Tee-Off Times_2013_MayJun

Paperless Pro Shop

Stop Phishing!

Review of Your Personal Insurance Policies

Your Money’s Worth for Membership

In this issue:

Michigan Golf SummitLeaders of our state’s industry meet to discuss future

Jim Baugh, Golf 20/20Michigan Golf Summit speaker

TEE-OFF TIMES MARY/JUNE 2013 2

WWW.MGCOA.ORG MAY/JUNE 20133

Continued on page 4

Board of Directors

PresidentJeff HoagScott Lake Country Club

Vice PresidentSusan VanderburgIndian Lake Hills

TreasurerBill FountainMajestic at Lake Walden

Past PresidentBob KoutnikFox Run Country Club

by Jeff Hoag, MGCOA President

Getting from here to thereWhen someone asks me about a

golf membership at my course, how much it costs and how many times they have to play to break even, I al-ways respond, “It’s not just about how many times you play. It’s alot more than that really. It’s about the experi-ences, the new people you meet, the times that you share. Sometimes it’s about the events that you play in, the competitive spirit that lives in most golfers. Those things cannot be mea-sured by dollars and cents nor figured into the cost per round for a golfer. There is great value in being around like-minded people.”

The same is true about your membership with the MGCOA. As business people we all want our “dol-lars worth” from any expense. With a membership in a business associa-tion there are many things that go on that one cannot put a value on. Many of the things that the MGCOA works on may not have a direct dollar ben-efit, like a rebate check. The MGCOA continually works on our existing programs like insurance, taxation, water usage, pesticide regulation, tourism promotion and others. And we are not alone; we are working alongside like-minded groups that form the Michigan Golf Alliance. These Michigan Associations all

work diligently to help foster good business practices and keep the golf industry in Michigan healthy.

By keeping company with like-minded associations, we are best able to deal with the government’s “divide and conquer” methods of legislation. By working together we

do have an impact on the business environment in which we run our businesses.

If you are reading this, I know that you already know this, but some-times we all need a good reminder of why we join the MGCOA. It’s about making it better for everybody.

P.S. If you know someone that is not a member of the MGCOA, please send them a copy of this as a gentle reminder that we are all in this together.

GETTING FROM HERE TO THERELife is hard in the golf business

these days. If you read the Club and Resort Business Daily News (Harbor-

News from the President

Kathy AznavorianFox Hills Golf & Banquet Center

Larry BowdenThe Natural

Ed ClarkSandy Ridge Golf Course

Jim DewlingTotal Golf Inc.

Frank GuastellaFranklin Golf

Toni JoersConcord Hills

Fred MawsonCorporate Tax Resources

Larry MooreU.S. Golf Cars

Carolyn OlsonElmbrook Golf Course

Steve RameyChisholm Hills

Dan RooneyGrand Haven Golf Club

Tom SchwarkSycamore Hills

Jon ScottGull Lake View

Curtis WrightCopper Hills Golf Course

3 WWW.MGCOA.ORG MAY/JUNE 2012

“People often say thatmotivation doesn’t last.Well, neither does bathing –that’s why we recommendit daily.”

Communications.com) you can read some sad stories about golf courses closing (yeah!), golf courses going bankrupt (sad!) golf courses being bought out of bankruptcy by new owners (My gosh, what are they thinking?) and every now and then a story about a golf course brought

back from the brink of the cliff. When I read about those suc-cess stories, it makes me want to know more. How did they get from the low to the high, from here to there?

The golf business is ever evolving. We have had a ten

or eleven year period to make ad-justments to our business plans and our operations. The business is different today. When I read about these courses that have made these adjustments, it makes me want to know more; how did they get from here to there?

When asking those operators about how they got from here to there, there are some common answers among them.

1. The operators are networking all of the time. They are network-ing with fellow golf operators. They are networking with fellow busi-ness owners. They are networking


with their Chamber of Commerce. They are networking with their customers. THEY ARE NETWORK-ING CONTINUOUSLY!;

2. They try new things. They are not afraid to test or adopt new ideas. Where do they get those ideas? From their networks!

3. They have a vision for where they are going. Now we are not talk-ing Hollywood vision here, but a working vision of what their business should look like and feel like. Some-thing they can communicate easily to their staff and to their customers.

Three steps to success. But these steps have to be taken daily. This re-minds me of a quote I really like from Zig Ziglar “People often say that mo-tivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recom-mend it daily.” In the golf business it is easy to do this daily. How? Get on the NGCOA Listserv by going to NG-COA.org, go to the networking tab

Getting from here to thereContinued from page 3

at the top and join listserv. If you’ve got questions, just ask, you are go-ing to get answers. Got answers to someone else’s question. Go ahead and share. Next, make a phone call. Call Kate at the MGCOA office, she is a great resource for answers and ref-erences. Next, come to the MGCOA workshops and annual meetings. They are full of information and won-derful networking opportunities. Attend the NGCOA Annual Confer-ence, network there and bring home baskets of ideas.

Look. The best thing about being a golf course operator is the fact that you have a choice. You can either stay doing what you are cur-rently doing or you can change. It’s up to you. If you want to go from here, where you are today, to there, that place where your vision takes you, it’s going to be because YOU DID SOMETHING by networking or trying new ideas.

Regarding Third PartyDiscounters A not–so–gentle reminder…

I’m reminded of the person who found a snake half dead just outside her front door. Be-ing compassionate about all living things she brought the half-dead snake into her home and tended and cared for it un-til it slowly recovered. One day while feeding her new charge it bit her painfully. The woman cried out, “How could you do this after all I have done to care for you and mend your wounds and feed and water you back to health?” The snake replied “I’m a snake. You knew I was a snake when you took me in. Biting is what we do.”


From the Executive Director

by Kate Moore, MGCOA Executive Director

Golf Summit unifies business groups

Continued on page 6

It was five years ago that the al-lied golf associations met at 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club to reveal the results of the industries eco-nomic impact study. This was the first coordi-nated effort of the golf associa-tions in Michigan. What we learned w a s t h a t t h e state’s golf indus-try generates $4.2 billion of direct, indirect and in-duced economic impact , a long with providing multiple areas of positive eco-nomic impact on the state. This is a significant num-ber. And that was a groundbreaking collaborative project.

Last month these same leaders, now formalized as the Michigan Golf Alliance, met again in round table fashion to discuss the state of our industry. At the Lansing Coun-try Club on May 28th , seven golf organizations mixed it up at a Golf Summit that encouraged coopera-

tion and inspired all to move the bar forward in growing the game and the business of golf. In addition to the group’s roundtable lunch

meeting, Senator Arlan Meekhof (District 30) was on hand to wel-come the Summit participants to Lansing.

Following lunch Jim Baugh of the PGA of America and Golf 2020 spoke on some major golf initiatives. Baugh is the primary presenter of the Get Golf Ready

Detroit Club Managers’ AssociationJanice Eudis

P.O. Box 838, South Lyon, MI 48178248.310.1074

[email protected]

Golf Association of MichiganDavid Graham

24116 Research DriveFarmington Hills, MI 48335

248.478.9242www.gam.org

[email protected]

Michigan Golf Course OwnersAssociationKate Moore

603 S. Washington Ave. Lansing, MI 48933

517.482.4312www.mgcoa.org

[email protected]

Michigan Club Managers AssociationJackie Anderson

P.O. Box 89, Acme, MI 49610231.938.7020

[email protected]

Michigan Golf CourseSuperintendents Association

Adam Ikamas, CGCS7113 Demerly Rd., Benzonia, MI 49616

888.364.4272wwwmigcsa.org

[email protected]

Michigan Section PGAKevin Helm

P.O. Box 4399, East Lansing, MI 48826517.641.7421

[email protected]

Michigan Turfgrass FoundationRebecca Schoch

P.O. Box 27156, Lansing, MI 48909517.392.5003

[email protected]

Adam Ikamas, executive director of the Michigan Golf Course Superintendent Association visits with board member Jeff Holmes (Egypt Valley) and Dr. Kevin Frank of the MSU Turf Team and the Turfgrass foundation.

Michigan Section PGA ex-ecutive director Kevin Helm, along with PGA board direc-tor Chris Sobieck (Thornapple Pointe Golf Club) Ron Gaines and Steve Braun represent-ing the Golf Association of Michigan chat with Kathy Aznavorian, past president of the MGCOA and NGCOA board director (Fox Hills Golf And Banquet Center) and MGCOA president Jeff Hoag (Scott Lake Country Club)


Continued from page 5Golf Summit unifies business groupsprogram which is fast tracking to bring more golfers into the game. Jim also has launched PHIT Amer-ica, a new campaign to increase sport & fitness participation in America. Jim is a leader in initia-tives to “Get America Moving” including working on securing legislation in Washington, DC, to help our sport grow participa-tion, and rebuilding our physical education programs throughout America.

The outcomes of the Summit were stimulating and predict-able. We need to work together to get golf in schools, make it ac-cessible to every age group and gender, insure the golf course owner and operator is profitable in the process. Seems like a clear mission.

The Michigan Golf Alliance will meet again a few months. This dedicated group of Asso-

Kevin Green, Michigan Club Managers Association Chapter President (Spring Lake Country Club) chats with Assistant Executive Director Of the Golf Association of Michigan Tonia Laird and Past President of the Michigan Golf Course Superinten-dents Association Jay Eccleton (The Emerald Golf Course).

ciation leaders and volunteer presidents will strategize how we as an industry can work on a

State Senator Arlan B. Meekhof of the 30th District joined Summit attendees on May 28th.

unified goal with a specific time table and measurable results. Stay tuned…


ing more about taking your pro shop paperless, call us at

800.599.6310, or email me at [email protected].

Paperless pro shop, the new trend

Introducing MyMGCOA.com CLASSIFIED

The Digital Space

by Bay Paul, President of Course Logix

With golf outings down over the last few years, we are seeing more public golf course properties manufacturing their own revenue through the use of in-house scram-bles, group lessons, and social events.

The downside to creating your own in-house events is limited resources. Most pro shop staffs have been downsized over the years, and running a golf shop with a Head Pro and two Assis-tant Pros is hard to justify these days. Most clubs are now staffed to run lean and mean, and how much time does your staff ac-tually have to administer these events?

HERE IS WHAT ONE CLUB DID…Huntmore Golf Club, located

in Brighton, Michigan, noticed a trend in their tee sheet. Their Mon-day mornings were light and they needed a way to increase revenue. They decided to run Monday Se-nior Scrambles every 3rd week of the month.

Their website allowed the course to create a tournament, set the maximum number of players, and even allow online payment via credit card. They also only allowed registrations online to eliminate any human error during the registration process. Since moving to a paperless event registration system, their player participa-tion has risen for their events, which is also reflected in their bottom line.

Now that they can create events on the fly, send out a eblast to their customer base, and just watch the registration come in, administering your in-house events is painless.

If you are interested in learn-

The MGCOA is excited to an-nounce that beginning in July we will have a portal for mem-bers to buy or sell golf related inventory in a business to busi-ness fashion. MyMGCOA CLAS-SIFIED section will be accessed through the mymgcoa.com website. Whether you have something for “Inside” or “Out-side” to buy or sell, you can advertise it here. This CLASSI-FIED section will be password protected for listing advertise-

ments so you will need to be a member or purchase a clas-sified membership. The adver-tisements will be available for anyone to see, however. This portal will be similar to Craig-slist in that the transaction will be strictly between buyer and seller. The MGCOA will review and approve of all advertise-ments prior to posting.

Watch your MGCOA E-News for the launch announcement.


Stop Phishing!Phishing is an attempt to steal

information (such as passwords, usernames, and financial infor-mation) by masquerading as a trustworthy party.

Here’s how it works. You re-ceive a supposedly official email from a trusted source, asking you to confirm your password, user-name, phone number, or credit card information. This email may threaten you with the removal of your posts or the closure of your account if you do not comply im-mediately. If the sender is using email spoofing (an email activity in which the sender address and other parts of the email header are altered to appear as though the

email originated from a different source) the message may appear to come directly from your bank, your insurance company, etc.

You click the link in the email and are taken to a fraudulent third-party site that may resemble a legitimate page.

You may be asked to download an attachment, install specific soft-ware, or receive a message to your phone.

You enter your login information on the fraudulent page, inadver-tently providing it to a third party.

The third party scammer can then use the information you provided to gain access to your actual account.

To avoid phishing attempts and

protect your account information• Never click on email links that

ask you for any personal or ac-count information.

• Make sure to log in to your ac-count only by navigating manually.

• If you are unsure about the sta-tus of your account or your posts, the safest way to check is to go di-rectly to your account and log in.

• If you do not see any problems within your account you can safely ignore any messages to the contrary.

• Use common sense. If an email seems suspicious, fishy, or too good to be true. . . it probably is!

• Change your passwords frequently

Have you ever considered a comprehensive review of your personal insurance policies? This line of insurance has been somewhat stripped of cus-tomer service over the past several years. Maybe you can successfully save 10% instantly with a promise from a national spokesperson (or a lizard?). This method of purchasing per-sonal property insurance might be adequate for a percentage of the population, but what if you could get enhanced service, bet-ter coverage options and a com-petitive price and have it deliv-ered in an easy to read format?

Golf course owner(s), execu-tive teams and key employees may have some “toys” to cover that might not fit into a simple little package. Folks today may have multiple cars, recreation vehicles, collector cars, cottag-es, homes used as rentals, and other nuances that are difficult

Is a Review of Your Personal Insurance Policies a Good Idea for You?

to find a practical and affordable insurance option for. Has your per-sonal lines agent ever discussed “Risk” with you? Just as you know risk management is important for your business, it may be impor-tant to your personal assets too.

The proposal is very important and should be presented to you in a report that is understandable. But just as important are items that may be uncovered and will need to be fixed. One example we came across in the Personal Insur-ance Division of Kapnick Insur-ance Group was a single father of two twenty-something daughters. These daughters have moved out of his home, but he decided to insure the vehicles that are still owned by them. This creates a coverage gap as we can only in-sure vehicles owned or leased by our insured. A claim may be de-nied if this were found out after the fact. However, a detailed re-view of this employee’s insurance

policies uncovered this.At Kapnick Insurance Group,

we have a dedicated staff that works directly with clients to ensure they have proper cover-age. We collect policy informa-tion and make individual pro-posals after we carefully analyze the current policies for gaps. We then send each individual’s in-formation to as many as 12 car-riers to select the proper pack-age of coverages.

If you or your company is in-terested in a personal lines in-surance review, please call Beth Ferguson, Client Executive at 888-263-4656, x1125 or [email protected]. Of course, we still offer a competitive, com-prehensive insurance and risk management program for your golf course business. To learn more contact Jane Radford at 888.263.4656, x1850 – or [email protected].


Investors’ transaction drivers & expectationsThe 2013 edition of the Society

of Golf Appraisers’ Annual Inves-tor Survey reveals, among other pertinent information, how inves-tors are valuing golf courses. The Society of Golf Appraisers (SGA) is a nonprofit organization (www.golfappraisers.org) that is dedicated to advancing and continuously im-proving the profession of advis-ing, consulting, and valuing golf related businesses and assets while serving the interests of its members.

THE SGA INVESTORS TOURThe 2013 SGA Survey reveals

that current or “going in” Cap Rates range from 6% to 14.5%, and average 11.1%, reflecting a rela-tively flat trend since 2010. The average terminal or residual Cap Rate was 11.8%, similar to what was found in 2011. The results indicate that most investors still focus returns on recent histori-cal financial performance rather than on “Proforma” or potential performance. However, investors in clubs that are considered to be reposition opportunities vis-à-vis management and/or significant capital improvements tend to fo-cus on the returns they expect af-ter the facility is improved.

The 2013 SGA Survey reports the average Net Income Multiplier (the inverse of the Cap Rate) at 8.1, comparable to the 2011 average of 7.9. This multiple is generally ap-plied to what is referred to as the “going concern” net income of the facility (typically net of manage-ment fee and reserves, but it can vary based on the specific trans-action). However, some investors and market participants defined net income or net earnings differ-ently. In some cases net income may simulate EBITDA (earnings

before income tax, depreciation and amortization) prior to a de-duction for a management fee and/or a capital allowance/reserve. As

many clubs struggle to improve operat-ing margins to long term norms, buy-ers and sellers give varying credence to the Gross Income

Multiple (GIM), the ratio of price or value to a clubs gross income (actual or proforma).

The 2013 SGA Survey indicates an average Gross Income Mul-tiple (GIM) of 1.5x gross income. According to interviews with in-dustry participants, the GIM has added relevance for clubs expe-riencing persistently declining revenues and/or weak or nega-tive margins. From a discounted cash flow perspective, the sur-vey reveals an average discount rate (DR) of 14.6%, generally un-changed since 2010, and a range of 9.5% to 22.0%, which reflects the varying types of clubs, opera-tions, investor thresholds, capi-tal improvements, etc. Projected

annual income growth ranged from 1.0% to 4.0%, and averaged 2.3%, a slight increase over re-cent trends. Meanwhile, annual expected expense growth ranged from 2.0% to 4.0%, averaging 3.0%.

To participate or to subscribe to the SGA’s Golf Investors & Lender Sur-vey please go to www.golfappraisers.org and sign up today.

SGA members are qualified prac-titioners who have earned one of the industry’s preeminent profes-

sional designations. Utilizing both analytical and quantitative tech-niques, SGA members take pride in problem solving, providing ac-cess to needed resources, and robust industry knowledge. Our membership offers professional services to owners and operators of existing and proposed golf fa-cilities across the globe.

This article is presented to you by Oetzel-Hartman Group, MGCOA Corporate Member. If you have any questions or want more information, please contact Jim Hartman at 517-336-0001 or [email protected].


Fundraiser for Grayling Golf Team!!!As many of you know the Grayling boys golf team

suffered a great tragedy this spring. To help raise funds for the team and their families the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association will sell all remaining Golden Passbooks ($10,000 worth of golf rounds and extras) for $450 (regularly $550) with $150 from each sale going to support the recovery program.

The MGCOA sends it condolences to the families in Grayling.

Order the 2013Golden Passbookby calling800-860-8575


603 South Washington AvenueSuite 303Lansing, MI 48933(517) 482-4312www.mgcoa.org

Address Service Requested

Tee-Off Times is published by the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association, editor – Kate Moore. MGCOA offices are located at 603 S. Washington, Suite 303, Lansing, MI 48933. Phone (517) 482-4312, Fax (517) 267-8984. Articles written by outside authors do not necessarily reflect the view or position of the MGCOA. MGCOA’s position on key issues will be clearly stated. Manuscripts are accepted at the approval of the editor who reserves the right to reject or edit. Appearance in the Tee-Off Times does not constitute endorsement of the advertiser, its products or services, not does Tee-Off Times make any claims or guarantees as to the accuracy or validity of the advertiser’s offer and reserves the right to reject any advertising deemed unsuitable. Advertising rates and other information available upon request.

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PAIDLANSING, MI

PERMIT NO 1096

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