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The 50th annual Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is on the brink of setting new records in terms of revenues and participation. Strong pre-registration numbers in a host of categories offer hope that the golf economy, at least in the Carolinas, may have turned a corner.
For only the second time in its history, the event has already topped $600,000 in gross revenues with on-site registrations expected to push that total past the record of $609,330 established in 2007.
Carolinas GCSA executive director, Tim Kreger, also expects to fill a record number of seats in education seminars once on-site registrations are counted. Even before Tuesday’s main day of education, 1,303 seats had been sold, just shy of the record 1,327 filled last year.
Some 200 individual companies purchased 380 trade show booths making for another sell out. Even so, that number is still short of the 425 booths filled in 2007 when exhibitors occupied space in the foyer and hallways of Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
“The economy and the golf industry were in a much different place then,” Kreger says. “We took a hit like everyone else once the recession bit but the fact is we have come back stronger and stronger each year since 2009. Obviously it’s good news for the association that we have such strong support from superintendents and vendors, but I think it’s got to be a good indicator for the overall health of the Carolinas golf economy too.”
Other key numbers so far include the 323-strong field in the Carolinas GCSA golf championship Monday, just five shy of the all-time record of 328 in 2006. More than 60 shooters registered for the annual sporting clay championship on the same day, which was a new record. And nearly 600 people pre-registered for the annual Carolinas Night at the Beach celebration Tuesday night with as many as another 100 expected on the night pushing total attendance close to its second highest-ever behind the 781 who partied in 2008.