By Chengyan Yue and Eric Watkins, University of Minnesota
Winter damage caused by ice, snow and low temperatures can greatly impact golf courses’ economic output and is a major risk in much of the northern U.S., Canada, northern Europe, and other cold climates. But how much do winter injuries cost golf courses in North America, both directly and indirectly? Our research team has conducted a comprehensive study with 96 golf courses in North America to evaluate the costs associated with winter injuries.
The three main sources of costs of winter injuries are the pre-winter costs to prevent winter injuries, additional costs of inputs to recover from winter injuries, and the loss in revenue due to delays in opening the golf courses. To estimate these costs, we asked golf course superintendents to report the average costs and revenue losses from winter injuries for the years when injuries have occurred during their time on the current golf course. On average, the costs of preventing winter injuries amounted to $12,000-$17,799 per year per golf course, while additional costs of inputs to recover from winter injuries reach $6,000-$8,999 per year per golf course. Cost included labor, equipment, fertilizers, seeds and weed control.
We also asked golf course superintendents to report two types of revenue loss due to delayed openings: the average annual revenue loss due to delayed openings caused by winter injuries in normal years, and the revenue loss due to delayed openings in years with considerable winter injuries. The average annual revenue loss in normal years ranged from $3,000 to $5,999, while in years with considerable winter injuries, the loss ranged from $6,000 to $8,999. About 50% of the courses reported no revenue loss due to delayed openings, 26% of the courses reported revenue losses of less than $5,999 and only 3% of the golf courses reported revenue losses exceeding $75,000.
To standardize the costs across golf courses of various sizes, we also present the costs of winter injury per acre (Fig. 1); this was calculated using the self-reported acreage data from the survey. On average, the cost of preventing winter injuries was approximately $200 per acre, with a median of $121 per acre, although some golf courses spent over $3,000 per acre. The additional costs to recover from winter injuries in years with normal winter injuries were about $89 per acre on average. The costs went up to $147 per acre on average in years with considerable winter injuries. Finally, the revenue losses due to delayed openings averaged about $115 per acre in years with normal winter injuries and $159 per acre in years with considerable winter injuries. However, there were a lot of variations in the revenue losses reported, as many courses did not report any revenue loss but some courses reported losses as high as $3,055 per acre.
This loss in revenue due to winter injuries can also have an indirect effect on employees and their salaries. About 92.6% of participants said the effects of turfgrass winter injury did not lead to reductions in the number of employees on their courses for the growing season following the damage. However, for the 7.4% who indicated reductions, on average, about 3 staff positions were eliminated during years with normal winter injuries and 4 staff positions were eliminated during the years with considerable winter injuries. Regarding salary reductions, 9.5% of superintendents reported that the effects of winter injury on budgets have led to reductions in employee salaries. On average, these reductions were 6-10% in years with normal winter injuries and went up to 11-15% in years with considerable winter injuries.
These results have important policy and managerial implications. The estimated economic cost can help the golf course superintendents account for possible risks of winter injury in their annual budget. Given the direct and indirect impacts of winter injuries, there is a need for more industry-led grant programs to research winter injury prevention. As various climate models suggest changes in weather patterns in the coming years, funding for infrastructural investment (e.g., drainage systems and protective covers) will become even more important to maintain the economic and operational viability of golf courses in North America.