Municipal Golf is Making the Turn

Dear Community Golf Fan,

‍
Welcome to Reading the Green 2017, Vol.2; a quarterly, golf related brief, that highlights the latest trends, creative uses for golf courses, and recent developments in resource management, for the Municipal golf sector. Staples Golf Resource Group is a golf design and development consultancy that has served communities like yours for the past 14 years.

In this volume, we look at a recent and innovative success story in South Dakota that has a municipal golf course making big changes thanks to a small report. Also, we'll look at the latest numbers coming from the National Golf Foundation in regards to beginner golfer participation, and what that might mean for your course. We'll then explore a recent development with one of our ongoing Community Links projects! Please read on!

Success at EdgeBrook!

If you happen to be one of our municipal stakeholders that’s familiar with this newsletter, it comes as no surprise that from time to time we touch on a project of ours that’s seeing remarkable improvements. We credit the stakeholders that have activated themselves and their managers to take the steps required to make their facilities more appealing to golfers and non-golfers alike.

In June of 2016, we made a site visit to EdgeBrook Golf Course in Brookings, S.D., to assess their facility, and write a report they could use to improve their golf course. The action they have taken is unlike anything we’ve seen, as practically every recommendation they could make in-house was pounced on. The “mini master plan” (as we like to call it) was accomplished for very little upfront cost, and allowed our partnership with the golf course staff to grow. Support was exhibited from the highest levels of the City's Administration which is crucial to the success being seen at this course. Hat’s off to the golf course staff at EdgeBrook!

Getting Your Slice of The Pie

You have likely been hearing about the state of the golf industry, and that golf courses are closing left and right. We prefer to think of it rather as your competition is actually shrinking! Which brings us to a very important point of discussion; what is golf going to look like in the future? As more and more new golfers come into the game, and more and more older golfers exit, the product of golf must too evolve. You may be asking yourself what does this mean for our golf facility? Well, appealing to younger generations is critical to developing your future customers.

According to the National Golf Foundation (the industry's leader for participation stats), 2.5 million people tried their hand at golf last year and the industry is hopeful that this trend holds and gets stronger through 2017 and beyond. That’s easily enough “beginners” to fill the pipeline. However, what the industry is doing to keep them in the game is another story (not much from our perspective). Here's a great resource put together by the NGFregarding millennials and how better to engage them.

Drama at the Dairy Creek

Last month the Board of Supervisors for the County of San Louis Obispo voted NO to giving the golf course the needed water to sustain 18 holes of golf long term, but voted YES to move forward with planning related to Community Links. This means that Staples Golf will continue working with the Parks and Recreation Department and the Golf Course to improve the facility in ways that will benefit 100% of their Community, with a smaller golf footprint.

In this instance, the Dairy Creek Golf Course's water allocations were quite severely reduced. These types of situations are happening all over the country, and our process of understanding the municipality's challenges, creating consensus for solutions, and implementing a plan that's going to benefit all sides sustainably into the future, is a blueprint struggling municipal golf courses should be considering.

In closing, we want to reiterate we're here and ready to answer any questions you have with your golf course. Also, we would love to hear from more of you! What would you like to see in future newsletters? What's most important to you as an Administrator that we may be under emphasizing? Feedback can be sent directly to our inbox by clicking here!

Please remember, we present Community Links webinars at no charge to administrators who oversee struggling facilities. If that's of interest to you, please tell us about your golf course by clicking here. Great decisions start with open-ended dialog, so let’s start a positive, open dialog today.

Sincerely,

Andy Staples, ASGCA