End the annual green fee

I would like to address the single most harmful impact on golf revenue. That would be the annual green fee.

In the last seven years, this fee has cost golf more than $1 million in revenue. Not saved money, not projected money, but cash-out-of-your-pocket money. How?

Last year, golfers with this fee had to play 45.5 rounds of golf in 2015 to break even (cost of annual fee versus rounds played in 2015). That means a golfer had to play four rounds per month and the other 26 days of that month they played for free.

Last year, the top three golfers with the annual green fee divided up over 500 rounds of free golf. Three golfers — 500 rounds of free golf. If the top three golfers played 500 free rounds, then the next four or five golfers had to play 500 free rounds of golf. Now you have eight golfers playing 1,000 rounds of free golf last year.

How many golfers signed up and bought the annual green fee? 100? 150? 200 golfers?

If eight golfers played 1,000 free rounds of golf, you still have to add the however many golfer’s free rounds. Do the math. The downside of giving away this much free golf is you then have to artificially increase the cost of a round of golf ($40 now) to overcome golf revenue shortfalls. Now golf is $40 per round, and people are “price shy.” They still play golf, but not as often.

What happens then? Golf revenue takes another hit. So they raise the cost of golf again so a very select group of golfers and a few board members can play thousands and thousands and thousands of free golf rounds every year.

We need to end this annual green fee and include every Bella Vista golfer in the fee structure so we can all enjoy golf, not just a select few.

Robert Stock Bella Vista