As I have witnessed and also confirmed by the published data, there seem to be more women and teens on the golf courses and the driving range during the Pandemics.
Which is great news and these new golfers will sustain the game in the future if, they stay in the game after the pandemics.
More jammed up public golf courses in and around the Cities, with hiked up green fees.
More notice for discount for golf courses farther away from the Cities, especially those resort type golf community.
A few brave souls from our sphere of influence had taken the offering and traveled to places they normally would not consider because of the expenses involved.
Quite a few came back tested positive for the Virus but no one I know needed to be hospitalized.
Personally, I practiced extra caution, since no one knows the long term effect of contracting the Virus. Some study showed the short term effect influenced the health of our internal organs. Heart, kidneys, liverā¦
Iām still patiently waiting for solid sign of the return of normal.
Raining days are here, but 70 F sunny days are just around the corner.
will pick out a couple of sets of golf clubs for this coming season.
Most of the guys played through the Winter here ( not too bad here, just the moisture we have to deal with ). I was on the sideline during the past winter.
With the assumption that weāre gradually getting out of this ness. A lot of my friends are taking trips. Both with family destination and golf exclusive.
some of the golf resorts near by ( within 500 miles ) were sending out promotional deals with room and golf. Some even have casino and/or spa for those not a golfer in the family.
More than half of my friends took the plunge.
It is a good deal considering what it was 2 years ago. But, a few of them came back tested positive for the virus.
Not a bog deal, right? Especially if weāre fully vaccinated and boosted! The trick is, no one understands the long term effect of the virus, just yet.
Iām eagerly wanting to get out there to resume our life before the mess, but, according to what we know, weāre talking a back seat to wait a bit longer. All the bargain and discount meant nothing if we could not enjoy it.
Unusual amount of rainfall and the looming āstagflationā, caused the first sign of slowing down to normal pace with the local municipal golf courses.
No longer with new golfers knocking down their doors paying whatever they demand.
Promotional deal with golf resorts within 400 miles still coming in and extending the promotional period into the prime season month of July.
As the economy gradually opened up , some are back to their regular spending pattern of eating out, shopping.
More notice of āavailable spotā for fitting from several local stores. Guess the trend is changing.
Nothing changed since a few weeks ago.
Lots of notices from local still available āfittingā appointment. Most the shoppers in public are not wearing face masks now, only 20% or so, of us still wearing face masks ( both young and senior).
most the families we know in Los Angeles and the Bay area all contracted the virus at one point or the other. Only one family we know is still free from the infection under self imposed lockdown.
One young man we know messaged us that he was bed ridden with the virus for almost 2 weeks, in the meantime he received notice of being laid off from his jobā¦
None of the guys in my golf group are doing much traveling to play golf these days. They used to golf at other courses at least once a week away from their home course ( this group golf 2-3 times a week + a few smaller gathering).
I have cut down the visit to the links to several times a month now. Been doing more walking with my wife at the neighborhood trails. A change of life style for sure.
Might go back to my routine later this Fall if for some reason the municipal golf courses see the light and reduced the green fee to 2 years ago ( wishful thinking, I know; theyāll likely increase the green fee to off set the decreasing volume ).
If I quit golf temporarily, it should offset the inflation cost of living for my family. Until they find another way to increase taxation.
Golf is still going Covid strong here in CT. Courses are busier than ever. Our membership has doubled since I joined 4-5 years ago. They stopped taking applications this year, but they may add another 40-50 for next year.
Weāre semi-private, but there are almost no tee times left for the public these days. We rarely go to other nearby public courses as itās really hard to get a tee time anywhere.
The only course that Iāve heard is doing poorly is a fully private one near us. They are not that expensive, but the course floods with hardly any rain (not good in New England) so they donāt allow carts and they have had a hard time finding people so many days there are no carts and no food or drink. Quite a few of their members are at my course now.
Iām glad that the Virus also helped to grow the game. Hopefully, this will continue after the mess is over.
Same here, the high end private, semi-private and daily fee golf courses are s lower still. The Municipal and āregularā public golf courses are going strong or as they were 3 years ago.
We donāt have the $300K initiation fee golf courses here, maybe thatās what weāre lacking.
Iām a big advocate for capping the huge growth of greens fees. It can only hurt the game we love.
I guess, most the golf courses are run by so called management company and they all have the same method of focusing on the bottom line.
At least it used to be, over here the public golf courses are for the residents of the area. Now itās a profit oriented business.
In the old days, all the profit generated from the golf courses goes back into improving the golf courses. Now the profit from the green fees is funneled to other parts of the cities as a money making machine.
The managing company act as a middleman collecting a fee of course.
who pays? The end users.
Here, if that happened you phone the club house, the eject the players, quite simple. But UK we donāt typically use buggies, 99% walk the courses (obviously its easier in our climate) so the music issue doesnāt ever arise. We do get guys drinking whilst playing. While this is dumb (it can only make you play worse) the main issue with it is the inability to take the empty cans or bottles back with them. I mean they carried them out full, but cant carry them back empty?
Lots of golf courses here, have hilly terrain and big elevation changes .
I walk almost all of them except for those long distance hike between the greens and the next tee box . Dislike those walking trails have to go through housing community and when putting I can hear someone talking on their phone in their kitchen.
So many golf courses are built with housing development first in mind and golf second.
I tend to avoid those golf courses built to add value to the housing development.
We dont have those, most course here are out of town in great countryside. St Andrews being a notable exception!!
Yes, I was talking of of golf courses āout of metro areaā in the urban area. Housing situation is a crunch here. we are getting crowed in the Puget Sound Area. New development has been extended up and down the interstate highways ( I-5 connects from the border with Canada to Mexico , passing through Seattle and Tacoma ). Now they are building eastward toward the Mt. Rainier. I look at the map, that valley from the mountain to the bay is the route for a lahar, should the live volcano wakes up. One highway in and out. Really lack of planning.
Winter really slammed our region.
I know, weāre fortunate comparing to many other regions but this winter is unusual for us. Usually, weāll have the cold temperature lacking the moisture or the other way of having the moisture but lacking the cold temperature.
This year, we have both the freezing air stream coming down from Canadaās Fraser Valley, and the moisture carried in by the Pineapple Express from the South Pacific Ocean.
Unusually cold and so far we had only one countable snowfall in the lowlands. Lots of snow in the higher elevation and in the Cascade Mountain range. Should be a great skiing season sans the crowd. People were flooding the season opening for skiing a few weeks ago and parked on the shoulders on freeway, many cars got towed for blocking freeway and private entry ways.
Local golf courses had the frost delay and then all temporary greens all day for several days now. Looks like will be that way for the next week into the future.
Driving range is open, because they can pick up the range balls from the artificial turf they put in, no muddy ground. Even with the huge overhead heat-lamp, it wonāt stop the wind-chill and the low temperature. One driving range with 40+ stalls on two levels only had 11 occupied when we were there. Usually crowded and had to wait for a space.
Looks like no tend seekers there on the day we visited. Glad to get rid of them, and hope they wonāt return in force by next Spring when they can get back to their normal activities. The infection cases for the RSV and influenza had surged in the last few weeks. When will things be back to normal?
At the beginning of the season 2023. Been bombarded with notifications from golf courses and golf related resorts.
One in particular ask for āfeedbacksā which I had not golf there for at least 4 years.
The said golf course is a bit out of the way, highway plus local travel = 2 and half hours to and from. The golf course itself is fine, a bit short, 6500 from the tip. Design and condition was okay for a public daily fee golf course.
We used to golf there several times a year for the group outing.
I looked at their online booking and the lowest rate for the senior during weekends is $30 plus all fees ( probably ended up like $36-$37 with two tax and two fees ) walking rate. Cart is another $15. Regular green fees for weekdays is $57 plus taxes and fees. Weekend rate is much higher of course.
We used to pay less than $30 with golf cart ( 8-9 holes have very hilly terrain ). It showed that they are seeking more golfers to pay the green fees they post now.
More notifications from resort golf, these are rated top golf courses in the State but more distance to cover from the metro area. Some would not be able to accomplished with a day trip, unless we wish to leave home in the dark and come back home in the dark.
As much as the golf is addictive. It is after all a non-essential item to life. I wonder if they could survive the 2023-2026 season. This will probably be the duration for economic recovery from the pandemics if we have no additional influence.
I see, the golf courses located near the population are doing okay but the ones built away from the metro area are not doing as well as they should have.
Whatās going on in your neighborhood? Any more price hike with the green fees this year?
The WHO lifted the warning for global COVID spreading. No one around here wears facial masks, except for a few at the indoors public places.
No one on the golf courses nor the driving range wore facial masks.
The usual crowd has returned to the outdoor recreation with the spring fever.
Some of the guys are golfing 2-3 days a week instead of the usual weekly golf.
Driving range is full of new golfers taking lessons. the near by 50 stall driving range had waiting line for an empty spot. At $19 for a jumbo bucket, up a dollar from the Spring.
I donāt see the usual hangout from the retired group who used to spend a few mornings weekly at the driving range to get together. either they were enjoying life somewhere else or the hiked price had turned them away. It may seem everything else is higher in price these days but, $19 is two pounds of USDA New York Steak.
Choice for the essentials in life or the passion with the none essentials?
In my area, we still see many of those on the golf courses during the hours when they should be at work, either at their work place or at home office.
Lots of walked-on as singles and twosomes, paged by the overhead speaker to the first tee starter.
Maybe this is why so many are resisting going back to their office to work, by using excuses of traffic and other Ludicrous excuses to resist going back to the office.
This again proved what we know by, it is easier to give them something than trying to take it back. Most the tech companies are also laying-off in volume. So maybe some of these young men were in between jobs. Heard from inside news that the lay-off is just beginning, not even halfway through the process.
I would, save the green fees if no other job prospect on the horizon. The supply for the the tech industry has exceeded the demand. The capable ones will survive but the ones showed up for a pay check will probably need to find another way to get their pay check soon.
Personally know a few moved out of town ahead of this wave of laying -off.
Maybe the golf courses will not be jammed pack everyday of the week.
Summer has officially started in our region. This is the high season for golf through the month of early September.
Since this year is a long lunar month of February, the season could extend to the end of September.
I had be receiving promotional messages from golf courses and golf resort. It seems most of them if not all of them were from places out of the metro area. with the cost of fuel here being the most expensive in the Nation; and the mess we have in traffic, the outreach golf destinations are not filling their tee sheet.
Funny thing is, the green fees are still way up there.
What that did is to squeezed out the working class and the retired population from going to their golf courses ( which should be quite a large portion of their regular patrons ).
while the local municipal golf courses are jammed with golfers, with likely round of over 6 hours.
Now, I donāt mind to spend a little more time on the golf course, but, over 6 hours for a golf course rated less than 5600 yards?
I love to get on the golf course, however, the long waiting time on the tees and in-between shots will make me wonder if I should just stay home.
Driving range is also becoming unaffordable for the fixed income folks.
A jumbo bucket had gone up 20%+ in the last few years. Seniors favorite purchase is the jumbo buckets. Theyāll get a bucket and spend a few hours there for exercise and meeting their friends.
I donāt see many of the senior at the driving range now.
Received several invitation from the guys to play the Twilight rate. Basically lucky to get in 7-8 holes if not too crowded.
I declined, been there done that, plus my eyesight is not as sharp as it used to be. Not able to pick up the ball flight in the semi-darkness.
Weekend rate is $15 from the last 2 hours of sunset.
My buddies went and reported back that the golf courses were jammed packed.
This showed me that golfers are picking up the undesirable tee time simply because of the lower rate.
Personally, If I could not even get in an 18 for the round of golf, it feels like not finishing my dinner.
I donāt blame those who picked up the twilight offering. Municipal golf courses up the green fees during weekends ( Fridays are included in the weekend rate ) With tax and fees from $80-$120. This might be no news to some of the other regions but it is quite a bit of changes here almost doubling the fees from several years ago.
No Senior or Junior discount for the weekend rates.
Who manages the public golf courses? Some consultants from thousands of miles away?
A public facility is to serve the public instead of turning the facility into a money making machine.
I had spoken with several insiders, they told me the municipal golf facilities are making good profit but most of the revenues are re-directed to other department for use other than back into the golf courses and to the golfers.
Until we stop handing over our money, the squeeze will continue.
This is one bad aspect of āgrowing the gameā. We got these trend seekers jamming the golf courses, plugging the playing pace before they could advance the golf balls properly. When there is someone to pay the hiked fees, more hike will follow.
As I heard from a third party, the outside consultants were not even golfers, they are getting paid hundreds of thousands for basically a part time job.
I can see that with a private enterprise, squeezing out every drop of profit from the consumers but not a public facility.
I have not been on the municipal golf courses for many years now. Ever since their rate is approaching the other options which offers a better experience.
The notification kept ringing for messages of local golf courses with
available" tee time. some have more than a dozen available tee time.
I guess the hotter climate is too much for the trend seekers, they probably hide in the air conditioned room playing video game or take a vacation somewhere.
More messages from resort type of golf destinations. Maybe, these who left the game as quickly as they came into the game will let the golf courses exam their practices of increasing the green fee out of scale.
According to the supply and demand, I hope by the end of summer the normal atmosphere will return to this game.
However, this game had lost some of itās patrons. I know a few retirees probably will not return to this game. These were the golfers who will golf every week and play the club events every month.
Like any other addiction, most will never return once they broke free.