Business AS USUAL ?
A surprise supply chain pain point : practice range balls .
The Big Hurt It wasn ’ t just heavy equipment manufacturers who felt the pain . Every product took a hit . In January 2021 , Titleist put its premium balls on allocation . Range balls , of all things , were nigh impossible to find . Club fitters searched frantically for components stuck at sea or in a harbor awaiting unloading . Apparel ordered for spring delivery appeared in time for fall , and so on . All the while players , new and old , flocked to neighboring courses riding one to a cart .
Course operators and general managers were hardly immune . Three years ago Ryan Carmen was GM at Laurel Hill Golf Club in Lorton . Today he is director of golf operations for Fairfax County . He says the pandemic forced the industry to adjust its way of thinking and adapt to the new level of business . “ It ’ s not even something we think about anymore . A weekday that used to be 90-100 rounds is now a normal 150-180 rounds on an 18-hole course . Like many courses , getting new golf carts was a monumental problem . The new reality of one golfer per cart absolutely drove the carts into the ground . On top of that , rounds increased exponentially leaving our operation low on carts and sometimes completely out for golfers with tee times later in the day . It was a good problem to have , but a nightmare at the same time .”
Back then Fairfax County had orders in for new cart fleets for all seven of its courses . “ I don ’ t fully remember the timeline of it all but it was certainly a struggle for Club Car to expedite the process due to a battery shortage nationwide ,” he says . Even now , procuring maintenance equipment is difficult . Equipment ordered nearly a year ago has yet to be received . And recent orders for John Deere and Toro are being quoted for delivery “ with a timeline of year and a half ,” says Carmen .
Brett Stansley became general manager at Sycamore Creek in Goochland in May 2022 . Since 2020 , Sycamore Creek has had more digital redemptions on the VSGA ’ s VIP Golf Card than any other participating Virginia course . They also have had a crying need for gas carts which have been on order from Yamaha going on two years . “ We ’ ve been told several times that relief is right around the corner and that hasn ’ t been the case ,” says Stansley . “ I know everybody has been waiting a long time . Hopefully ours will be here soon .” As of July 1 , carts are no longer a problem at Sycamore Creek . That ’ s when the course took delivery on 60 brand new gas vehicles from Club Car .
A conversation with an apparel rep broadened Carmen ’ s appreciation regarding the depth of supply chain issues . The rep noted that during the pandemic the workforce decreased and the industry grew as a whole . “ I asked the rep if his company was showing favoritism to the bigger , high-profile private clubs . From his response I realized that the companies that support courses / clubs were having just as much of an issue as the courses themselves . Today the industry for the smaller items such as apparel , range balls , etc . seems to have caught up with demand .”
“ Equipment ordered nearly a year ago has yet to be received . And recent orders for John Deere and Toro are being quoted for delivery ‘ with a timeline of year and a half .’”
— Ryan Carmen , director of golf operations for Fairfax County
PHOTO PAUL PIERCE BY SAVANNAH JR . ( 4 LAKES ) VILLAGE ON UNSPLASH
26 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2023