Pellucid Corp. reports that for the first quarter of 2006, the Weather-Adjusted Rounds Performance Index finished at 109 meaning rounds played eclipsed favorable weather trends for the first time since Pellucid started tracking this measure in late 2004. The underlying numbers to the index were a 14 percent increase in Golf Playable Hours (GPH) for the first quarter in 2006 compared to an 8 percent increase in rounds played as reported by Golf Datatech.
Pellucid performs percentage Utilization factoring on the GPH figure, which is then compared to the number of rounds played to produce the index. An index between 95 and 105 means the industry at a national level performed in line with the weather while an index greater than 105 indicates overperformance and an index less than 95 indicates underperformance.
Pellucid currently provides the industry’s only tracking of the critical measure of weather-adjusted rounds performance.
“Without factoring in weather impact, the golf industry for years has been both unduly optimistic and pessimistic in trying to determine real rounds performance,” says Pellucid president Jim Koppenhaver. “What the Q1 results suggest is that we’ve had favorable performance in rounds played at the national level, aided by favorable weather but, net, we’ve done slightly better than weather alone would have suggested.”
Supporting the overall favorability, regional breadth of positive results was also encouraging as eight regions showed gains in GPH for the first quarter vs. the same period a year ago compared to five declining regions for a positive advance/decline ratio of 1.6:1. Rounding out the picture was one region which was neutral (+/-2 percent) and the remaining 10 regions were still not in playable days based on Pellucid’s model inputs.
The business benefit of knowing weather impact vs. guessing at it is best summarized in this recent testimonial from an existing facility owner/operator who was an early adopter of Pellucid’s weather capabilities, “I don't know how many subscribers are using your weather impact reports or how. We had an unusual event recently when an (unsolicited and proposed) buyer attributed our 30 percent revenue increase this year "to better weather." It was easy to e-mail him your report indicating 9 percent positive weather impact on our play, which gave me a basis to compliment our staff on achieving the rest of the increase through better marketing and smarter pricing.”
More detail on the results from national level down to individual facility can be obtained through combinations of Pellucid’s Weather Impact Tracking reports: The Regional Weather Impact Tracking report, the Facility 10-year Weather Impact Trend report, the Facility Annual Weather Impact Analysis and the Facility Monthly Weather Impact Tracking report.
“It’s said that it’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness,” Koppenhaver says. “Since this industry’s inception, we’ve cursed the darkness and even used it to cover what we didn’t want to know. We’re helping the growing number of brave souls who want to know how they’re doing, both good and bad, to work toward fixing the non weather-related deficiencies. The irony is the cursing increasingly is being directed at the people shining the light rather than at the darkness.”
More on Pellucid’s weather capabilities ban be found at www.pellucidcorp.com. For more specific information on the Regional Weather Impact Tracking report and to receive a sample, interested parties should contact Jim Koppenhaver at jimk@pellucidcorp.com.
