Golf rounds played in the Myrtle Beach market dip slightly in 2016

The total number of golf rounds played on the Grand Strand dropped 0.62 percent in 2016 compared to 2015, continuing a trend of minimal decreases over the past several years.

The data is according to the T-Links reservation system, which documents rounds as they are booked through nearly 100 golf package providers and approximately 80 Strand courses in Horry, Georgetown and Brunswick (N.C.) counties.

It’s the fifth calendar year in the past six in which rounds dropped 2 percent or less compared to the previous year – the exception being a nearly 6 percent decrease in 2013 – after the market suffered significant decreases in each of the five years prior to 2010.

Rounds have decreased on the Grand Strand every year since 2004.

The data for the past three years is based on rounds booked through T-Links. The numbers were accumulated by marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday in past years.

Overall in 2016, there were increases in rounds played in five months and decreases in seven months.

The spring golf season, consisting largely of the months of March, April and May, is the most vital period for the golf market because of the number of rounds played at optimal pricing, followed by the fall golf season months of October and November.

Rounds increased 0.4 percent in the three spring months. After increasing more than 10 percent in February they were also up nearly 6 percent in April, but were down about a half percent in March – which included Easter weekend, when courses aren’t busy – and more than 5.5 percent in May.

Tracy Conner, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association, said rounds were up for 2016 through August, but there were significant decreases in rounds played in three of the final four months of the year, including nearly 8 percent in October, when Hurricane Matthew blew through the area.

“What kind of kicked us was really Matthew,” Conner said. “We recovered a bit in November, but you just can’t make up for a weather event of that significance.”

The Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association estimates Hurricane Matthew had a negative impact on rounds played in the week from Oct. 6-13 of 55.3 percent. That includes evacuations and the initial wind and rain impact, followed by the widespread flooding, power loss, damage and restricted cart path access in the days that followed.

The impact on rounds was that great despite a comparison to widespread flooding in early October 2015 caused by record rainfall over four days that forced courses to close for at least a couple days.

“That hurricane affected us much more severely, even accounting for that flood,” Conner said.

The two catastrophic weather happenings in early October in consecutive years will present a challenge to the area golf market later this year.

“Unfortunately we’ve been impacted by two weather events in the same weekend back-to-back, and it happened to be highest revenue- and rounds-producing weekend of the fall, which not only has an impact in that given year, but you have to sell against that in future Octobers,” said Bill Golden, president of marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday. “We’re fearful we’re going to be set up for a bad month if we don’t sell in a proper and effective way to bring golfers back in that early [fall] time period.”

Golf Datatech, the most cited source that tracks national rounds played, has total rounds up 1 percent nationally in 2016 through November. In the South Atlantic region that includes South Carolina, Golf Datatech has rounds down 0.9 percent through November.

National rounds in 2015 were up 1 percent compared to 2014, according to Golf Datatech. Total paid rounds played on Strand courses in 2015 were down 1 percent compared to 2014.

The Strand outlook for 2017 is optimistic, as there is an uptick in tee time reservations for most key months in the coming year compared to 2016 as of Jan. 9.

Reservations are up 15 percent in March and 14 percent in May, while being down just 2 percent in April despite the presence of Easter weekend in the month. The three months are up more than 21,000 rounds for 2017.

Bookings are also up 11 percent in September, 32 percent in October and 23.3 percent in November, totaling nearly 13,000 rounds above 2016 bookings as of Jan. 9.

“This year we’re trending in the right direction in our spring pacing,” Conner said. “If we can get off to a solid start, a little better than we have in the past couple years, and we can avoid some major weather events during the year, we’re in position to have a better year than we have in the past two or three years.”

There are still nearly 90 public courses on the Strand, and a decrease in that number could assist the remaining courses even without an increase in rounds played.

Five courses have closed in the past 18 months. Waterway Hills Golf Links closed in June 2015 and Wicked Stick Golf Links closed in September 2015, both in favor of redevelopment. Black Bear Golf Club, Island Green Country Club and Wedgefield Country Club closed this summer, and the futures of all three remain uncertain.

A rebounding real estate market could be a catalyst to the redevelopment of additional courses in the near future. Approximately 20 courses closed between 2005-07, mostly for planned redevelopment, though a real estate crash and recession left many of the properties undeveloped.

“If we had less golf courses, it would absolutely help the health of the remaining golf courses,” Conner said. “The economy is moving in the right direction, real estate is starting to move, and that’s really what prompted those closures in the early 2000s was the real estate market.”

Spada sets new mark

For the second consecutive year, Maureen “Mo” Spada of Sunset Beach, N.C., recorded the most golf rounds played in the Carolinas by a female, according to Carolinas Golf Association records.

And her 2016 total crushed her mark from 2015.

Spada posted an amazing 347 rounds for her handicap calculation with the amateur golf organization. That is up from 275 rounds in 2015, which was the most among women in the Carolinas by 32 rounds.

Spada, 61, often plays with her husband, Rick, and his total of 321 posted rounds is nearly equally impressive considering he’s 72, has a troublesome back and was coming off hand surgery.

“He still suffers from a bad back but he would rather play golf than sit at home,” Spada said. “He tells people that golf is his version of physical therapy and is better than joining a gym. We are so fortunate that we both love to play golf and would rather play together than with anyone else.”

They walk many of their rounds. Though the couple lives at Sea Trail Golf Resort – Spada estimates she played 200 rounds on its three courses – they joined Sandpiper Bay Golf Club in October because it allows walking anytime, and have a multiple play pass at The Valley at Eastport because of its walking policy.

“We are ecstatic to have a membership at a club that allows us to walk and it makes playing during the winter easy as you stay so much warmer,” Spada said.

The gaudy number isn’t even a true reflection of the amount of golf Spada played, because there are rounds in scramble tournaments and incomplete rounds meant for practice that weren’t registered for her handicap.

Rick is a retired high school social studies teacher and Mo was a school and reference librarian.

The couple purchased a vacation home at Sea Trail Golf Resort 12 years ago and moved to Sea Trail full-time nearly five years ago from Accord, N.Y. That move freed Spada up to play incessantly.

She is on two traveling teams from Sea Trail called Interclub and the Ladybirds, and travels to play three times a week with the Sandpiper Dragons.

Not much will stop Spada from playing. She tells a story of playing on one of the coldest days of 2016 in December at Sandpiper, when the high was 36 degrees. She forgot to set the handbrake on her push cart and it rolled into a pond. Rick took off his shoes and socks and waded in to pull the bag and cart out. Thankfully, her GPS device fell onto the bank and her wallet and cell phone were not in the bag.

“So, some guys came out and brought us a cart to get our stuff back to our SUV where we put my soaking wet bag in the back and went on to finish walking our 18 holes with me playing out of my husband’s bag,” Spada said.

A vacation is no excuse not to play daily, either. They went to Cozumel, Mexico, for 10 days last February and played 36 holes a day at Cozumel Country Club, and participated in a four-day couples’ tournament at Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda.

“I loved my career as a librarian but now that I am retired for almost five years my ‘new job’ fits me to a tee,” Spada said.

Junior clinics offered

The South Carolina Golf Center at Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club is offering after-school junior clinics every Thursday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at a cost of $10 per participant. No RSVP is required.

Golf instruction is combined with games designed to help children improve basic skills and fundamentals. Juniors will any level of experience are invited. Call 843-369-3112 for more information.

RBC adds pro-am

With its primary pro-ams sold out, the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing will host an additional pro-am on Wednesday, April 12 at the Sea Pines Resort’s Atlantic Dunes course, which is a reconstruction by Davis Love III of the resort’s former Ocean Course.

Four amateurs will be paired with a PGA Tour pro who is entered in the Heritage. The 20-team pro-am has a 10 a.m. shotgun start and shamble format, and players can bring a caddie or a caddie will be provided.

Pro-am participants will receive two Pro-Am credentials, two clubhouse badges good for week-long entry to the tournament, breakfast for two, an awards ceremony with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and a shopping spree. Interested players can visit rbcheritage.com or call Derek Paton at 843-671-2413.

Ruiz misses cut

Coastal Carolina senior and Mexico native Alfredo Ruiz missed the cut in the Latin America Amateur Championship this past weekend at the Golf Club of Panama in Panama City.

Ruiz, who had a win and runner-up finish in college tournaments this fall, shot a 15-over 155 with rounds of 76 and 79 to miss the final two rounds by six shots. Winner Toto Gana of Chile earned an invitation to the Masters Tournament with his playoff victory.

This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Golf rounds played in the Myrtle Beach market dip slightly in 2016."