The Pellucid Perspective - August 2010 - (Page 15)

THE LAST WORD Virtual golf, soccer marketing and other oddities R egular random skimming of the various golf-oriented web sites, blogs, etc. usually produces something at least mildly interesting, but generally nothing worthy of an entire column. Someone directed me to a couple of recent blog posts to the web site of my former home at Golf Inc. magazine from readers who said they missed my “unique views on the golf industry” or some such — thanks, Sis. I’m not sure how many others out there feel that way, but here are some random thoughts on random topics. One of the strangest news items I ran across earlier this summer was an announcement that my favorite curmudgeons at the USGA were, of all things, teaming up with World Golf Tour, a San Francisco-based producer of online golf games. Winners of competitions involving the playing of famed Oakmont online would win U.S. Open tickets and other prizes. Just strikes me as ironic that the staid gentlemen from Far Hills, who would seemingly be happier if the game went back to the hickory stick, white shirt and tie era, should align themselves with anything so current as online games. It also makes me wonder if those owners and operators on the USGA mailing list might prefer that their customers were playing golf outdoors instead of online. I’m sure the PGA of America won’t mind if they call the program Play Golf America…Online. Speaking of the USGA, good thing they clamped down on those square grooves on Tour – otherwise, they’d be shooting 59 or 60 every time you turn around. Oh, wait, two 59s already this year, and scoring records tied or broken practically every week? How could that be? Well, the guys who hit 500 or 600 balls a day and play for a living may be able to adjust to the new grooves, but I bet when the 18-handicappers who pay the freight try to stop a shot out of the rough, we’ll show them! Continuing on the challenging-times-makestrange-bedfellows theme, I heard a while back that the Southern California Golf Course Owners Association was planning to begin handing out golf promotional material at youth soccer fields in the region. My first reaction was that would be like trying to sell yarmulkes in Tehran, but as golf course operators are all too well aware, there are few better places to find flocks of pre-teens (and their parents) than soccer fields. Now the trick is to design a program appealing enough to combat the dreaded TED (Time, Expense, Difficulty) objections and get them off the pitch and onto the course. A recent USA Today article quantified some of the grim TV viewership numbers this year’s top events WOTIC (Without Tiger in Contention), as compared to years past when he was at or near the top of the leaderboards. With an eye toward next year’s renegotiation of the Tour’s TV rights, Commissioner Finchem emphasized that advertisers are still getting almost unprecedented exposure in number of commercial spots (as those of us who have to plan other ways to amuse ourselves every five minutes of the telecast can attest). Not even those old guys in the FlowMax commercials have to go THAT often. On the other hand, declining viewership means declining ad rates, and that will It also makes me wonder if those owners and operators on the USGA mailing list might prefer that their customers were playing golf outdoors instead of online. be a test of golf ’s appeal next contract time. Speaking of the formerly magnificent Mr. Woods, I’m trying to get over the angst of not having him to root for on the weekend. His terse commentary and on-course tantrums (better double the insurance on my glass house) make him hard to root for when he’s not hitting miraculous shots and sinking every key putt. On the other hand, there are some interesting players coming along — too bad hardly any of them are Americans, Bubba and Dustin notwithstanding, but hey, they’ll all be U.S. residents as soon as they figure out that Florida and Texas have no state income taxes and you can play golf year-round. And, who knows, Tiger may find some Zen-master who convinces him again that fairways aren’t toxic waste dumps, any putt under 12 feet is a gimme, and he can get back that winning fe-elin-g. —Jim Dunlap www.PellucidcorP.com The Pellucid PersPecTive 15 http://WWW.PELLUCIDCORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - August 2010

The Pellucid Perspective - August 2010
Table of Contents
Why ANOTHER Golf Publication?
Why ‘Affordable Golf ’ Is In Retreat
July Weather, Many Markets Beat by the Heat
Funds Preparing for Course Buys
Price Is Right for Building
Chicago Market Profile
Free Lunch for Harding Park
Win, Lose or Draw?
Virtual Golf and Soccer Marketing

The Pellucid Perspective - August 2010