Page 18 - GBC Fall 2022 Eng

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Golf Business Canada
“If we’re going to make a course adjustment we’re putting our customers first,” Brian Schaal says. “Is it easier to maintain? Is it keeping the ball in play? Will folks enjoy their round more? Those types of decisions are ones we make our priority. We don’t allow inflation to dictate what we do or don’t do at Copper Point.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
It’s way too early to assess, summarize or categorize inflation’s impact on Canada’s golf industry going forward into next season and beyond. Variables are endless with consumers and operators sharing the burden of higher prices and costs. But, there’s a few things we do know.
With other activities re- opening demand for golf is expected to level off. Disposable income is quickly drying up for consumers and time constraints are back in play with more people getting called back to the office.
Supply chain issues and shipping/delivery logistics should get cleaned up over the next 6-9 months but a further hike in fuel prices could change that. Multiple reports suggest the price for a barrel of crude oil could get as high as $175 later this year.
On the plus side, owners/ operators will once again be able to lean on core golfers to carry the business. Come hell or high water those individuals are a checked box for the industry, something many people will attest to when the bottom fell out of the global economy in 2009. Those core players are the ones willing to pump gas into their vehicles at any price to get to the golf course.
Some facilities in a position to do so are not allowing inflation to influence short or long term planning or the decision making process.
“If we’re going to make a course adjustment we’re putting our customers first,” Schaal says. “Is it easier to maintain? Is it keeping the ball in play? Will folks enjoy their round more? Those types of decisions are ones we make our priority. We don’t allow inflation to dictate what we do or don’t do at Copper Point.”
Many owners/operators aren’t in that position though. Inflation might not be driving the bus but it continues to steer facilities in directions they’re unaccustomed to traveling.
Everything crashed to a halt in the wake of two years of the pandemic. The world is still suffering from those implications and likely will for quite some time. Pessimistically, a huge crash could still be in prospect. Optimistically, an easing of tensions between Russia and Ukraine, more vaccination inroads made with COVID-19 in third world countries and supply chain getting back in line could alter how the world looks by the time the golf industry opens in 2023.
One thing we know for certain? Recession is also a dirty four letter word.
Golf Business Canada