Steve Carroll Steps Away Quietly

I was starting to feel a little slighted as Steve Carroll seemed to be ducking me the past week or so as time wound down on his tenure as executive director of the Canadian PGA.

I briefly spoke with him on Wednesday at the Ontario PGA show, but he said he had a meeting to get to with Jeff Calderwood, executive director of the National Golf Course Owners Association and would call me on Thursday.

There’s no reason to believe that Carroll wasn’t a busy guy in his final week on the job, but I got a sneaking suspicion he didn’t want to do a guest blog that I had asked him to write for GNN today. On Thursday, I got an e-mail from him, saying he wouldn’t be able to do the blog.

A smile crossed my face because that e-mail confirmed what I already knew. Carroll has been a big supporter of GNN since it began as the original website devoted to news from the Canadian golf industry, so I knew it had nothing to do with that.

Anyone who knows him, however, knows it’s his style to step away without much fanfare, although I understand he will send a letter to Canadian PGA members on Friday.

We’ll respect his decision, but will point out that he is somebody who joined an organization that appeared to be rudderless five years ago and helped steer it in the right direction. He’s also worked well with other associations for the common good of the game.

We won’t let him go without acknowledging his contributions to the Canadian PGA and the PGA of British Columbia, an organization he served as executive director for 12 years.

He may not like to write about himself, but I’m sure his resume will do all the talking for him as he heads off to new endeavours. On his final day on the job, we join the rest of the industry in wishing him well.

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The Weather Factor: All of the economic factors that could influence golf businesses next year don’t add up to the impact of Mother Nature in 2010, according to the most recent GNN Poll.

As of yesterday, 44 per cent of respondents said that weather will most impact their businesses in 2010, compared to a combined 43 per cent that felt various economic factors would have the most impact.

The new Harmonized Sales Tax, which takes effect next July in British Columbia and Ontario, drew 25 per cent of the vote, while the overall economy and a high Canadian dollar drew 13 per cent and five per cent of the vote, respectively.

A decline in participation in the game rounded out the voting at 13 per cent.

The respondents’ belief that the weather will play a role in their businesses next year is understandable considering the conditions that have hit across the country the past couple of years.

While we see the HST coming, not only in B.C. and Ontario, but also in other provinces sometime in the future, or the economy being tight as we climb out of the recession, weather is an unpredictable factor and lately, it seems to favour wet conditions and gray skies.

Sometimes, as Don MacKay of Muskoka Highlands commented earlier this week, even the perception of bad weather can be a detriment.

“I think the biggest negative impact are the negative weather forecasts – 30 per cent chance of the rain, the golfers do not come, neither does the rain,” MacKay wrote.

“We need to tackle the David Phillips and Environment Canada and the Weather Channel and Jeff Hutchison on Canada AM and all other weather announcers to emphasize that there is a 70 per cent chance of a good day. Full stop.”

When you add in the perception of bad weather with the actual rough conditions we’ve faced in Canada the past two years, it can be a daunting challenge with a game that is facing enough from the current economic conditions.

It was affordability that the Royal Canadian Golf Association indicated was the biggest barrier to people playing the game in its most recent participation survey.

With an extra seven or eight per cent tacked on to green fees next year in two of Canada’s largest provinces, you have to think that affordability will become even more of an issue with golfers, especially with wallets already tight due to the recession.

Although it only came in at 13 per cent, the decline in golf participation is obviously a concern in the industry.

Even a rosy economic impact study done by the National Allied Golf Association had one gray cloud that said that rounds were down by as much as 10 per cent in 2008 before the recession hit. After all of the economic turbulence in 2009, what will that grow to by next year?

Nobody can say for sure due to the lack of numbers available, but it seems that the industry is taking note in its day to day operations across the country.

There are challenges ahead to be sure and all we can hope for is that we get a break in 2010 and the weather cooperates.

We will leave the poll up for the weekend and we look forward to getting your opinion on the GNN Poll. As always, feel free to expand your thoughts inside the GNN Forum.

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