Survey: Gas Prices Worry Superintendents

With more than a few large gas tanks to fill every week, three of four superintendents, not surprisingly, have definite concerns about the rising cost of gasoline.

According to a Golfdom online survey of 150 superintendents, 52 percent are worried that the recent price increases will have a major negative impact on their courses. Another 28 percent are also worried, although to a lesser degree.

Sixteen percent said they are beginning to feel concern, although they aren’t really worried. The remaining 4 percent said they weren’t worried at all.

As of April 19, the nationwide average for a gallon of unleaded regular gas was $2.237, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That was down 4.3 cents from a record $2.28 one week earlier, the first time in nine weeks that the price had dropped.

Nonetheless, oil prices could resume their ascent. Goldman Sachs, a major energy market trader, in March predicted oil prices would hit $105 per barrel, driving the cost of gasoline over $3 per gallon.

Meanwhile, diesel prices have mostly mirrored the price of gas, averaging $2.49 per gallon last week compared with $1.84 at this time last year, according to American Automobile Association.

To the contrary, Tom Kloza, a senior analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, told USA Today that the “worst is over for the first half of the year. … It’s hard to believe how many people got sucked into the notion that this was the year of $75 oil and $3 gasoline. Markets tend to peak just when the rhetoric gets excessive, and that held true.”