Cost To Play On A Florida Golf Course Drops
They’re not stopping in the pro shop just yet, but Mike Spetsios can see them on the driving range getting ready.
Easter weekend marked the end of season in Florida, meaning prices at area Florida golf courses have begun their annual nosedive.
Year-round golfers, accordingly then, are all set to start plunking Titleists and Top-Flights into the nearest water hazard.
“You definitely recognize the regular summer crowd, and they’re not quite back yet,” said Spetsios, the head golf professional at San Carlos Golf Club a Florida golf course. “Some of them are on the range hitting balls, dusting off the clubs, but the they’re not quite playing yet.”
Rates at most area courses took their first drop on April 1, but Monday — May 1 — officially marks the move to cut-rate summer prices.
San Carlos, for example, dropped from its peak season rate of $60 for golf and a cart to $46 on April 1. Next week, the price drops to $27.
“To me, May 1 is when our locals start to play golf in Florida,” Spetsios said. “Right now, it’s definitely more visitors, more tourists.”
Even with the Florida golf course plummeting prices, the annual exodus of winter residents and visitors from Florida this time of year causes the volume of play at area courses to drop almost in step with prices — first a little, then a lot.
“I was surprised at how much traffic has still been up here,” Spetsios said of the first days after Easter, April 16. “We had a fantastic season and it’s still holding pretty steady. We’re not turning people away, like we were in season, but we’re at pretty good capacity. Typically the third week of April is slow, and the last week of April is really bad.”
Spetsios said San Carlos was maxed out on rounds per day during the season with about 280-290 daily. As of November, the Florida golf course increased the interval between tee times — from 7 1/2 minutes to 8 1/2 minutes — dropping it below the 300-plus rounds it had been doing each day in past years. The Florida course raised its price by $5 from last season to compensate for the lost rounds, but Spetsios said the end result was positive.
“That improved our pace of play,” he said of the wider tee time intervals. “The customers were in a better mood after they finished playing. Our repeat business was fantastic.”
From about 280-290 rounds daily, San Carlos dropped to about 240-260 rounds a day the first two weeks of April, Spetsios said. Last week, the number dropped to about 180-190 a day, still a marked improvement over what the coming summer months will bring.
“If we’re playing 90 rounds a day, that would be pretty good,” Spetsios said. “And I know that’s better than average.”
Along with the heat, humidity and thunderstorms that hurt summer traffic, Florida’s multitude of private and semi-private communities also cut into traffic at daily-fee facilities.
Heritage Palms Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers is so busy with member play during the season that there is little room for outside play. Head professional John Osbrink estimates that only 1 percent of rounds played at the 36-hole facility come from outside the community during season.
By next month, however, non-member rounds will rise to as high as 50 percent of play at Heritage Palms, Osbrink said.
“It’s a factory out here during season,” said Osbrink, estimating Heritage Palms does about 550 rounds a day — 275 per course — in February and March before dropping to about 400 rounds a day in April and finally just 200-250 rounds during the summer.
“That’s wall to wall, from 7 in the morning to about 5:30, quarter of six at night,” he said of seasonal play. “We did 45,000 rounds in the first three months of the year. We’ll do 45,000 in the next seven months.”
The one hiccup in the linear equation is known in the business as “recips.” Reciprocal play — various clubs providing playing privileges to members of other clubs — typically takes place during the first two weeks in May, providing some clubs a respite, however brief, from Florida’s annual summer slide in golf traffic.
“We’ll get a mad rush, above 400 (rounds) a day,” Osbrink said.”But that’s pretty much it. After about the second or third week of May, you’re starting to hit 90-95 degrees.”
As Spetsios said: “Forget it.”
Easter weekend marked the end of season in Florida, meaning prices at area Florida golf courses have begun their annual nosedive.
Year-round golfers, accordingly then, are all set to start plunking Titleists and Top-Flights into the nearest water hazard.
“You definitely recognize the regular summer crowd, and they’re not quite back yet,” said Spetsios, the head golf professional at San Carlos Golf Club a Florida golf course. “Some of them are on the range hitting balls, dusting off the clubs, but the they’re not quite playing yet.”
Rates at most area courses took their first drop on April 1, but Monday — May 1 — officially marks the move to cut-rate summer prices.
San Carlos, for example, dropped from its peak season rate of $60 for golf and a cart to $46 on April 1. Next week, the price drops to $27.
“To me, May 1 is when our locals start to play golf in Florida,” Spetsios said. “Right now, it’s definitely more visitors, more tourists.”
Even with the Florida golf course plummeting prices, the annual exodus of winter residents and visitors from Florida this time of year causes the volume of play at area courses to drop almost in step with prices — first a little, then a lot.
“I was surprised at how much traffic has still been up here,” Spetsios said of the first days after Easter, April 16. “We had a fantastic season and it’s still holding pretty steady. We’re not turning people away, like we were in season, but we’re at pretty good capacity. Typically the third week of April is slow, and the last week of April is really bad.”
Spetsios said San Carlos was maxed out on rounds per day during the season with about 280-290 daily. As of November, the Florida golf course increased the interval between tee times — from 7 1/2 minutes to 8 1/2 minutes — dropping it below the 300-plus rounds it had been doing each day in past years. The Florida course raised its price by $5 from last season to compensate for the lost rounds, but Spetsios said the end result was positive.
“That improved our pace of play,” he said of the wider tee time intervals. “The customers were in a better mood after they finished playing. Our repeat business was fantastic.”
From about 280-290 rounds daily, San Carlos dropped to about 240-260 rounds a day the first two weeks of April, Spetsios said. Last week, the number dropped to about 180-190 a day, still a marked improvement over what the coming summer months will bring.
“If we’re playing 90 rounds a day, that would be pretty good,” Spetsios said. “And I know that’s better than average.”
Along with the heat, humidity and thunderstorms that hurt summer traffic, Florida’s multitude of private and semi-private communities also cut into traffic at daily-fee facilities.
Heritage Palms Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers is so busy with member play during the season that there is little room for outside play. Head professional John Osbrink estimates that only 1 percent of rounds played at the 36-hole facility come from outside the community during season.
By next month, however, non-member rounds will rise to as high as 50 percent of play at Heritage Palms, Osbrink said.
“It’s a factory out here during season,” said Osbrink, estimating Heritage Palms does about 550 rounds a day — 275 per course — in February and March before dropping to about 400 rounds a day in April and finally just 200-250 rounds during the summer.
“That’s wall to wall, from 7 in the morning to about 5:30, quarter of six at night,” he said of seasonal play. “We did 45,000 rounds in the first three months of the year. We’ll do 45,000 in the next seven months.”
The one hiccup in the linear equation is known in the business as “recips.” Reciprocal play — various clubs providing playing privileges to members of other clubs — typically takes place during the first two weeks in May, providing some clubs a respite, however brief, from Florida’s annual summer slide in golf traffic.
“We’ll get a mad rush, above 400 (rounds) a day,” Osbrink said.”But that’s pretty much it. After about the second or third week of May, you’re starting to hit 90-95 degrees.”
As Spetsios said: “Forget it.”
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