Page 13 - GBC summer ENG 2023

On the heels of a very enter- taining Masters, let the 2023 golf season begin!
Golfers do seem as enthusiastic as ever. Most golf courses appear to have emerged from another Canadian winter in pretty good condition and operators hope to continue leveraging that high demand for golf of the past couple of years.
But, just as Jon Rahm faced the uncertainty of how the Masters would unfold, complete with a four-putt double on the very first hole, winning in the golf business is rarely easy and often difficult to predict. It requires managing plenty of risks, competition, oppor- tunities, and probably recovering from a few missed shots along the way, similar to Rahm’s path to victory.
So, Golf Business Canada has researched various golf industry analytics and now offers you the following “caddy advice” on what to expect in terms of the 2023 Business Outlook for Canadian golf course operators. Perhaps your own path to victory will benefit from such analytics and opinions.
2022 YEAR IN REVIEW
We head into the season starting from a relatively strong position. Although rounds played in 2022 did decline at most golf courses, demand
for golf remains well above historical benchmarks. Compared to the 2019 pre-pandemic results, rounds played were still 21.2% ahead in 2022, despite a year-over-year decrease of 6.5%.
When segmenting those national data points provincially, it should be noted that Ontario rounds were the only province that showed an increase in 2022. However, this was almost certainly due to the year-over-year compari- son being skewed by Ontario golf forced to shut down for several weeks back in the spring of 2021.
More importantly, golf opera- tion revenues significantly exceeded the rounds played metrics in 2022. Golf + Cart revenues were up 5.6% nationally. F&B sales were up 18.8% as group functions, tourna- ments, and daily restaurant business rebounded from the imposed pandemic restrictions. Overall gross revenues in 2022 were up 9.3% from what had already been a very strong growth year during the prior golf season.
Of note, the financial growth of private golf clubs in 2022 outper- formed that of semi-private and public operators.
Of course, 2022 was also characterized by inflationary pressures on the expense side, as well as continued supply chain bottlenecks. Staff shortages were also reported by 74% of golf course operators.
Jeff Calderwood, CEO of the NGCOA Canada, summarizes, “The rounds and revenue success of 2022 obviously need to be measured alongside these rising expenses but, on balance, the majority of Canadian golf course operators ended 2022 with strong financial results”.
2023 GOLF OPERATOR SURVEY
The NGCOA Canada conducts an annual survey with a representative sample of hundreds of Canadian golf course operators participating from coast to coast. The results have been compiled into their 2023 Pulse Report presented by Deluxe Canada, offering the Business Outlook as forecasted by the aggre- gate results of that research panel.
These are great leading indica- tors for industry trending and for your individual golf operator benchmark comparisons. Some of the key findings are elaborated upon here.
REVENUE PROJECTIONS
Canadian golf course operators are projecting a continuation of the positive revenue trend from 2021 and 2022. Green Fee + Cart revenues are forecasted to be up another 3.9% on average for 2023. With continuing expectations of more rebounding in tournament and F&B sales, gross revenues are budgeted to be up by 5.4%.
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