If there is a business in desperate need of a mulligan, golf is it.Just how much people in this business want that second shot at hitting the fairway becomes abundantly clear each year at the Golf Industry Show. It doesn't matter what year it is, or the location; as soon as the show floor opens on Wednesday morning, vendors and attendees all want to know: "What have you heard about attendance?"
There is no question that the 2015 edition of the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio seemed busy. There was the regular bustle, particularly in the morning on the first day, and a maddening show floor layout that made it impossible to go in a straight line for very long led to the usual pedestrian traffic jams.
The comments swirling around the floor of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center sounded positive enough: "It seems crowded" and "I don't think we'll ever be what we used to be, but I think we're on the way back," were just a couple.
Looks can be deceiving.
According to the GCSAA, 12,400 people, including 5,600 qualified buyers, attended this year's show in San Antonio. A total of 551 exhibitors rented 182,000 square feet of exhibit space.
What do those numbers mean? Across the board, they are down compared with last year's show in Orlando and darned near every show before that. In fact, they represent the latest in a downward trend that has become all too familiar in the golf business. This year's overall attendance was 13 percent below last year's mark of 14,147. Thirteen percent. That's a lot. Qualified buyers were down by 19 percent compared with 6,845 last year. That's really a lot. There also were more exhibitors (561) who paid for more booth space (184,200) last year.
Though attendance was down only about 6 percent when compared with the San Diego show two years ago, a quick look back to 2008 reveals how far the show has fallen.
Granted, comparing attendance to the old mega-shows is apples-to-oranges. The Club Managers Association of America was part of the show then (CMAA dumped the GIS model and returned to its own World Conference schedule in 2011), and no one expects GIS to return to its pre-recession form. Still, those shows help provide some sobering perspective.
The 2008 show in Orlando was the biggie. It attracted 25,737 attendees, 10,553 qualified buyers and 965 exhibitors. Booth space was 300,900 square feet. For those who like statistics, attendance this year was 48 percent of that year's total. That's right, this year's show in San Antonio attracted fewer than half the number of people who were at GIS seven years ago.
Numbers tell a lot about any business.
For too many years, the numbers most pertinent to those in the golf business have been: How many courses closed last year? How many opened? How many new golfers came into the game? How many left?
And they have told a less-than-positive story.
Numbers reveal a lot about quantity, but they're not so good at measuring quality. And the one good thing about the Golf Industry Show is that every year it manages to attract those who are serious about conducting business.
In the meantime, this still is an industry in need of a mulligan. Even more clear is that it appears we're in for a long wait.