The Pellucid Perspective - February 2023 - 17

impacted. More importantly, the programs such as Klarna and
Afterpay involve " soft checks " that do not impact their credit
score. Longer term Affirm and Synchrony do require real credit
checks, but the interest rates can be lower than those on credit
card balances when the retailer is promoting sales through interest
" buy downs " .
If we pay attention, we know that the Millenial shoppers are
looking for installment payment opportunities and are using
these new fintech options. The challenge is looking for ways
to accommodate these smart, informed shoppers as we try to
attract and retain them as golfers. Most major manufacturers
have " rental club " programs that provide additional discounts
from wholesale. We can use that in two
ways - first to provide discounted rentals
for golf course use (paid greens fees)
to those that have completed an introductory
clinic. Second, the rental clubs
can be offered with good discounts at
the end of the season to recover the
cost to buy them. John Deere has had
a similar profitable and self-liquidating
program for its compact diesel tractors
for years.
In its promotional material for Welcome2Golf,
the NGF refers us to the
ski industry and the fact that virtually
We are encouraged that
the golf industry is
recognizing the historical
data that tells us the
most fertile ground for
attracting new golfers is in
the 25-40 Age Group.
every one of the 470 ski areas in the US
offers introductory clinics for all age
levels. As a former ski instructor, I can
tell you that these clinics are designed
to be as affordable as possible. As Pellucid
outlined in our detailed comparison
of Skiing, Tennis and Golf several
years ago; it's important to note that
" 70% of all new skis sold annually go to
rental enterprises " . (July, 2014 Pellucid
Perspective and July, 2014 Outside the
Ropes for those of you with Pellucid
Memberships).
We are encouraged that the golf inLooking
at the golf
consumer base, we
see that Phoenix is
home to a healthy
local golfer base of
~486K golfers (this
is local, resident
population only and
recognizing that
tourists are key to
the market's golf
success).
and continuing rebalancing of supply
in the market will continue to produce
healthy results. Whether Phoenix can
challenge and overtake Denver in the
#2 spot in the near future remains to
be seen. Hosting big-time events like
the Super Bowl and the annual WM
event doesn't hurt either in dragging
The Pellucid PersPecTive
The Pellucid PersPecTive
9
17
tation as Manhattan KS, go figure). Within Public-Regulation
golf, the distribution between Premium/Value/Price is
38%/33%/29% which skews slightly to the Public-Premium
segment vs. the national distribution of 32%/35%/32%.
Looking at the productivity of the average facility in
the market using our proprietary velocity measure (Annual
Rounds per 18-hole equivalent), shows a healthy ~52K rounds
per year which indexes at 162 vs. the national average of 32K.
Applying our industry-exclusive Utilization measure (played
rounds/capacity rounds), we see that, after weather adjustment,
the average facility productivity is 72%, significantly
higher than the national average of
54% or a 133 Index.
In summary, like many US markets
in the endemic COVID era, Phoenix
is rebounding strongly and significantly
healthier than it was pre-COVID.
Barring any major disruption in
the tourist volume (and propensity of
those tourists to bring their sticks and
play) or major weather adversities, it
would appear that the consumer base
attracting new golfers is in the 25 - 40 Age Group. It is also the
Age that many kids exposed to golf through Junior Programs
return after their detours into high school, college and team
even more tourists across the market, some of whom will also
no doubt take advantage of the warm weather and get out and
play.
As detailed in Jim's article in this issue on the uses and
necessity of independent and sound market analysis, Pellucid
continues to offer the gold standard in this discipline via two
offerings:
* Single location Golf Local Market Analysis
* Golf Local Market Analyzer software license (unlimited
analyses, web-delivered, 24/7)
" club " sports. Providing more access to affordable instruction
will only serve to help with faster skill development - we know
that people respond to improvement and will stay involved
when they get better.
It is also clear, however, is that we will have to adjust our
methods for getting these new golfers equipped for staying engaged.
This will entail rethinking " rental programs " and probably
getting familiar with some of these new fintech options
that the Millenials are already embracing.
n
dustry is recognizing the historical data
that tells us the most fertile ground for
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https://www.pellucidcorp.com/reports/market-analysis https://www.pellucidcorp.com/services/golf-local-market-analysis https://kempersports.com/ http://www.PellucidcorP.com http://www.PellucidcorP.com
The Pellucid Perspective - February 2023

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