Reed On The Greens September 5, 2024
Record Rain Hit Local Golf Industry Hard
by Jeffrey Reed
Rain, rain, go away: that was the cry from local golf courses this summer which resulted in lost revenue and fewer rounds played. With our local golf season already a short one, that spelled bad news for everyone involved.
Before favourable weather arrived in August, the biggest winner on Southwestern Ontario golf courses this summer didn’t even swing a club. An unwanted guest, Mother Nature caused havoc on the local links. And along with saturated fairways and greens came financial losses tied to course maintenance and lost revenue from cancelled tee times and tournaments.
Oakville’s Glen Abbey GC, mid July. Photo: Facebook.
We’ve seen the shocking photos of Oakville’s Glen Abbey Golf Course turned into a lake due to heavy rains, but here in the London area local courses struggled to stay afloat this July.
Environment Canada reported that July was London’s rainiest on record – 210 millimetres of rain topped the old record of 204.6 mm set in 1992. The average rainfall for July is 81 mm.
Much of that precipitation came as a result of the tail-end of Hurricane Beryl – 50 mm of rain fell in London and area on July 10, followed by 100 mm of rain July 15 and 16, and then another 41.6 mm on July 30.
Every level of golf – from the Junior Tyson Tour to Golf Canada – staging Southwestern Ontario tournaments this July saw wet rounds, truncated tournaments and cancelled events. The latest numbers from the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) Canada indicate rounds played were down 2.3 per cent in July compared to a year ago, and down 0.2 per cent compared to the five-year period 2019-23. In June, Ontario rounds played were down 0.9 per cent compared to ’23.
Even June saw some shocking numbers related to local rain, according to Shawn Hunter, NGCOA’s Regional Director, Southwestern Ontario.
“The NGCOA Canada’s weather report tracks the number of course closure days, and the typical Ontario golf course had indicated that they had already experienced 11 course closure days by the end of June 2024 – wow!” said Hunter. “To come up with an approximate financial impact of every one of those course closure days, you should consider the following.
“There would be zero dollars tee sheet revenue, zero dollars power cart revenue and typically little food and beverage revenue coming in on a course closure day. Hypothetically, if an 18-hole Ontario golf course can welcome approximately 180 golfers a day times a $50-average 18-hole green fee, plus $20-average power cart fee times 90 golfers – estimating that approximately half of those golfers ride a power cart, plus $15 average food and beverage spend, and factor in there are approximately 850 golf courses across Ontario, then leads to a very significant financial impact at Ontario golf courses this season directly from the weather!” Hunter explained.
Incoming rain at West Haven G&CC-hosted Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship in late June. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.
Southwestern Ontario Global Golf Capital?
In London and surrounding counties, there are 14 private golf clubs, plus 94 semi-private and public clubs. Some of those boast more than 18 holes of golf. Per capita, there are more golf courses in London and area than anywhere else in the world. As much as the sports arm of Tourism London markets Labatt Park as the oldest continuous baseball grounds in the world, perhaps it’s time they put more effort into marketing our local golf courses. NGCOA, PGA of Ontario, Golf Ontario, Golf Canada and the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association have their hands full with other endeavours, but collectively they do a great job in promoting local golf.
The 2020 London & Area Golf Survey, conducted by LondonOntarioGolf.com, drew 1,600 responses from local golfers who overwhelmingly (78 per cent) described themselves as avid golfers, with half of all respondents saying they played 40 or more rounds per year. Combine memberships, green fees and cart rentals with club, apparel and accessory sales plus food and beverage revenue and that means the local golf industry pumps tens of millions of dollars into our economy.
The 2024 London & Area Golf Survey is running now – visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2024LondonGolfSurvey.
In its most recent economic impact study, NGCOA Canada reported “Canadians played 74 million rounds of golf in 2023, a considerable 24% increase from the last Study in 2019,” according to Jeff Calderwood, CEO of NGCOA Canada, and Chair of National Allied Golf Associations. The study reported that golf contributes a massive amount to Canada’s GDP at $23.2 billion, an increase of $4 billion since the previous study.
If there’s one area of local golf suffering, it’s the charitable aspect. Many local golf industry members I’ve spoken to estimate that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of charity golf tournaments has dropped from 300-plus to about 200 – and that number may never increase again because of economics, busy schedules and the fact charity golf events have, in many cases, become stale in their formats. Some were cancelled this year due to rain, and thus hurt the pockets of local not-for-profits.
Rain Means Lost Revenue
London H&CC July 16. “At 575,000 L/sec, enough flow to fill 12 Olympic pools per minute, we are fortunate to be unscathed…a well placed bank, protected turf from velocity…river now receding…thinking of other Supers and Crews dealing with severe flood clean ups this week in Ontario.” – Twitter, LHCC Grounds, @griffithsjayson
Course turf management professionals experienced extremely stressful schedules while attempting to return local links to playable conditions. According to Hunter, there are two aspects of labour costs to consider with the significant ’24 rainfall: increased pressure on turf teams to repair the grounds following a substantial rainfall, in order to ready it for golfers as quickly as possible – meaning increased hours and overtime labour costs; and ineffective/unused labour on rain days when the pro shop and food and beverage staff have limited golfers to serve in the clubhouse – and generate revenue for the club. In addition, turf teams are unable to do all of the necessary work due to wet/unsafe/difficult working conditions.
Shawn Hunter
Said Hunter, “Golf operations do a great job in looking at forecasted weather and its potential impact to the tee sheets, in order to determine proper staffing levels. When possible, they are able to manage the hours worked during rain days. However, it is important to note that once staff are on site for a shift, they must be paid a minimum of three hours for work. And with minimum wage in Ontario currently at $16.55/hour – and most golf course employees earning more than that per hour – then you can see how quickly this expense can add up across all departments of a golf course.”
Locally, clubs including Greenhills Golf Club which sit in floodplain areas always struggle with flooding, but June and July rains saw many area clubs under water for weeks, with overflowing ponds and fairways more resembling creeks and streams. Those with sandy soil, including Strathroy’s Caradoc Sands Golf Club, faired better in recovery.
In early-August, Hunter travelled for two weeks meeting with 50 course owners/operators across Southwestern Ontario and, you guessed it, recent rains dominated conversations. In fact, even the mere threat of rain, according to Hunter, can hurt the bottom line.
“In some regions of Southwestern Ontario, the threat of rain has had substantially more of an impact to business than the actual rain this season, specifically in the Simcoe to Niagara regions. When a golfer sees the upcoming forecast which shows a graphic of rain and clouds, but then underneath indicates 40 per cent chance of rain, with accumulation of less than 1 mm, they may decide to cancel their tee time. In reality, that small amount of rain may come overnight, or before or after their round, and therefore wouldn’t impact their game at all.”
It would be tough nailing down a hard number of financial losses amongst local courses, but it’s safe to say tens of thousands of dollars were lost due to increased turf maintenance, staffing issues and lost revenue on and off the course – and that’s not counting the fundraising losses amongst local charities.
And let’s not forget lost revenue at our local practice facilities and miniature golf courses. There are 34 – mostly golf ranges – in Southwestern Ontario.
Local clubs are enjoying terrific September weather while praying for a warm, dry fall to extend the local golf season – in particular at our public and semi-private clubs which enjoy soft closing dates.
Canadians are famous for watching the weather, and here in Southwestern Ontario no one monitors weather more than golfers. That will never change. Hopefully, next summer, the weather does – for the better.
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Award-winning golf journalist Jeffrey Reed has reported on local golf for more than 45 years. A former lead Ontario Section writer with SCORE Golf, Reed is the publisher and editor of LondonOntarioGolf.com (est. 2004), since 2016 published in its entirety at parent publication LondonOntarioSports.com. Reach him at jeff@londonontariogolf.com.
