BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. -- Pellucid Corp. provides the first of their monthly tracking reports on Golf Playable Hours (GPH) for total U.S. compared with the August rounds played numbers previously released by Golf Datatech.
When we last left our heroes, at the close of the first half of the year, Pellucid’s GPH measure for the total U.S. was down 1.8% compared to Golf Datatech’s report of a similar decline in rounds played of 1.3% for the same period (both periods are in comparison to the first half of 2004). This meant that, through the first six months of the year, rounds played was slightly outperforming the variance in weather as it relates to golf (that was the good news). A very favorable July and August for GPH however has now moved the comparative ’05 weather into positive territory for the year-to-date period (+0.7%) while rounds played made only marginal progress toward positive territory and remains negative (-0.6%) through August according to Golf Datatech.
Pellucid President Jim Koppenhaver provides the color commentary for the first reports produced across their 24 custom weather regions and the Total US, “What’s interesting is for all the variance at regional level on both GPH and rounds played, the net effect at the US level is a relatively tight trading range of +/-2% in sum. This provides discussion fodder for both the industry optimists (it’s not getting significantly worse) as well as the pessimists (we’re not gaining any ground).”
September weather results are already in showing the year-to-date favorable variance of GPH will increase further to +1.3%, it will be interesting to see if the rounds played are able to break into positive territory when reported in early November.
The Regional Weather Impact Tracking Report was launched last month by Pellucid to provide monthly tracking of weather variance by 24 regions (both current month and year-to-date periods) as well as a comparison at national level to rounds played changes. This supplies subscribers with superior information regarding the direction (up or down) and magnitude (.5% or 5%) of weather variance across geographies and the Total US summary.
The Monthly Regional Weather Impact Tracking report is the entry-level application in Pellucid’s suite of Weather Impact reports for golf facilities. Specific to each of the 16,000+ golf facilities, they have previously produced the 10-Year Weather Impact History, the Annual Weather Impact Analysis and the Monthly Weather Impact Tracking available as either individual reports or as a group at a discount.
Koppenhaver comments on the adoption rate of the weather reports among facility owner/operators, “Our initial weather reports have experienced the normal slow, steady adoption rate typical of the golf industry. The new monthly regional report has seen quicker adoption by golf industry standards but can’t necessarily be confused with an overnight success. I joke with colleagues who understand this industry intimately that we could find a cure for cancer and it would be subject to a 9-12 month incubation period before the golf industry would even consider it.”
Pellucid’s weather products are available starting as low as $95. Subscribers to Pellucid’s established newsletter, Outside the Ropes, receive a discount on the monthly regional tracking reports. Interested parties can find more information on Pellucid’s weather capabilities at www.pellucidcorp.com. For more specific information on the monthly tracking report and to receive a sample report, interested parties should contact Jim Koppenhaver at jimk@pellucidcorp.com.
