GULFPORT, Miss. -- The hard winter in the north has golfers longing for the greens of South Mississippi.
Bookings for golf vacations through May are 12 percent ahead of last year, said Kevin Drum, director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Golf Association, and golfers from as far away as Europe are making reservations.
"It means that some courses are up 30 percent, some are flat, but the destination itself is up 12 percent," Drum said.
He thinks the extreme winter weather in the north has been the biggest factor in the increase.
The snowbirds at Preserve Golf Club near Vancleave this week didn't mind the brisk morning air. Dan Phillips, director of golf at Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville, Ill., said for about 12 years a group from that course has come to the Gulf Coast for winter golf.
"It's a heck of a lot warmer (on the coast)," he said. "We don't see snow on the ground so we're happy."
March is the busiest month of the year at the coast courses. While the snow is still melting up north, golfers are playing in short-sleeve weather in South Mississippi. Drum said April is also a good month, and the snowbird season wraps up in May. Then more local and regional golfers are playing the courses.
"The quality of courses in this area is outstanding," Phillips said.
His group golfed Grand Bear for the first time and returned to The Preserve.
Greg Kerley said he and his co-workers at United Parcel Service in southern Indiana played the coast last year and started talking about their return trip five months ago.
"We could have gone to Orlando, Vegas," he said, but something intangible brought them back.
The rates are very favorable on the coast, he said. It's a 10-hour drive they can do in a day and there is entertainment at the casinos. But he said the biggest draw is the people and the way they are treated and appreciated in the pro shop and on the courses.
"We're really happy you guys came down," a Pass Christian man who wasn't a course employee told them.
"And he meant it," said Kerley. "That's why we come here. It just fits."
Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it's been more of a challenge to get the snowbirds back on course.
Wes and Connie Burgess of Rantoul, Ill., said they stayed away from South Mississippi three years after Katrina and returned for the first time last year.
"We can sure tell the difference," she said, with fewer players on the course.
"We're still not at pre-Katrina numbers," Drum said, but the increase in bookings may mean the storm is finally behind us, he said.
On the Golf Coast Web site, golfers can book tee times and get quotes for golf packages, and Drum said the casinos and hotels are scurrying to keep up with all the inquiries.
The "Golf Coast" of Mississippi is being heavily marketed at 16 golf shows this year.
Drum and other tourism representatives from South Mississippi have already been to golf shows at Louisville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia. This weekend's show is in Chicago and in March they'll be at Milwaukee, Detroit and Pittsburgh, areas still knee-deep in winter weather.
"We think golf's not just a game, it's an economic engine," Drum said.
The golf courses were among the first businesses to reopen after the storm, and Drum said maybe now they are the quickest to come back after the recession.
------
On the Net:
Golf Coast, http://www.golfcoast.com/golfing
Comments