For a few days, golf industry feels the love

        By the numbers, last week’s National Golf Industry Show in Orlando was a success.  Total attendance for the combined products show and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America show passed 14,780, a slight increase over last year’s figures.  Those attendees who are involved in purchasing decisions increased 11 percent, a total of 5,750.  A total of 551 companies displayed their wares and services at the show.

        But a day of “education sessions” shined the light on a number of issues facing the golf industry, including a drop in rounds played, the threat from online tee-time consolidators driving green fee prices down, and lagging interest in the game by the younger players key to the future of the industry.  Also, this observer has to say that there sure seemed to be a lot of duplication of product offerings.  There sure seemed to be a lot of exhibitors in the turf enhancement business, for example.

        Last year, the net number of 18 hole golf courses in the U.S. declined by 61.  Some industry officials are predicting closures of between 100 and 200 golf courses this year, some of them almost assuredly in golf communities.   Unless the economy makes a dramatic turnaround, and banks ease up on their lending standards for golf courses at risk, next year’s show could look a lot different.