COVID was the best thing that happened to the golf business in Rhode Island. For avid golfers, it wasn’t as great.
Pre-COVID the golf industry was a different place. Some private courses struggled to find members, even offering tee times to non-members, and public courses did whatever possible to try to fill tee sheets. If you wanted to play — especially last minute — you didn’t have a hard time finding somewhere to go at a time that was convenient for you.
When golf became just about the only thing the government allowed people to do, the sport found unprecedented growth. More people started playing, which, in turn, led to more people paying attention to golf. Content creation on social media became massive business, introducing a younger demographic to the sport.
While attitudes about the sport have changed — the stuffy, stuck-up sport has become more friendly and accepting — how courses are managed hasn’t.
More: It’s been a summer of golf for the Journal’s Eric Rueb. Catch up on the courses he’s visited
Public golf is a nightmare throughout the state. If you’re looking to play during primetime — Fridays and weekends — good luck. A four-hour round anywhere is as likely as liberals and conservatives being both rational and peaceful on social media.
Before we get to solutions, it’s important to remember these golf courses are a business. Maintaining a course isn’t cheap and all it takes is one bad week of weather to throw off a balance sheet.
That said, courses that are able to provide an experience for players will earn repeat business, including when the industry numbers inevitably dip. Courses that continue to do things the old way will earn a reputation that will follow them for a while.
So what are these solutions? Can’t say I have all the answers, but after working around the industry for nearly 30 years, here are five things Rhode Island public courses need to do to be better.
More: Here are 5 of the best public golf courses in Rhode Island
Don’t let players die on your course
In the decades leading to COVID, water coolers were available at just about every single golf course in the state. You could walk 18 holes on a hot summer day and know you would be able to refill a water bottle every four holes or so.
Removing them during COVID made sense (or at least did during the time). Now, not so much.
As someone who tries to walk every time I play, I show up prepared — one 44 ounce Yeti, one 32 ounce Nalgene bottle and a Vitamin Water Zero (lemonade, the only good flavor) for the turn. Some days it’s barely enough but carrying the extra weight isn’t easy.
Let’s get back to the way things were. Give players two refill stations — somewhere around the fourth or fifth holes and somewhere near 13 or 14. Fill a cooler with ice, pour hose water over it, call it a day.
It’s the little things that matter and making sure you customers don’t suffer heat stroke certainly qualifies.
The range is a part of the experience, not an added feature
I’ve finally reached the demographic where “out-of-the-car par” isn’t possible because my body just won’t let me swing a club like that anymore.
Not every public course has a range, but for the ones that do, why on Earth are you charging players to hit balls?
The days of value golf is over, so asking people to pay more on top of already too-high greens fees is a trash move. Most people who want to hit balls before they play aren’t going through the bag; they want enough swings to loosen the shoulders, back and hips. Plus, nobody wants to waste good shots on the range.
Lump the cost into the players’ green fee. It’s simple enough to manage. Players who check in 30 minutes before their tee time can be given a token or code to go hit balls. If they show up inside that window, tough luck.
This is a little thing players notice. It also inspires players to show up to use the range on days they’re not playing, allowing courses more revenue than the extra $5 they’re trying to grease them out of on playing days.
Actually care about pace of play
Slow play is the bane of most golfer’s existence. Between the retired old guys who think the world revolves around them, to newbie golfer who doesn’t get that picking up is a better option than grinding out a 10, to the drunk 20-somethings that think everyone on the course wants to listen to Morgan Wallen, courses get backed up in a hurry.
The solution isn’t hard. Have specific time goals posted on your course or website — and then find someone to enforce them.
This person can’t be soft. This is a red-hat wearing, cigar-chomping retiree who’s seen a thing or two in their life and doesn’t cower from confrontation. They have to show patience and explain what the problem is, what the solution is and what will happen when it doesn’t get fixed — and then do just that when things don’t get better.
Rangers are integral to a course’s success, but I’ve yet to meet one — at least in Rhode Island — who lays down the law. Maybe that’s because I’m not a problem golfer. But I’ve seen plenty of golf courses with guys willing to talk the talk who won’t walk the walk.
Playing fast isn’t difficult. No honors on the tee box (except when someone makes a birdie, obviously) and always play ready golf. Don’t wait idly in a cart while…
