A total of 2,359 golf facilities, including data from PGA and NGCOA participants, provided October data by the reporting date. At the nationwide level, October 2009 rounds were down -15.9% and days open were down -8.7% compared to October 2008. There were 9 weekend days in October 2009 and 8 in October 2008.
Combined with poor weather in October 2009, this month saw the worst declines in rounds played all year. Same-store rounds played at Private facilities were down -17.4%, Daily Fee/Semi-Private facilities down -14.7%, Municipal/Military/University facilities down -17.9%, and Resort facilities down -8.6. It is important to point out that for the central and northern parts of the country, October represents a shoulder season opportunity. In the case of October 2009 results, poor weather resulted in the shoulder season not delivering standard rounds volume.
YTD rounds played were down -1.5% with YTD days open flat at -0.1%. Based on 2008 calendar year statistics, October accounted for 9% of total annual rounds played. During 2008, 90% of total annual rounds were played in the ten month period January through October. Through September 2009, YTD rounds played were virtually flat on a nationwide basis; however, due to the impact of the October decline, YTD rounds through October decreased slightly. In this current economic environment, rounds that are down less than 2% ten months into the year can still be viewed as relatively stable compared to other segments of the economy.
Golf fee revenue responses were submitted by 1,085 facilities. Median gross golf fee revenue was down -13.8% nationally in October 2009. All other gross revenues (merchandise revenue, food and beverage revenue, and total revenue) were also down in October 2009 compared to October 2008. Overall, YTD gross revenues were down with merchandise revenue affected the most.
The Performance Factor for October 2009 was 92.1 indicating rounds played per day open were down in October 2009 compared to October 2008. The YTD Performance Factor of 98.6 indicates rounds played per day open were down slightly for the year through October 2009.
October 2009 Year-to-Date State Performance
State-by-state results below are for YTD rounds played and YTD days open, compared to the same period prior year, and with percent change. These are the cumulative results from January 2009 through October 2009. Nearly all Midwestern states had increased days open for calendar year-to-date performance through October 2009, yet only half of them had increased rounds played. The majority of states in the Northeast showed declines in days open, which could have had an impact on rounds played. Similar to the Northeast, the majority of the states in the southeastern portion of the United States had decreases in days open appearing to have an affect on rounds played with the exception of southern states in the south central area including Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The western region of the United States generally had lower average rounds played despite having increases in days open.
The three states in this month’s PerformanceTrak Spotlight are Connecticut, Ohio, and Wyoming. Ninety percent of the states in the U.S. (including these three) had decreases in days open during the month of October. Of those states with decreases in October, more than 50% of them (including Ohio and Wyoming) had days open declines large enough to move the YTD days open figure down more than one percentage point.
Connecticut’s YTD round played were nearly flat at 0.3% despite YTD decreases in days open of -1.2%.
Having increases in YTD days open of 2.7%, helped give Ohio, like other states in the Midwest, an increase in YTD rounds played up 1.2%.
Wyoming is one of the states in the western region that has seen decreases in YTD rounds played. The decline in YTD days open of -2.2% likely had a negative impact on YTD rounds played, which were down -3.8%.