The Pellucid Perspective - June 2023 - 4

INDUSTRY
GROWTH
food, beverage, fun with a golf " wrapper " . As NGF has
repeatedly noted and now tracks, its size and growth
are a force to be reckoned with and contribute to " the
industry " while we still see no quantitative proof that it
creates golfers or acts as an on-ramp to the sport of golf
on green grass facilities (I'm still looking to see or for
anyone to submit a marketing piece from Topgolf suggesting
any of their guests go visit one or more named
local golf facilities; they are however selling lessons now
which doesn't feed, but competes with, local pros at
courses for golf education)
* Media - this is the " big money " world that belongs to
any association or entity (Augusta National etc.) that
owns any professional events or tours with events worthy
of TV coverage, significant attendance, marketing
sponsorships etc.
* Ancillary - this is my catch-all for the other revenueproducing
vehicles that revolve around golf such as real
estate development etc. and, to some extent, charitable
giving
What I've observed over the past 20 years is that the above
segments, although all golf-related, can and do move in different
directions at different times depending on macroeconomics,
the marketplaces in which they operate and public perceptions.
We've established, through past quantitative analysis, that the
fortunes of the PGA TOUR and golf media/entertainment
don't correlate to the health of the core industry segment of golf
operations and equipment sales. Exhibit A would be to consider
the diverging fortunes of Play, Entertainment and Media
during the '10-'19 period. Play was on a long, slow decline in
golfers, rounds and (obviously) golf-related revenue through golf
courses. Differently, entertainment during the period of '15-'19
was on a significant growth trajectory as Topgolf expanded (accelerated
when they went to a REIT financial model so they
didn't have their growth capital tied up in the ground leases for
their existing properties) and the advent of the inevitable lookalikes
as well as the emergence of " simulator bars " . Meanwhile,
the media sector during the period was successful in rotating
through sponsors to always find replacements for their defectors
as audience metrics fell and rose and the TV networks continued
4 The Pellucid PersPecTive
to be willing to pay increasing amounts of money for the eyeballs
and demographics of golf's audience (also through new delivery
such as streaming, hole-by-hole coverage etc.). Hence, three divergent
revenue strength/growth patterns occurred during the
same period for 3 sectors that are supposedly " anchored " by the
Play element of golf. Ergo, there isn't a universal " golf industry "
so for the PGA TOUR to " grow the industry " , they would actually
have to invest some of their accumulated wealth into tangible,
consistent and documented gains in Play over time. They've
indicated an interest and willingness in doing that in the past,
how's their track record?
Here's my scorecard for the Media stakeholders' interest and
success in developing and implementing grow-the-game initiatives:
*
PGA TOUR - organized Golf 20/20 back in 2000,
developed 5+ grow-the-game initiatives, none of which
was followed through for independent success metrics
and tracking, none had any appreciable impact on golfers
(goal 55M by '20, actual 21M), rounds (goal 1B by
'20, actual 494M (aided by COVID to the tune of 50M
rds). Probably the best observation I heard to summarize
Golf 20/20 was by a fellow participant with me
in the closing session of the inaugural year which went
something like this, " Isn't it ironic that this closing session
was the PGA TOUR " passing the hat " for donors
and supporters of the longer-term initiative among
entities in the audience that a) had significantly less financial
resources than the TOUR and b) who had paid
the TOUR to come to this party which, by the way, was
hosted at the World Golf Village which benefitted the
TOUR? " To quote the musical Hamilton, " the world
turned upside down. "
* USGA - I can't recall a single growth program that has
emanated from this organization during my tenure in
the industry. They did a short stint behind the " While
we're young " media campaign to speed up play but that
was fractional in production costs for the spots that they
ran on golf media (not going to find a lot of non-golfers
out there and I'm sure it was largely remnant spots that
the networks and Golf Channel back then couldn't sell
June 2023
PHOTO BY JAN E. ESPELID ON UNSPLASH
The Pellucid Perspective - June 2023

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