www.golfdatatech.com/content/news/story.asp?newsid=5&se -
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Published on: 6/1/2001
Last Visited: 3/15/2007
"The common denominator in judging the strength of the golf industry in each region of the country, whether you're selling golf balls, tee times, condominiums, or golf carts is the rate of participation, or ‘rounds played,'" said Tom Stine, co-founder of Golf Datatech.
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There's no cost, all individual numbers are confidential, it's easy to do and it's to their direct benefit," Stine said.All golf courses are invited to participate in the report by contacting Golf Datatech at 888-944-4116.
"We are not attempting to count the total number of rounds played nationally or regionally, but rather to provide a percentage indicator of whether rounds played are up or down compared to the same period in previous years," Stine explained.
"The total number of rounds isn't as relative to the business of golf as the trend of rounds played.Tracking these trends provides a reliable and consistent barometer of the strength of the game in particular regions and sub-regions."
Stine said the NRPR doesn't interpret the numbers."Why rounds are up or down is for individuals in the industry to determine.It could be the weather, pricing, saturation or other factors inherent to each region," he said."For example, if a course owner sees rounds played are up one percent in his region, but are up 10 percent at his course, he might say, ‘Gee, that lunch-green fee special we started last month is working.' He may also use the information to determine to raise his rates.
"It was generally accepted that El Nino severely damaged golf sales in Southern California and the Sun Belt in the first quarter of 1998," Stine pointed out."But by how much?Five percent?Ten percent?Thirty percent?The numbers of the National Rounds Played Report indicated it could have been as much as 35 percent.
"This is not a Golf Datatech report.This is an industry report.We're happy to be the conduit to collect and disseminate the information," Stine said."We don't charge for the report and there is no charge to participate.We would be happy to have every course in the country involved.The more courses that report their numbers the more useful the reports are for the operators and the industry.The names of the participating courses are never be revealed or linked to the reports.
"The industry should know on a timely basis whether rounds played are up, down or level," Stine added.