There are all sorts of explanations why the Michigan Golf Show at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi was a hit last weekend.
The weather was mild and sunny, giving everybody a good excuse to get out of the house after a long winter. The Detroit Free Press reported that Sunday's temperature of 58 degrees was last experienced in the area Nov. 29. That's a long three-month stretch of cold solitude.
As the largest consumer golf show in the country, the Novi show has been popular stop for the past 19 years. Working at the Michigan Golf Magazine booth on Saturday, I was amazed at how many golfers drove in from Canada and Ohio just to check out the shenanigans. Courses and resorts were giving away their usual promotional rounds of free golf. Savvy fans printed out sticker labels with their names, e-mail and address on them so they could swoop from booth to booth in seconds for their shot at the prizes.
But the No. 1 reason for the show's success? The bargains were everywhere. The package prices if you signed up early and on the spot were insanely low. I'd never seen Boyne USA Resort packages so affordable.
Everybody who stopped at the Arcadia Bluffs booth were disappointed its prices were remaining the same, but the No. 1 course in the state can get away with that tactic, even in this economy.
I've been going to the show for more than a decade and Saturday's robust crowd was the busiest I've ever seen it. I doubt that will translate into a booming year for course owners and operators, but the signs that people want to play golf are at least encouraging.
John Hover, owner of True North Golf Club in Harbor Springs, said this show didn't have the gloom-and-doom feel of the past couple Michigan Golf Shows. He said the weather was a big reason for last summer's struggles.
If only that sun will shine a little stronger in 2010, everybody would be a lot happier ... bad economy or otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment