By Design - Summer 2018

22 | By Design I n the Spring 2018 issue of By Design , I provided some initial insights into the latest findings of Golf Facility Market Trend Watch , the annual proprietary insights program that we have developed with the American Society of Golf Course Architects. We surveyed individuals from a mix of roles within the golf industry, including owners/operators, general managers, superintendents and golf course architects. We saw that operators of both public and private golf clubs were interested in a golf course renovation above all other types of enhancement of their facility. For this second article, I will delve a little deeper into what respondents felt were the most important offerings for a golf facility, and the factors for operators to pull the trigger on a golf course renovation. Figure 1 shows that almost all respondents (97%) ranked ‘condition of the greens’ as an extremely important factor, from a list of 27 that were presented to them. What’s more, 92% considered ‘consistency of greens’ to be extremely important as well. This would seem to be a strong indication that much of the feedback that superintendents and other facility operators receive from their customers Why do clubs renovate their courses? EXPERT VIEW Jon Last of Sports & Leisure Research Group explains more about the findings of his firm’s ASGCA-commissioned research into golf facility trends. Golf facility trends | Jon Last Figure 2. Conditioning priorities for golfers Percentage of respondents ranking below conditions as top three importance among golfers True, consistent greens 95% 78% 59% 64% 45% 40% 35% 95% 84% 82% 71% 66% 53% 50% Well maintained tees and fairways Fast greens Firm, fast fairways Consistent, well maintained rough Public Private Lush, green, and immaculately maintained facilities Well defined fringe/aprons around the greens Figure 1. It’s all about the green complex! Percentage of respondents ranking below factors as top three importance among customers MOST IMPORTANT PUBLIC PRIVATE Condition of the green 96% 97% Overall golf course conditions 92% 94% Consistency of the greens 93% 91% Overall courtesy and friendliness of the golf staff 82% 79% Condition of the fairways 58% 76% 51% 70% Consistently well maintained bunkers