Paid golf rounds on the Grand Strand remain static in 2015

Some abnormal weather occurrences may have kept the Grand Strand golf industry from experiencing an annual increase in rounds played for the first time in more than a decade.

Total paid rounds played on Strand courses in 2015 were down 1 percent compared to 2014, according to data collected and provided by marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, continuing a trend of stabilization in the market.

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

But a four-day rain deluge in early October resulted in heavy flooding throughout the Strand and lingering wet conditions, and February was the second coldest February since 1992, according to Weather Trends International, with an average daily temperature of 44.2 degrees.

“I think it’s a reflection of two issues that we face in the marketplace,” Golf Holiday president Bill Golden said. “One is the continued challenges in the golf marketplace, and secondly there have been some dramatic weather events or changes in weather trends that have combined to cramp the destination’s ability to grow rounds.”

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

The data for 2014 and 2015 is based on rounds booked through 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 counties.

Paid rounds include what are considered walk-in and package rounds, and do not include rounds categorized as member, replay or complimentary.

Rounds were down 23.6 percent in February compared to 2014 and 11.5 percent in October. Months with the greatest increases in 2015 were January at 19.4 and September at 10.7 percent, but those two months don’t have the volume of rounds or increased price points the spring and fall months have.

In addition to the February and October weather maladies, March and early April featured cool temperatures and a lot of rain, and early May was marred by a tropical storm.

Consistent weather year-to-year for comparison is unlikely, but there have been a lot of drastic abnormalities recently. “I think it’s the extremes that we’ve faced in the past couple years with the ice storm a couple years ago, the flood this October, extraordinarily cold temperatures in February, and March precipitation being the highest in 25 years two years ago,” Golden said. “That’s not an excuse, it’s just the reality we deal with now in the golf industry given the fact that so many more rounds are booked in a tighter booking window.

“[A person’s] ability to change plans and not come due to weather is a reality in all tourism. But it has a profound effect for us when we’re so reliant upon a tight window of golf in spring and fall in order to have a healthy industry, and we’ve had some extraordinary events occur.”

Mark Stoneking, general manager of the golf package company Myrtle Beach Golf Desk and member of the Golf Holiday board of directors, said the decrease in rounds played locally are a case of simple math. National Golf Foundation research shows the number of golfers nationally is near 25 million, down from a high of approximately 30 million in 2005.

“Obviously golf rounds are down, and it’s not due to interest, not due to rates, not due to the economy, its simply the industry: old golfers are dying off faster than new golfers are entering the market,” said Stoneking, who said his business was down 4 percent in 2015 after being down between 6 percent and 8 percent the previous two years. “I don’t think it’s doom and gloom.”

Golden said many in the local golf industry were confident about having improved numbers in the spring and fall seasons last year, in part based on a more optimistic outlook on participation and the state of the game by national golf leaders.

Statistics support the optimism, as both Golf Datatech and PGA PerformanceTrak, the two most cited sources tracking national rounds played, respectively have total rounds up 1.5 percent and 2.9 percent nationally in 2015 through November. Neither has released December figures yet, but both will have total 2015 rounds increasing over 2014.

Spring rounds on the Strand were up slightly but November was down nearly 2 percent following the tough October.

“We felt there was some demand coming back … and the sense was we would have had perhaps a slight uptick in rounds had we had just an average weather year,” Golden said. “That 11-percent drop in October [hurt] given the weekend that it was and the amount of time the courses were shut down. We not only lost rounds that week, but perhaps subsequent rounds for the rest of the month with consumers deciding not to come or come at a different time based on the situation here.”

The industry is hoping to avoid a carry-over effect from poor weather in the spring and fall golf seasons of 2015.

“It’s hard because we’re selling against some difficult experiences, one being the early spring weather last year and we’ll be selling against tough fall weather,” Golden said. “So we’ve got to overcome the fact we’ve had some negative publicity and negative consumer experiences, frankly, if they came during those times.”

The Canadian-U.S. exchange rate is another factor that can affect rounds, particularly early in the year, and Canadian snowbirds and travelers are only getting about 70 cents on the dollar and may be deterred from making the trip this year.

Stoneking said he’s seen a decrease in Canadian bookings for 2016, but his overall bookings aren’t down so he believes the decline is being made up by others.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 12:06 AM with the headline "Paid golf rounds on the Grand Strand remain static in 2015."