Rounds follow favorable weather

Pellucid Corp. reports that United States rounds gains in September followed their previously released information showing an increase in Golf Playable Hours (GPH) for the month. The positive weather and rounds reports have been a bright spot capping off a solid third quarter at the United States level. Despite the positive quarter results, the industry is flat versus last year’s rounds results on a year-to-date basis and lagging positive YTD performance on GPH at the national level through September.

By the numbers, September rounds played numbers at the U.S. level recently released by Golf Datatech show an increase of 3.7 percent compared to Pellucid’s previously reported increase of 4.7 percent in GPH for the month. On a YTD basis, weather is in positive territory compared to 2004 (plus 1.3 percent) while YTD rounds according to Golf Datatech are virtually flat (minus 0.1 percent) compared to 2004.

Pellucid president Jim Koppenhaver interprets the U.S.-level results for the month and YTD saying, “The monthly numbers are encouraging in that they support the industry’s belief that favorable weather impacts rounds played favorably. Our measure of GPH however does show that there’s still room for improvement as the weather offered us another 1 percent of opportunity that we didn’t capitalize on. That gap also exists in the YTD numbers as we’re 1.4 percent behind what Mother Nature has given us to work with. Still, whether it’s due to favorable weather, good management or good fortune we’ll take some good news for a change.”

There’s potentially more favorable news in the offing as Pellucid’s October weather results show that 2005 outperformed 2004 by 2.6 percent. Whether or not the positive rounds played trends continue to follow the favorable weather remains to be seen when those results are released by Golf Datatech in early December.

The regional weather impact tracking report, which provides current month and YTD results for the 24 Pellucid-defined weather-based geographies, is the entry-level application in Pellucid’s suite of weather impact reports for golf facilities. In addition, they produce at individual facility level the 10-Year weather impact history, the annual weather impact analysis and the monthly weather impact tracking available as either individual reports or as a group at a discount. 

“A growing number of facility owners and lenders are discovering the benefit of having independent, consistent measures and tracking of weather tied to their facilities,” Koppenhaver says. “It’s easy to understand why self-reporting of this key variable by the facility operators has historically led to the desired explanation vs. truth.”

Pellucid’s weather products are available starting as low as $95. Subscribers to Pellucid’s newsletter, Outside the Ropes, receive a discount on the regional weather impact tracking report. For more information on Pellucid’s weather capabilities, visit www.pellucidcorp.com. For more specific information on the regional weather impact tracking report and to receive a sample, contact Koppenhaver at jimk@pellucidcorp.com.