Is the Slow Down in the Tiger Craze Hurting Golf?

In today’s Billings Gazette, article titled..

Golf club optimistic about avoiding foreclosure

staff writer TOM LUTEY, reported that the 52 year old..

Lake Hills Golf Club, facing foreclosure auction at month’s end, should be able to avert the crisis.

Phillip Dahl, the Lake Hills Golf Club general manager, was profound in saying..

Business at the golf course has been declining for about four years. Dahl credits the slowdown to the easing of the Tiger Woods craze, which had brought new golfers to the green.

I have agreed with the ‘Tiger Factor’ Mr Dahl has stated. The interest in golf has been easing for sometime and now some of the more misguided investments made in real estate to capture the explosion of golf brought on by Tiger woods is now forcing many private and public courses to shutdown for purposes of foreclosure.

Where does it end and what will stop the bleeding of the financially strapped golf faculties?

It looks like Mr Dahl is heading in the correct direction with moving to install membership fees instead of annual passes and taking other action to utilize the golf facility more effectively.  The only suggestion I could make is he needs to move his club’s presence in the market to be more balanced with more internet social media.  His club could even provide more added value to the memberships by suggesting they join private business/social networking clubs like the Business Golf Country Club. 

On the most part the wound inflicted on many golf facilities, private and public, by the over investing in developing of new and old golf courses is more than a simple Band-Aid will fix.  In many cases an amputation of the problem area should be made.  The problem area draining most golf club’s budgets is the ROI’s demanded by the investors who got the club’s into the problem. 

Who will suffer if the cut is not made? 

Answer: Golf with die a slow death and the millions of private golf club members who have been paying the bills all during this hay day Tiger graciously generated will go with golf.

Unfortunately, the solution to this problem means in order for golf to survive the financially strapped clubs, or golf facilities, need to be given back to the membership to own and the misguided investors who shoveled billions of dollars into the risky endeavor take the debt and walk away to battle it out in the bankruptcy courts. 

Taking a more active approach to surviving the down turn in golf is what all golf facilities should do and thinking outside the traditional business models for golf facilities is also a positive action to survive this failed economy. I hope the Lake Hills Golf Club can make and wish them good luck.

Let me know how I can help.

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