So over the last week I’ve received multiple letters from clubs that are saying the same exact thing. Rounds were way up in 2020 (no secret) and they fully expect that to continue in 2021. With more and more people joining clubs, initiations and dues continue to climb and there’s a decent amount of waiting lists out there. Where is this all heading in your opinion? Is this just a short term faze because of the pandemic? Will we see a change, where it seems for the last 20 years all you see and hear are golf courses closings, will we see some new ones being built? I know my home club had most of the Monday outings canceled last year. Obviously those things are big revenue tickets but now we’ll have even more rounds and those on top of that this year. There’s obvious concerns about just how much play courses can take when we all want is green grass, lush green fairways, and hard fast greens.

I hope if this wave results in more courses being built that they are short courses. I think having a 9 or 12 hole municipal or public course be a norm will be the best thing for the game. Why pay $50 every weekend for a beginner to shoot 110+ and see slow growth. Having the shorter courses will allow people to ease into the game by spending less money, less cursing, and will also open up the 18 hole courses for more experienced golfers

Noyes26 this is a great question. I am a huge weekday golfer bc you can cruise around in 3-3.5 hours. That was non existent last year. Each and every course was packed every single day even through the winter. The pandemic introduced new golfers which is great but the problem is that most of not all of them have any etiquette. Courses were chewed up with massive divots and ball marks. If most people continue to telework then I don’t see golf revenue going down. Also with the rise of real estate I don’t see more courses being built anytime soon too.

dphatt I still think location has a big part also. Our most rounds in a day last year was 110. We have 4 hour rounds on weekend prime time, and can cruise in 3 hours in the afternoon. Then you go across town to the new birdwood and Farmington, you are looking at 4.5 to 5 hour rounds. One thing I don't think we need is more courses.

dbenick3 I will be going down there for a round then 😉

Best get away within 2 hours of dc

I hope it settles down a little. It was excruciating last year. Where did all these people come from? 1/2 of them looked like they had hardly ever played the game and some looked like it was their first time on a golf course. I am a member (and an unpaid ambassador) at a fairly difficult course in mid-Maryland. Most of the golfing crowd who traveled here up until the pandemic, came to play on a nice course and to test their game against this tougher track. This past season had my head spinning. Forget the fact that the course had it's best year ever, even after a 7 week shutdown mandated by the governor. More impressive was that it surpassed the previous best year numbers by September. Any decent-weather day during the week saw a tee sheet with over 200 on it. Unfortunately, along with the positive numbers came the negative side of the equation. The course took a beating. Ball marks, divots, etc were the worst I have ever seen, anywhere! I can't tell you how many times, as an ambassador of the course, after 5 days of rain, I had to tell people it was Cart Path Only even though they were told by the starter. Or, on more than one occasion, that they could not drive their carts up alongside or onto the green! Or, that when the signs in the fairway say "No Carts Past This Point," it means no carts past that point. I have so many stories of inept golfers, not only their ability, but understanding of the game and its etiquette from just last season alone, I could write a book. Made me sick at times, some of the stuff I saw. Any decent player, having to play behind some of the ineptness I dealt with, would drive them mad, too. At the very least, putting the pro shop on speed dial would not be unexpected. They got some interesting calls, I can assure you, with the cops showing up on more than one occasion. (That's another couple chapters in that book I could write.) One of the things I didn't understand was why these people would come out to learn to play on a course as difficult as this one is and more importantly, one so pricey, when they could first learn the general basics at a flat, wide open muni and pay 1/2 the price. Literally, I have stories that would have your head spinning of some of the stuff I saw this past year. Yes, you saw that kind of stuff everywhere every now and then pre-pandemic. But the stuff I saw happened day in and day out. Some days when the parking lot was so full, I couldn't even find a parking space. I would just turn around and go home unless I had a pre-planned time with friends. I live around the corner, so I would just come back later before sunset to get in a few practice holes. Even though the course did it's most rounds ever, I had my fewest rounds played in a year (151) as a result of the overcrowding. Sorry this post was so long. I really could write a book, given the opportunity.

I think the growth in golf will be here to stay. Social media is exposing a lot of people to the game and the humorous content of golf course shenanigans are showing the new generation that golf is fun and a great place to hang out with your friends, flip golf carts, and pound White Claws. The explosion of boutique golf brands is evidence of that. It is typically the younger, hip crowd that is willing to pay the premium to outfit their gear with cool accessories. As for how it will impact my golf life, it will for sure be for the worse. Last season, it was extremely difficult for me to find a tee time and I think I got in around 10 rounds.

What will end result be from this uptick in golf???

illest

I have a love-hate opinion from this past year.

love that the game saw a growth in the amount of people playing, love that it got people outside and actually doing things.

hate that it’s now near impossible to find even a midweek, midday tee time.

Jaybananapantsarthur

Speaking locally only. A great number of people who own beach houses decided to relocate here full time last year vs the usual few weekends. There aren't a lot of affordable private options here so people looking for that experience jumped on whatever they could get. Turned into an absolute sh!t show in my opinion with evening twilight 9 running 2 hours or more.

There was already a lot of recipricol play but when combined with relocations made it almost too busy with courses cashing in on the windfall (don't blame them after so many lean years).

Now for the rant: I get it, but for f's sake, manage it. Stay on top of pace of play if you're going to allow fivesomes out or a father with three kids under 10 playing from the blue tees or the first group who turns in more than 2:15 gets spoken to. Keep the range stocked with balls vs half of the bays unusable. Inform guests of drop areas bc we have a lot of forced carries and people Tin Cup it instead of using what they don't know about. Also have grown tired of people screaming on the golf course. F off with that already.

Am I out of characters yet?

Noyes26

Jaybananapantsarthur so I get the benefit when summer comes around that on the weekends the course is actually emptier. People heading down the shore is a good thing for this areas golf courses! At least it used to be. We’ll see what happens.

I am also a weekday player. Generally I have the 230 tee time so I can get any and all work done by 130 be there by 2 and be ready to go at 230. Working in insurance that is not new to me. But it is to a lot of these others. We will now have starters on all 3 nines which we haven’t had in YEARS. There will also be roving marshalls which we’ve never had and then on top of that they are asking for 3 hour and 45 minute rounds (good luck).

I will say my letter from Stonewall was a little different. This past year was something that club never wanted. If you play there and think the course seems empty that is by design. But the North course especially saw a massive uptick in rounds and they are ready to try to put a halt on that. Which I won’t lie, I’m pretty excited about.

dphatt

Damn @mattybeyel Get off @Jaybananapantsarthur ’s course already

Noyes26

Haha I’m glad to see some passion about this because I’ve been going back and forth with myself pretty non stop about it.

Great to see the club thrive. Great to see the game over all thrive.
Stop taking my tee times
I am generally a walker. 90% of my rounds are walked unless it’s 90 degrees plus humidity. I should never be up a group ridings ass. But this is the newer golfers. They only get out of the cart once the cart is right next to their ball, it’s very frustrating.
It really really scares me when they are talking about expanding parking.

dbenick3

I mean it comes down to money. What are your tee times at your course. Are they 12 min intervals or 7 min? Tee time intervals will tell you right away on what the management is trying to do.

dphatt

dbenick3 12 minutes? That’s unheard of up here

Noyes26

dbenick3 Lol I live in the most densely populated state in the US. There’s no 12 min tee times.

dbenick3

Like I said. I might work at one of the best places to play in America for the price it is at and conditions.

Jaybananapantsarthur

I understand it being busy. All good. I hate that it is mismanaged to the degree that is.

dbenick3

Jaybananapantsarthur on the flip side. The retired millionaires I deal with don't like being told they can't do something by a guy making 30k a year. You can tell people it is cart path only all day, 20 % of those people will still drive around in the rough off the cart path thinking it is okay. Unless you can be suspended from playing or fined at a course. This problem of people doing what they want won't stop.

Jaybananapantsarthur

dbenick3 I have no tolerance for elitist dbags. Neither should your committee and/or DoG. That's not our issue. Our issue is that the club is run like a nickel pitch at a carnival.

dbenick3

Noyes26 i have also worked at a course that use to double full course shotguns on weekends.

dbenick3

Jaybananapantsarthur we have one owner and a gm that has our back to the fullest. I am lucky of my situation as an assistant. I don't know if I could go back to a public or a round factory course after this.

Jaybananapantsarthur

dbenick3 don't envy you guys, especially when it comes to having to predict the weather in five minute intervals.

titleistforged

Here in the Bay, I am struggling to book tee times. Either because of bots, or the huge uptick in golf. Like others, glad to see the game grow and be popular, but the sudden change has been hard.

Moni_SLO

titleistforged Yah my homie who lives in SF has been regularly driving down to Milpitas to play on the dirt track out there. It's not terrible here in SLO thankfully (definitely an uptick but I've never had an issue getting out on a weekday....I don't do much weekend golf). My other homie who lived in San Jose was regularly driving down to Paso Robles (2.5 hours) to golf when the pandemic first started since it was the closest course to him even open lol

bruinmw

I think it's cool that there's a bunch of new people in golf. But, it's downright impossible to get a tee time at my usual course (Goose Creek). They've got practically full tee sheets almost 3 weeks out. Most of my rounds are walking on early on the weekend as a result of not being able to get a tee time. Good thing the guys at the course know me, as they usually get me out fairly quickly.

DaHOF

Basically what everyone has already stated is what I've been seeing. A couple of other issues on my end. First, I no longer have easy ability to snag a tee time at another private club out here for me and a couple of buddies/colleagues without being accompanied by a member of said club. I used to be able to do it fairly easy at a lot of solid clubs. Second, our club is slammed and it can be difficult to get out for a quick 9 holes late afternoons on the weekends. However, we do have a very strict pace of play that is still enforced thank God. If you are over 4 hrs and 10 minutes for a round of golf, at ANY time during the week, you get a letter/warning. Third, I hate that our course has limited days for outside guests. We only allow up to two guests per member Tu-Th (this is Rona related, but it still sucks). Finally, as others have said, public course tee times out here in SoCal are almost impossible for the more legitimate tracks. Booked out weeks in advance.

Noyes26

I don’t mean this to sound as a snub and obviously you can’t tell tone on the internet but I could not even imagine trying to play a public course during all of this.

ckay

Noyes26 oh it has stunk pre-Covid in metro NY, unbearable in 2020. When the T&C event at Hidden Creek came about, I was super pumped. I have literally zero access to private clubs unless I pony up for some charity scramble so it was nice to get that club treatment.

The closest I get is Black, and for the last several seasons I was able to find a time or walk on pretty easily. It is now back to peak pre-2002 US Open hype days of getting there at midnight to hope you tee off before Noon.