Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/165363
iG1308--proof2 8/29/13 2:12 PM Page 1 THEY SAID IT 25 Answers To A Tough Question Earlier this year, Inside Golf caught up with more than 25 industry professionals at the Golf Show in Vancouver, B.C. and asked them the question... What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the golf industry in Western Canada today as far as continuing to grow the game? Jason Andrew Director of Real Estate at Crown Isle JASON ANDREW (2ND FROM TOP LEFT TO THE RIGHT OF RON WAUGH) AT CEREMONY TO PRESENT CHEQUE TO ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION IN COURTENAY The game is hard, the game is difficult. And in the last 20 years architects have made golf so much more difficult‚ and the demands of the public faster greens, tighter fairways, longer rough. They want to see what they see on TV when they play and it just makes it that much more difficult, so now your average guy wants to get into golf‚ but they're leaving just as fast. I think that's our biggest challenge. How do we retain that 'new' golfer. How do we get them so enthralled in our coaching programs or whatever it might be so that their enjoyment level gets to a point where they stay with us? Adam Blair HP at Talking Rock at Quaaout Lodge Funnily enough there's been an awful lot of 'grow the game' initiatives over the years and yet the game's participation has declined. So, I'm not to sure what the challenge is. I would suggest from an industry perspective there are too many properties, which, you would think, would result in growth of the game but it hasn't so I'm not sure what the challenge is but it doesn't make sense. Don Brett-Davies Director of Golf at Tobiano I think the biggest challenge right now is obviously we have to keep costs in line with what people are willing to 18 pay ultimately. But, the big challenge is that there's lots of choice out there; we need to adapt markets for all the types of players that are available, there's still a lot of people that want to play golf but we have to be a little more open to adapting to the marketplace a little bit and coming into a healthy spot for the customers. In terms of growing players we have to make it affordable for young people and make it affordable for new players and I think we need to have a much greater focus on having more facilities available that accomplish that; 9hole facilities, shorter length golf courses - I think that the focus over the last 10 years has been on the championship length, resort-style courses and all that's done is hurt the industry as having way too much product on the market servicing very few clientele. I look at the golf courses that are successful, the 9-hole with range operations and they don't seem to be hurting too much. We just need to make sure there's a lot of that product available and affordable. Kelly Brown Golf Resort Merchandiser at Semiahmoo G&CC and Loomis Trail Trying to compete with other courses. Everyone seems to have their own promotion going on and it seems like we're getting into a competition where 'this course will do this' and then 'this course will copy it' but come in at a different rate. Kind of that whole 'discount golf' issue. Rick Crowsun GM & Director of Golf at Nk'mip Canyon Desert Golf Course The biggest challenge we face in growing the game, I think, is keeping people in the game… that's important. I don't know if we've been doing a good enough job of that. Obviously we want to introduce the game to kids and try to get kids involved but my feeling is that the learning curve in golf is, well it's a long learning curve. It's the same thing in skiing, where they go from skiing now they go to boarding because it's so much easier…or they go to skateboarding. It (golf) is a long learning curve but it's worth the effort, I think once you get people involved in golf it's a game they can play for their whole life. We just need to get more people in the game. Chris Currie Golf Sales Manager at Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort There's so many different factors, there are more golf courses than there were, people aren't retiring when they used to so they're not playing golf when they hopefully would be because they're still working. So to me it's time‚ and then it goes right into the economy. A.J. Eathorne Academy Manager & Instructor at Predator Ridge Well, we're lucky at Predator that we've been as busy as we have been the last couple of years. We do find that because golf takes so long - 4 to 5 hours - we're finding people that are busier so they're getting away from golf because of the length of time that it takes so we're trying to do more 9-hole specials, 9 and wine kind of group events. A few other things that we're finding: obviously cost is a big thing, but if you have the product we believe that people will pay, no matter what. So, it is a bit of a challenge but like any business you have to roll with the punches and change things up a little bit. Brett Eaton Director of Golf Operations at Semiahmoo G&CC and Loomis Trail Growing the game of golf is about getting the kids involved and when getting the kids involved it comes down to cost. Not every mom and dad belongs to a private country club, those (lucky) kids are going to have access for a lifetime, but if you look at the Publinks through the USGA, it's going to get discontinued, I believe, in 2016. That is public golf at its finest, finding the best junior golfer from the public sector, that's being discontinued. So I think, from the higher end private sectors, they're always going to have the kids going through the programs, for the daily fee public golf courses we have to find alternative ways to get more kids involved. And that's going to come from cost, time on the golf course, but Continued On Facing Page