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Par For The Course
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 Tom Barber says business is good at his namesake golf center in Moorpark (Photo: Eddie Meeks) My eyebrows rose in skepticism. Then the CEO of the Valley Cultural Center in Woodland Hills completed the answer to my question. “But I’m playing more because I need to,” he said. “I have to get away or otherwise I would go nuts. Golf is my pressure release.” I wanted to put my finger on the economic pulse of a few people in the golf industry and talk to golfers to see if they’re putting their passion for the game on hold during this economic downturn. I hung out at a few courses and struck up some small talk. My travels ran the gamut from a municipal facility (Sepulveda Golf Complex in Encino) to mid-range and high-end daily-fee courses (Moorpark County Club, Lost Canyons Golf Club and Tierra Rejada Golf Club). I was surprised to find few golfers who admitted to playing less golf, yet I know rounds are down. However, Kinsey’s answer was echoed by people who are using golf as an antidote for the troubling times. “Representing a nonprofit organization, our segment of the economy has been particularly hard hit,” Kinsey said, “but I also know there is only so much I can do. If I don’t take a mental health break every now and then from the pressure of fund-raising, I’m not really serving my board or the patrons of the West Valley to the best of my ability.” Kinsey said he mostly plays Moorpark Country Club. “I used to play more places, but that’s something else positive about the negative times we live in,” he said. “As I became more regular at Moorpark I noticed the course went the extra mile to make me feel special. Sometimes it’s a discount on my round — not asked for, just offered — sometimes it’s a bucket of balls, but those little things make a big difference. So where I used to shop around a little to find the lower green fees I don’t as much anymore.” Some courses are trying to combat the tough economic times with aggressive discounting in an attempt to sell tee times that otherwise would go unused. “Oh, yeah, the number of courses we offer is up, so are the number of tee times sold,” said Brett Stromberg of Click4TeeTimes.com. The online discounter has arrangements with more than 120 Southland courses, which figure 50 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing. So they offer what are likely to be unused tee times for a discounted price on the website. It’s a great way to save money if you can play on relatively short notice, since many of the discounted tee times only are available three or four days in advance, and you pay up front. “I’m playing about the same amount of golf but I am spending less on it,” said Jamie Anderson, a regular user of Click4TeeTimes. The 14-handicaper from Mission Viejo tries to play twice a week and plays from the desert to the sea. “We’ll play Shorecliffs in San Clemente one week, then CrossCreek in Temecula or Hidden Valley and Eagle Glen in the Inland Empire,” Anderson said. “It’s fun playing different courses all over and we jump on great deals.” Anderson, 51, keeps abreast of other golf sites as well. “My buddy George is signed up with another discount tee-time company,” he said. “His service has some different courses than mine, so whoever finds the best deal books the time.” Golf, like the movies, seems to do OK in tough times. “While golf is not entirely recession-proof, the golf industry does appear to be one of the last to fall during a recession, and one of the first to rise after a recession,” said Jim Kass, national director of research for the Driving Range Times. That industry also is holding up well. “That is accurate, our business is up,” said Tom Barber of the Tom Barber Golf Center in Moorpark. “When golfers feel the pinch, they might give up their high-end golf vacation, they might not buy a new set of clubs, they might not be able to afford to play 18 holes as often as they’d like, but they have to get away from the talking-head purveyors of doom and pound balls if nothing else.” Then Barber quoted his dad, the late Jerry Barber, who won the 1961 PGA Championship: “Golf is like removing the top of your head and wiping off your brain with a cool towel.” Golf won’t cure our county’s current economic ills, but it sure can help you forget about them for a few hours. Eric Tracy is also known as The Mulligan Man. Reach him at eric@themulliganman.com. |
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