two Agricultural Research Service scientists are studying runoff from golf courses. The study is partially funded by the U.S. Golf Association.
Agricultural engineer Kevin King, in the ARS Soil Drainage Research Unit in Columbus, Ohio, is measuring the amount of pesticide and nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers being lost from golf courses in Columbus and in Duluth, Minn. On a golf course in Austin, Texas, he is studying nitrogen and phosphorus losses only.
Chemist Pam Rice is monitoring pesticide losses from turfgrass plots at the ARS Soil and Water Management Research Unit in St. Paul, Minn., with collaborator Brian Horgan at the University of Minnesota.
King and Rice are coordinating their research. Rice’s data might help King make the ARS Soil and Water Assessment Tool model more accurate when predicting losses from golf courses. While King recently started the study of the Columbus golf course, he has three years of data from the Duluth golf course and five years from the Austin course. He has measured annual per-acre losses of six pounds of nitrogen and 0.3 pounds of phosphorus from the Austin course. Amounts from the other courses were even lower, and the pesticide losses measured from the Duluth and Columbus courses were low as well – much less than from most farmland.
More research is planned, with the goal of finding the best ways to minimize losses to the environment while maximizing turfgrass quality.

Review process identifies issues
Harrisburg, Pa. – To help clubs identify potential areas of improvement in a cost-effective manner, Golf Property Analysts developed a three-phase, independent, operational review process. In phase one, the consultation will include a one-day site visit and will address the following issues:
• Identification of the club’s overall goals;
• Financial operations review: revenues, expenses, debt and tax assessment;
• Market position/membership;
• Discussion with club management and leadership;
• Tour and review of all club facilities;
• Agronomic review;
• Overall land, safety and real estate related issues, including highest and best use review; and
• A written executive summary is provided outlining issues and cursory recommendations.
The objective of the one-day review is to offer a cost-effective way for clubs to undergo a limited, independent check-up and identify any issues warranting further attention. The written executive summary to be provided can serve as an independent guideline to assist the club with its short and long-term strategic planning.
Phase two expands on the topics analyzed in phase one, providing a more detailed analysis, including:
• Market research and analysis;
• Financial analysis;
• Cash flow analysis;
• Highest and best-use analysis;
• Equipment and capital improvement plan;
• Specific recommendations;
• Detailed maintenance review and written maintenance plan development; and
• Master plan review.
Phase three is an implementation phase. The company will work to help implement the specific recommendations made in phase two or provide other services as deemed necessary:
• Market value appraisal;
• Tax assessment analysis;
• Mortgage financing package
preparation;
• Brokerage services; and
• Project management.