Lighted Par 3's Are The Future
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Today At A Glance:
Par 3 golf course search results have grown by 64% since 2019, outpacing traditional growth by nearly double. The rise of interest in Par 3 golf courses will translate to lighted Par 3 golf courses. I chatted with the Grass Clippings team to learn more about the economics of lighted Par 3 golf courses.
Read Time: 6 minutes.
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Hey Golfers —
There are roughly 16,000 golf courses in the United States — representing 41% of the global golf course supply. Of the United States, 16,000 golf courses — around 700 are Par 3 golf courses.
A Google search report highlights that interest in Par 3 golf courses has exploded since 2019.
2019 — 61
2020 — 78
2021 — 94
2022 — 91
2023 — 100
We can benchmark the search term Par 3 Near Me with Golf Course Near Me to provide some overall perspective. The latter still dominates regarding interest — around 10 times more in search volume.
But the growth in search results from Par 3 Near Me is greater. Since 2019 — we have seen a 64% bump in search results. While Golf Course Near Me has seen a 30% increase in search results.
Analyzing Google search results is interesting — it tells us exactly what consumers want and how their interests have trended. There is no hiding from the trends.
The trends in golf have been significant the last five years — and the results for Par 3 golf course interest have been nothing short of spectacular. There is even an online database dedicated to Par 3 Golf Courses.
And a subset of the Par 3 golf course — lighted Par 3 golf course — is starting to gain popularity.
South Korea has proven this concept works. Now — I want to state that it isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. South Korea is a unique golf market — they don’t have ample land to build new golf courses to meet demand. So indoor golf and lighted golf have become increasingly popular to meet demand.
Here are some stats on golf in South Korea.
Lighted golf courses — 117
Total golf courses — 514
Over 20% of golf courses in South Korea offer night golf with lights.
How does that compare to the United States?
Lighted golf courses — 60
Total golf courses — 16,000
Not even 1% of golf courses in the United States offer night golf with lights.
I wanted to better understand the economics behind the lighted Par 3 golf course business — so I chatted with the team at Grass Clippings. Grass Clippings recently opened their lighted Par 3 golf course in the Phoenix area.
Lighted Par 3 golf courses offer intriguing opportunities that an unlighted golf course can’t.
Grass Clippings was initially founded as an apparel company in Phoenix to support greenskeepers. They started hosting a tournament at a Par 3 golf course to build their community. In their second year of hosting the tournament, they said, “We need to build a lighted Par 3.”
As they began their research — they realized there wasn’t an 18-hole lighted golf course in Arizona. They would be the first.
The Grass Clippings team started looking for properties to build on — it was a long and challenging process.
They had to be concerned about light and noise ordinances. But they also wanted to be in the Phoenix Metro area. Too far outside of the city and the business doesn’t work.
Their journey led them to Rolling Hills — an executive 18-hole golf course owned by the city of Tempe. The two sides eventually agreed on a 30-year land lease of the property — a win-win for each party.
Grass Clippings took ownership of the property last summer and immediately began making improvements and transforming it into a lighted golf course.
Grass Clippings, along with Scottsdale-based capital Partner, WestHawk Capital, raised $15 million from investors to make the improvements and hire a team.
Grass Clippings put in 78 lights. The lights alone were $1.2 million, and the labor and materials to put up the lights were another $1 million.
Made changes to one-hole
Added tee boxes on all Par 4s
Added a 15,000 square foot lighted putting green
The golf course has 10 Par 3s and 8 Par 4s. During the day, it plays as a Par 62, and during the night, every hole plays as a Par 3.
Grass Clippings started building their team — and the superintendent from TPC Scottsdale joined them as their Directory of Agronomy. They hired Troon to manage the golf course.
What fascinates me about the opportunities of a lighted Par 3 Golf course is how large the tee sheet is. Grass Clipping’s first tee time is 7:30 am, and their last tee time is 9:50 pm — over 14 hours of tee times. Grass Clippings can increase tee time revenue opportunity by roughly 50%.
And another component of night tee times is avoiding the Phoenix heat in the summer. Which will drive revenue.
Grass Clippings’ 18-hole green fees range from $45 to $87, significantly less than other 18-hole public golf courses in the Phoenix area.
TPC Scottsdale — $299
We-Ko-Pa — $179
Grayhawk — $306
As part of the agreement with the city of Tempe — Grass Clippings agreed to make green fees affordable.
If Grass Clippings were to have a full tee sheet and use an average green fee of $60, their opportunity for total revenue would be $20,000 per day in green fees.
Another significant component of lighted Par 3s is the entertainment aspect. We have seen golf entertainment grow rapidly thanks to Topgolf, Puttshack, Five Iron, and PopStroke. And while not every company may see this — the general rule of thumb is that 50% of revenue will come from Food & Beverage.
Grass Clippings is the definition of golf entertainment. They have an area to hold 5,000 people for concerts, and they plan to build a new clubhouse in the coming months. They plan to be a staple in the Phoenix golf community.
Grass Clippings has plans to build four to five locations in warm climates around the United States.
Golf entertainment has been commercialized in several different areas.
Topgolf — Driving range
PopStroke — Outdoor mini-golf
Puttshack — Indoor mini-golf
Five Iron — Indoor golf
We haven’t seen the commercialization of the Par 3 space. But I believe we will, and we are still early in the cycle.
Last year, I wrote a piece on 8AM’s acquisition of 3s — a lighted par 3 golf course in South Carolina. 8AM has plans to open two new locations in 2024.
Las Vegas
Nashville
Par 3 golf entertainment has the opportunity to add a new element to the game of golf, and will ultimately add new golfers to the game.
Lighted Par 3 golf courses are a fantastic opportunity from a business and golfer standpoint. It very well could be the next big business in golf.
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
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Jared, another great newsletter. You are spot on with this. It's something that golf operators in the UK should also be looking at. Par-3 golf is accessible, affordable and it provides a meaningful gateway to the game in the sense that you play a course and develop the skills required to go on and really enjoy the game. Added to that, Par-3 courses represent a scaled down golf course for juniors, a walkable or playable alternative for senior citizens, and a great way for serious golfers to hone the scoring skills. In other words, it works for everyone. I've written about the potential for this area of the game a fair deal for golf publications in the UK, where we have hundreds of municipal pitch and putt courses that are situated in areas of high population but are invariably unloved, under-funded and going to waste. For more than 20 years, I have worked with friends on creating and running par-3 golf tournaments that lean into the social side of the game. Par-3 or shorter layouts make this possible in a way that full-size courses cannot. You can see and interact with other groups on a smaller, more condensed plot of land, whereas on a normal sized golf course you tee off in your group and tend to see nobody else until the round is done. The economics of lighted par-3 golf add another very compelling layer to the case. I've long advocated for it and would love to see the golf industry and governing bodies exploring this as a lower cost, more accessible alternative for prospective new golfers who want to try the game without feeling intimidated, beaten up or out of pocket from the experience.
Many par-3 courses tend to be nothing more than glorified cow pastures with pins and tee markers. This group has the design and maintenance expertise to do it well.
As Dan notes in his comment, this concept is the logical bridge between Topgolf/Indoor golf and playing on a full-length track, which many beginners find intimidating and cost prohibitive. Great idea.