Why do golf courses allow XC?

exposing young white males from households making $100k+ to golf and golf courses will make them MILLIONS!

roi is through the roof

Good question. In some cases, a golf course is owned by a college (e.g., Stanford) or a city/municipality, so a meet organizer with a connection (college coach, coach at a city/district HS) can request permission.

better question is why is running on manicured golf grass considered "cross country"

GolfPro wrote:

Where is the win for a golf course to allow XC races? On a wet day, the course is going to suffer some damage... Is there a direct financial incentive? The promotional aspect doesn't seem to be that attractive for the course.

Want to approach some courses about holding a race,and want to be better prepared to field this potential objection

Good luck!

Many of them charge a fee for using the course, that's what's in it for them.

Keep in mind that golf participation is declining and most courses are underutilized, but their fixed costs stay the same for the most part. They need revenue. That is why you see them pushing things like footgolf.

So if an invitational can keep people off the greens and tee boxes, and provide some revenue to the course, that's a win-win.

Unlikely they will let you use the course for free, but if you are able to swing it please report back.

Bad Wigins wrote:

better question is why is running on manicured golf grass considered "cross country"

+1

We had our state championship on a local golf course and the guy who runs the club house told me he made more money that day than if you combined the rest of the year together (and they allow XC Skiing in the winter).

Have an invite- they make money.

Have a dual meet- it's goodwill.

Not Cool Bro wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

better question is why is running on manicured golf grass considered "cross country"

+1

Exactly! Simply ridiculous... They can rename it to "XC for wieners."

What state?

Most XC courses are designed to only use the parts of the golf course that aren't really used by golfers anyway, so the wear isn't that big an issue. Golfers are driving the ball hundreds of yards off the tee, which leaves a ton of space between the tee and the hole where golf balls don't land with any regularity. XC courses take advantage of this, and use that dead space.

GolfPro wrote:

Why do golf courses allow XC?

$

What is changing is that more and more golf courses are going broke.

For the moment the sport of golf is down in popularity because the baby boomers, just on the cusp of retiring, haven't yet, they work too long and spend what time they do have with their families and not playing golf..

This will change...Colin Cowherd has talked about it a lot.

But, with all these golf courses going broke, Universities are buying them up..

Some may allow their cross country teams to run on them.

I prefer courses made for XC like Bird-Gibson.

GolfPro wrote:

Where is the win for a golf course to allow XC races? On a wet day, the course is going to suffer some damage... Is there a direct financial incentive? The promotional aspect doesn't seem to be that attractive for the course.

Want to approach some courses about holding a race,and want to be better prepared to field this potential objection

We are talking about 2 different types of course, 1. are university or public courses 2. are private courses.

The first type is obvious.

Private courses may allow you on because:

1. Its late in the season, and play is down, so there is availability. Typically Friday night is the best, mornings and weekends are busy for golf courses.

2. They have the option to open the 19th hole bar and sell concessions.

3. Its good publicity. Getting a lot of people to watch the race over a short period of time, gets a lot of people to see the course and have awareness of the club.

4. You could exchange for advertising, or as part of a larger athletic department sponsorship package. Could be part of the agreement with the golf team or athletic department golf-outing fundraiser.

Bad Wigins wrote:

better question is why is running on manicured golf grass considered "cross country"

Because come October and November, you can't get a muddier surface than that of your local golf course.

A better question is why don't golf courses sell running passes? For the first or last 2-3 hours of a day, let people run but charge them all a fee. They'd prob make a ton of money. It takes about 30 mins to run the cart path on the average golf course, but 4-8 times as long for a game of golf. In addition, golfers can't proceed to the next hole until the ones ahead of them are done, limiting the # of people on the course.

Anlumave wrote:

Not Cool Bro wrote:

+1

Exactly! Simply ridiculous... They can rename it to "XC for wieners."

Agreed. Most golf courses won't even allow the races to throw colored powder on the runners. To me, that's what makes the XC experience.

The funny truth of this is that if they simply mowed a 3' wide path around the entire perimeter of the golf course for runners to use at their own risk daily I would probably join the club at its full fee cost.

Shoebacca wrote:

The funny truth of this is that if they simply mowed a 3' wide path around the entire perimeter of the golf course for runners to use at their own risk daily I would probably join the club at its full fee cost.

same here. It would be so convenient to have a place to run uninterrupted by cars right outside my neighborhood. The fact is most people don't live all that near a trail system, or even a trail. If they do, its some linear bike path or rail trail that gets old real quick. But most ppl, especially in the suburbs probably have a golf course within 2 miles of their house.

Around my area the gold courses are too fancy to be used for cross country. However in upstate NY they are certainly looking to make some money on account of lesser attendance and lesser fees in poorer areas and as such most meets upstate are held on golf courses. This is unfortunate for the downstate kids: high school courses are often unnatural and unenjoyable, or at least not as enjoyable as the ones on gold courses and state parks.