Three essays on the golf industry

This dissertation is a collection of three essays on the golf industry. The first essay examines the market setting of environmental certification on golf courses. A hedonic pricing model shows a substantial price premium for fully certified Audubon International golf courses. The results of a certification decision model reveal that, in addition to many course specific characteristics, political and regulatory forces may influence the decision of some courses to certify. Finally, structural supply and demand curves for golf are estimated simultaneously to determine the influence of certification on these functions. The results show that the increase in marginal benefit as a result of certification is approximately equal to the increase in marginal cost.; The second essay examines the joint production of golf and real estate development. The empirical results of this analysis show that, over time, golf courses are being constructed less for recreational golf and more for contractual assurance of green open space for homes. I believe that this fundamentally provides some evidence that the U.S. has reached the income threshold in an Environmental Kuznets Curve and that the demand for environmental quality is growing.; The final essay is an analysis of pricing differentials in the golf industry. The results indicate that an increase in the amount of competition from rival courses lowers the amount of peak-load pricing. In addition, I find evidence that the phenomenon of common cost recovery plays an important role in this type of pricing. Indicators of course quality, however, have an ambiguous effect on peak-load pricing. I find that extremely high quality courses are less likely to engage in this practice, while other indicators of quality may, in fact, increase the probability of this pricing. Other demographic characteristics such as wage income and measures of tourism are also important determinants of peak-load pricing in golf.