The Pellucid Perspective - February 2011 - (Page 16)

THE LAST WORD Show time – again very three years, the PGA Merchandise Show and the Golf Industry Show are both in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, less than three weeks apart. As those of you in the Western part of the country who attend both know, it is a déjà vu all over again nightmare. The first sign that you’ve had too much of a good thing – other than your domestic partner or the office bean counter’s ‘You’re going cross-country again?’ query – is when the front desk clerk at your Orlando hotel greets you by name as you walk in the door, 2500 miles or so from home. This year’s G.I.S. was, uh, kind of intimate. Although both the two principal presenting organizations, the Golf Course Superintendents Association and the National Golf Course Owners Association, reportedly had significantly more membership representation at the show this year than last, there appeared to be significantly fewer exhibitors there to greet them. Part of any exhibitor or general attendee shortfall compared to last year’s show in San Diego, of course, can be attributed to the fact that the Club Managers Association of America withdrew from their G.I.S. presenting partnership position following the G.I.S. announcement after the 2009 show in New Orleans that the 2012 show would be held in Las Vegas, rather than the scheduled New Orleans, where it had been scheduled to be held every three years in a rotation with San Diego and Orlando. This year’s CMAA Expo will also be in Orlando later this month, although at the Marriott World Center instead of the Orange County Convention Center that hosted the PGA and G.I.S. shows. The CMAA said at the time that it was standing by their New Orleans commitment for next year and abandoning participation in and sponsorship of this year’s G.I.S. because it would be too costly to their membership to pay the contract cancellation fee to New Orleans. Most industry insiders, however, feel the ménage a trois between the superintendents, owners and club managers was an unlikely arrangement for some of the same reasons that the more familiar domestic arrangement associated with that term frequently fails – jealousy, a struggle for turf and different goals of the three parties. While many – especially vendors or multiple members - appreciated one less trip to exhibit or attend, the fact remains that a significant number of CMAA members from city or university clubs or the like have nothing to do with golf. E The latest greens mower or tee sheet management system mean nothing to them, just as the most up-to-date fine dining kitchen or meeting presentation systems mean little to a golf course whose “fine dining” consists of a hot dog in the snack bar at the turn and multi-media presentations consist of two flat screen TVs in the bar. Industry needs more – not less – cooperation The collapse of the CMAA, NGCOA and GCSAA triumvirate sponsorship is, in some ways, symbolic of the problems that continue to confront the golf industry. While the shared pain of the current economic condition has fostered some cooperation and collaboration among the industry’s major associations, there remains far too much jealous guarding of turf. Information, which in the interest of full disclosure is this magazine’s parent organization Pellucid Corp.’s stock in trade, is a perfect example. The industry relies, in varying degrees, upon information provided by the National Golf Foundation, the PGA of America’s Performance Trak, Golf Datatech and, last but certainly not least in our estimation, Pellucid Corp. Each of those entities provides information regarding a broad spectrum of course operations, performance and trends, but none are complete. They each derive information from varying segments of the industry population, but there is no cumulative database. In many cases, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. (It may be worth mentioning that there was some talk on the G.I.S. floor about the NGF pre-announcing a Smith Travel-like STAR report. The report’s rounds and revenue benchmarking data would be a direct competitor with the PGA Performance Trak collaboration with the Owners Association and their data. Whether it is the various grow the game initiatives or the need for meaningful data to base critical business decisions on, the guiding principal may have been summed up by Benjamin Franklin in an address to the Continental Congress before the Revolutionary War when he said, “Gentlemen, we must all hang together, or we shall all certainly hang separately.” Fortunately hanging is not a likely fate for golf course owners and operators and their employees today, but the banging of a foreclosure auctioneer’s gavel could be. —Jim Dunlap The collapse of the CMAA, NGCOA and GCSAA triumvirate sponsorship is, in some ways, symbolic of the problems that continue to confront the golf industry. 16 The Pellucid PersPecTive February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - February 2011

The Pellucid Perspective - February 2011
Contents
Is Groupon Good for Golf: The Sequel
Solving the Professional Payment Predicament
Jan 2011 YtD Weather Impact, Dec 2010 YtD Utilization
Reynolds Plantation Courses on the Market
Atlanta, GA Core Business Statistical Area (CBSA)
Alternative Golf? Or an Affirmation of How Many of Us Play Already?
Custom Clubfitting in 2011: A Solution but Not a Cure
Pap-Agony for Phoenix Muni
Show Time - Again

The Pellucid Perspective - February 2011