Uncertainty is probably the politically correct word to use to describe the 2012 season from a golf industry perspective.
It’s natural for any business person to want to keep themselves, their employees and faithful or potential customers interested and motivated to move the product they’re selling forward, without getting bogged down in recent negativity surrounding the economy, participation or weather as it applies to golf.
For every cool, rainy summer weekend, business people in golf will point out the sunny, warm days ahead. For every dip in the stock market, they’ll mention the upturn that seems to follow, even if it is short-lived.
The roller-coaster ride on the stock market was a reflection of the emotional roller-coaster that many in golf felt in 2011. That doesn’t promise to end anytime soon with a simple flip of the calendar to 2012.
As Tiffany Gordon pointed out in this blog, going forward with caution over fear is likely the prudent way to approach next year.
Tiff’s message is simply that being aware of your surroundings isn’t about being paralyzed with fear. What’s important is how you deal with it, a point that another GNN blogger, Kevin Thistle, has made several times when he says good operators always find a way to survive.
There were enough events in 2011 to indicate that being proactive will serve us a lot better than fear of the unknown, such as the European debt crisis. the staggering American economy, participation levels in the game and certainly, the weather.
There was the dark side of the news, with stories such as the Owen Sound Golf and Country Club in Owen Sound, Ont., and Tobiano in Kamloops, B.C. but there were also stories of optimism, if nothing else, with the opening of Cabot Links in Nova Scotia.
Just a few years ago, Tobiano opened with great fanfare, just as Cabot Links will in 2012, although it was open for play this year. It’s an outstanding links course that’s reasonably-priced, but if the Canadian economy goes sour, will golfers at least delay a trip to the east coast until things get better?
That’s a question I dared to ask after playing Cabot Links and came under fire for it, even though I don’t recall predicting the demise of Cabot Links. I still think it’s a prudent question, even with a magnificent layout such as Cabot Links.
The uncertainty in the golf industry is evident in this blog written by Kyle German who, in his mid-30s, is considering the future of his young family and perhaps a change in careers outside of golf, even if staying in the game is his first choice.
We at GNN hope Kyle stays in the golf industry and, judging from the response his blog received, there are a lot of others who hope the same, but we respect whatever decision he should make by the end of this year.
We all grasp at something positive in such cases and we did receive balance with stories such as Lianne Ritchie, Scott Dickson, Dustin Kerr-Taylor, Jeremy Broom and Ted Stonehouse, among others. We all hope that 2012 is filled with good news stories such as these and the ripple effect of jobs opening up pays off for other fortunate pros.
However, if we learned one thing in 2011, it’s that the way we do business in golf is changing, judging by the absence of the Ontario PGA buying show, even after that association tried to move it to August dates without success.
British Columbia did the same thing, but in order to get the Canadian Golf Industry Association on board, guaranteed that a certain number of buyers would be on hand for what was basically an apparel-only show.
There were notable changes in golf media and, on the off-course retail side of the business, it will be interesting to see what develops with the departure of Golf Town chief executive officer Stephen Bebis, just last week. Bebis founded Golf Town in 1999 and grew it into a Canada-wide giant.
It remains to be seen how Golf Town will change with the departure of Bebis, and few details are being given about that. We’ll just have to wait until his full-time replacement is named and settles into the job.
Either way, 2012 promises to be a year of change in many sectors of the golf industry. Acknowledging that is not being negative. It’s being aware of that situation in order to react to a changing landscape.
