Mixed in with my visits to the exhibits were a series of conferences and interviews. Here are highlights of what I learned.

Conference and Interview Highlights

More Women Playing More Golf -- Finally

One of the first pieces of good news was in a "State of the Industry" presentation by Jim Koppenhaver, President of Pellucid Corp., (www.pellucidcorp.com), a consulting firm. Jim is a bit of maverick in the industry because he is very independent and calls the shots as he sees them. But his data-gathering is solid, sophisticated and timely.

For the first time in years, Jim reported that in 2010 the number of rounds by female golfers was up over last year (down for men) and the "participation rate," which is the number of female adult golfers as a percentage of all adult females, was also up (and down for the men). Jim offered the explanation that the male golfer age 55 and over was probably particularly hit by the economic downturn in 2010 on both the home and job front.

The other major golf industry associations that report statistics will not publish their 2010 data until the spring and often they re-organize the categories which make it almost impossible to get year-over-year good data. But, it will be interesting to see if when the PGA of America and the NGF-National Golf Foundation - publicize their numbers, they also report this up-tick in female golfers. It's time for all the earnest efforts to grow the game for women, like The PGA's Get Golf Ready program, to start paying off.

Another session I attended was given by Jon Last, President of the Sports and Leisure Research Group, (www.sportandleisureresearch.com). Jon brings decades of experience to his analysis of the golf climate. Jon has the most current research which enables him to compare his very recent surveys with those in 2010 and 2009. His research is available as a download on his website.

The takeaways from Jon's presentation were that there was a slight increase in consumer confidence regarding the opportunity and affordability to play more golf in the future. But at the same time his survey revealed that marketing initiatives for families, women and juniors were still minimal and basically oriented toward discounting.

Jon's emphasis was on "service" as a differentiator. Simple things like addressing a customer by name or referring to their prior visit were keys to building a strong customer base. I wanted to applaud because these are the very points that I make in my "Best Practice List" regarding how to attract and retain more women golfers (see www.berkleyconsulting.com - best practices).

A highlight of my interviews was a chance to meet Arthur D. Little and his wife Jann Leeming. Arthur and Jann, through their own experience as golf course owners, founded a new initiative documented on their website www.golfwithwomen.com.

Arthur is an excellent golfer and both he and Jann are very experienced business executives. They traditionally vacationed in New England and quite a few years ago, they saw a property up for sale on the Maine/New Hampshire border that had a nine-hole golf course on it. They purchased the property out of bankruptcy and thus began their real life experience of adding nine more holes and make a profitable business out of it.

And in the course of growing that business they focused on increasing the number of women golfers. A fundamental change was developing shorter sets of tees for women that will provide the same time of golf experience (birdies, pars and bogeys) that men experience. They advocate a set of tees as short as 4200 yards and don't worry about how the scores will translate to the USGA Handicap System. They offered babysitting, of course! The total number of golfers grew significantly and the number of women golfers went from 35% to 52%.

Arthur was on a panel presented by the Executive Women's Golf Association (EWGA) in the Main Hall Auditorium on Friday afternoon. Arthur stated the problem clearly when he said that women just don't trust the golf industry. So at every level, a facility has to work hard to win that trust.

I couldn't agree more. What I would add is that women themselves must take responsibility for bringing change to the industry. They have to organize and communicate to the owners and managers what they expect from the facility. And, if the response is negative, they should take their business elsewhere.

In the context of bringing change to the industry, the Executive Women's Golf Association (EWGA), which is celebrating its 20th anniversary held its annual breakfast presentation on Friday morning. Mike Whan, the LPGA Commissioner, was the keynote speaker. Among other observations from his first year as Commissioner, he spoke about the new tournament on the 2011 schedule: The Founders Tournament and its mission to contribute a significant sum of money towards the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program.

There has been a bit of controversy about the Founders Tournament: Will all the Tour players participate? And, how much will be donated to the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program? My take is that the Tournament that honors the founders of the LPGA over fifty years ago - Louise Suggs, Patty Berg, Shirley Spork, Peggy Kirk Bell - to name a few - is still a work in progress.

The Commissioner must have said it at least six times that the mission of the LPGA - like the mission of its founders - is to leave the game better than you found it. But the vision for this potentially awesome, inspiring tournament to benefit girls golf just hasn't come together yet.

For Berkley's complete review, Also See:

2011 PGA Merchandise Show - A Woman's View - Part I
Part III - Junior Golf is IN AGAIN
Part IV - Apparel and New Products