Page 55 - GBC summer 2016

Associate Publisher • Nathalie Lavallée
As I pen this article, most courses across the country have opened and the great news is that I have heard several comments of opening day being a week or two earlier than last year. Here’s hoping that the 2015 trend in increased rounds played continues this year.
If attendance at the spring consumer golf shows across the country is any indication of how the season will go, we are in for another good one! At all of the NGCOA Canada owned and managed shows, we saw increases in admission of between 5 to 20%. Beginning with the Atlantic and Quebec GolfExpos, both showing a 20% increase, Montreal, a very mature show still experienced an increase of 5% and Ottawa-Gatineau followed with an increase of 9%, and Winnipeg also with a 20% increase.
It will be interesting to see the Round Played Reports for April and May and how the numbers compare to last year. If you are not participating in the NGCOA Canada Rounds Played and Weather Reports, I highly encourage you to do so. It is such a valuable business tool for operators, as you make monthly, quarterly, and yearly operational decisions.
When I entered the golf industry from the hotel industry fifteen years ago, it always struck me as odd that golf relied so heavily on ‘anecdotal’ information rather than legitimate benchmarking data from within the industry. In the hotel industry, most of our decisions were based on ‘benchmarking data’ so I am thrilled to see the golf industry moving in this direction.
Sticking with the hotel and airline industry, I am wondering how many of you have implemented some degree of dynamic pricing strategies for 2016?
Benchmarking Numbers You Can Take To The Bank
MEMBERS’
Fifteen, ten, even five years ago, dynamic pricing was pretty foreign to our industry (not to hotels, airlines and even consumers) but I have heard of more and more courses lately who are introducing some degree of dynamic pricing. I would be interested in hearing how this is going throughout the season.
Back to benchmarking, I am sure you have seen our communications announcing our partnership with Golf Datatech to offer Golf Retail Reports in Canada in 2016. Golf Datatech has been producing these reports in the United Sates for twenty years and recently expanded to Europe and Asia. Courses who participate will now have quantifiable data on the top selling irons, drivers, men’s and ladies apparel, gloves and shoes, all segmented by price and brand. Your pro shop decisions can now be based on real data that you can ‘take to the bank.’
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All this to say that you are not in this alone! You have a strong team of NGCOA Canada staff to support you, hundreds of programs to help you succeed in your business and a network of 1300 other operators from across the country to lean on.
Here’s to a successful 2016 and remember...we are here for you so never hesitate to contact us.
Nathalie Lavallée Chief Operating Officer NGCOA Canada nlavallee@ngcoa.ca
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