What do these two things have to do with each other? You can be forgiven for asking, but stay with me a minute. The twin topics arise because it seems that the cost of playing ultra luxe destination golf courses in the U.S. is immune, at least in terms of the retail cost of a tee time, to the fundamentals of Economics 100.
A little background: the great courses I am talking about, Pinehurst #2, Kiawah Ocean Course, TPC Sawgrass, Whistling Straits, Shadow Creek, Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and perhaps one or two others in this top tier of destinations, all cost north of $300 to play. In some cases, waaay north. For most avid golftrippers, that’s simply too much to shell out. One tee time in this range may amount to a full third of a total trip budget for lots of golf buddies.
Consider that for many years, much of the play at these courses was corporate-driven: conventions, customer events, management retreats, top sales performer outings, etc. ------ and, as such, demand was insulated from retail market forces because the greens fees were picked-up by the corporation or expensed to the same. But, of course, times have changed. It’s not exactly news that the corporate golf outing has become an endangered species, even if it’s not as grim today as 2009.
So, you would think that the laws of supply and demand would drive the cost of a tee time at these marquee courses down. Way down. But, it doesn’t appear that’s happened. How come?
I think the reason is what the marketing folks call brand position. Your brand position is the “space” you occupy in the mind of your customer (Volvo=safety, IBM=trust, etc.) All these fine courses want to occupy the "premium" space in the minds of their prospective visitors----"bucket list" space. Because these golf destinations also have the financial resources to weather long down cycles without lowering prices, they don't need to act. And because a fundamental marketing principle says price is an indicator of value, a premium price is correlated with highest perceived value. In other words, this peer group won't risk damage to their brand position by dropping prices, even if it means fewer buddy trippers coming through the gates. A significant reduction in green fees doesn’t correlate with the exclusive, luxury brand position these destinations have spent years and millions of dollars building.
Don’t count on big discounts anytime soon.