Numbers up for local courses;
March sees jump in rounds played

By Alan Blondin
The Sun News

Mickey McCamish has never been so happy to be denied a round of golf.

Several times in March, the president of marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday called an area course to play a round of golf and was told there were no available tee times.

"Those are the sweetest words I can hear," McCamish said. They sounded pretty good to golf course owners and operators on the Grand Strand as well.

The Myrtle Beach golf industry enjoyed its third busiest month ever in terms of rounds played, and the best month since 1999.

There were 539,496 rounds played last month, which came within 2,500 rounds of breaking the record set in March 1997, according to a monthly report prepared for Golf Holiday.

"The entire Myrtle Beach golf industry needed a shot in the arm, and this was a shot in the arm that was definitely needed," McCamish said.

The increase in rounds comes at a crucial time. In the past three years, area courses have been struggling to overcome a slumping economy, a fear of travel due to terrorism, a saturated market due to numerous course openings, and in some cases, rates that have been decreased to remain competitive.

Greens fees are at their highest during the spring golf season, which essentially runs from late February through early May, and rounds decreased last March and April from 2002 figures. An increase last May ended 12 consecutive months of declines, and there have been increases in nine of the past 11 months.

March's 18.3-percent increase over the 456,185 rounds played in March 2003 is by far the largest in the past year.

The boost in rounds was felt across the board as play increased in nearly every category, including package rounds, walk-on rounds and replay rounds. The number of paid rounds in March increased 18.8 percent to 526,097.

"There's no doubt this past March was one of the better months this area has ever had," said Archie Lemon, Director of Golf for Burroughs & Chapin Golf Management, which owns and/or operates seven Strand courses. "We had an outstanding March and April is looking very good so far."

Myrtle Beach's numbers reflect a promising trend nationally. A rounds-played report for the first quarter of 2004 was released Tuesday by the National Golf Foundation and Golf 20/20, and it showed a 5.3 percent increase compared to the first three months of 2003.

A particularly harsh Northeast winter and good weather on the Strand in March likely contributed to the increased play. McCamish believes an improving economy, marketing efforts by Golf Holiday and others on the Strand that include attendance at golf shows and an increased presence on The Golf Channel in the past couple years, and the addition of direct flights to Myrtle Beach also contributed.

Pan Am, Northwest, Hooters Air, ComAir, Spirit and Continental have all added direct flights to Myrtle Beach from cities in the North or Midwest.

"The direct affordable air service we now have, and the fact it's from our major golf markets, is one of the reasons our golf numbers are up," McCamish said. "I think with the air service, people now fly instead of drive, and it enables them to get an extra round of golf and an extra night's stay in."