Page 21 - BusinessWest April 14, 2021

Camile Hannoush says many private clubs saw an uptick in membership during the pandemic.
this issue and its focus on the golf industry, we examine the many reasons why.
Out of the Rough
As he talked with BusinessWest just behind the 18th green at the Ledges early this month and paused to watch a threesome putt out, Fontaine said he, like all those in the industry, was thankful for a comparatively early start to this season.
Indeed, while the traditionally early open- ers — Oak Ridge and St. Anne’s in Agawam and East Mountain in Westfield, for example — were accepting tee times soon after the snow melted in late March, most all clubs were open for the week of the Master’s, the unofficial start to the golf season, especially in the Northeast.
Even Crumpin-Fox, located just a few miles from the Vermont border and traditionally closed until at least mid-April, got an early start, which was and is reason for even more optimism regarding the upcoming season. And there was already plenty to begin with.
Before we get more into this season and the high expectations for it, we need to flash back a year, when the scene was far more glum and uncertainty hovered over the business.
Despite hopes that some common sense would prevail and the governor would not include golf in his broad shutdown of non-essen- tial businesses, the opposite occurred. In late March, courses were allowed to keep up mainte- nance, but not allow play. As the calendar turned to May, and with no revenue of any kind coming in, course owners and managers grew increas- ingly desperate.
And when play finally was allowed in mid- May, there were several restrictions attached —
everything from longer intervals on tee times to a limit of one person per cart, to tight rules on whether, and under what circumstances, food and alcohol could be served — that left those in the business wondering just what would happen.
What did happen was somewhat unexpected, but certainly welcome. Individuals and families with few alternatives for recreation started dis- covering – or rediscovering — golf. And in big numbers.
“
closed down early, but we didn’t bounce back enough to cover everything we lost, especially on the restaurant and outings side of the business.”
“There was a lot of cabin fever,” Fontaine said. “It reached a point where people just had to get out, and the golf course was one place they could go.”
Ballard, the pro at Crumpin-Fox, put things in perspective with some numbers.
“This is the beginning of my fifth year here, and when I arrived, we created a five-year plan with the goal of getting over 20,000 rounds a year,” he said, adding that the club achieved that
Golf
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We bounced back from being
because we don’t make money on the golf — we can’t even pay the bills with the golf because we’re a private club,” he explained. “We rely on that member golfing, but also coming in to eat and drink. And that was very, very limited in 2020.”
But with restrictions on those aspects of the business easing, and interest in the game still high, according to early indicators, the outlook for the 2021 season is decidedly optimistic. For
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APRIL 14, 2021 21
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