As a disclaimer going into this month’s topic and opinions, I wouldn’t be described, particularly by my kids, as an AI acolyte. I’ve dabbled in it more out of curiosity than need thus far and have yet to find something that saves me hundreds of hours per year (my unofficial benchmark for utility) or that produces so superior a quality output that I would always use it for that particular purpose. To put it in 1960s-1970s terms, “I’ve smoked AI but never inhaled” (ha, ha). Of more immediate and primary interest to me and colleague Stuart Lindsay, as researchers and analysts, is the question of whether AI will produce faster, more rigorous and accurate answers to the myriad of questions about the performance of the industry, the nuances of geography (golf markets), the golf consumer base etc. This issue we’ll provide an early assessment of that use case for AI covering:
- The sporadic, messy history of accurate, trended data for any of the core measures of industry performance and health
- AI does better based on having more, accurate, consistent data on which to train. Further, AI prefers language/image challenges vs. structured data (our realm)
- What happens if future AI answers are modelled off the present inaccurate outputs? (the non-virtuous cycle or…doom loop)
One of the upsides for Pellucid in the 2nd point above is that we’ve produced 280+ issues of OtR over 24 years, each averaging ~7 pages (that’s 1,960 of pages just like this one for those of you playing along at home) which we haven’t heretofore been able to systematically organize and manage for reference or classify by topic and that is now within our reach. Similarly, in the public domain, we’ve published 2,280 pages of opinions and data via the Pellucid Perspective (this is our 16th year) which is also fodder for the AI cannons which can now enlighten curious minds both within and external to the golf industry. Overall, there will be upsides and downsides for the world of golf analysis and assessment reinforcing once again the adage “Every golf shot makes someone happy.” For our subscribers, read on for the full Monty; for our casual observers, you can join the World of Pellucid and start that journey (with this issue) one of three ways:
- Subscribe to the Pellucid Publications Membership for $495/yr (most comprehensive coverage & detail) – Annual subscribers get access to the following:
- Outside the Ropes monthly digital newsletter (including this issue for starters!)
- Annual State of the Industry report portfolio (PowerPoint presentation, PDF commentary report, access to Jim/Stuart video of presentation)
- Geographic Weather Impact Tracking (US, 45 regions, 61 markets) or Cognilogic for Golf Playable Hours/Capacity Rounds for individual facilities
- National Consumer Franchise Health Scorecard (expanded data and tables underlying this issue’s summary figures)
- Subscribe to OtR, 12 monthly issues for $250/yr. Subscribers also get access to the historical archive of past issues (last two years) via the members-only section of the Pellucid website
- Subscribe to Golf Market Research Center (for operators wanting a combination of insights and action tools) – In addition to an OtR subscription (hence, this issue), you’ll get the State of the Industry presentation along with the full suite of Performance Tracking reports and weather impact services (Cognilogic for historical Golf Playable Hours/Capacity Rds, Foresight for the 60-day forecast for your facility location for Capacity Rds and daily key weather forecast variables)
As always, samples of all our publications, reports and services are available on the Reports and Services pages of the Pellucid website. Thanks for your continued support as an OtR subscriber!
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