Steve Garske, president of Par Aide Products, has a bright outlook for the accessory business.

How wonderful it was to sell ball washers and flagsticks in the mid and late 1990s when golf courses were popping up across the country as fast as Wal-Marts. Accessory manufacturers couldn't produce their products fast enough to keep up with the swift clip in which golf courses were opening.

But, as the old song says, "those days are gone my friends." And accessory manufacturers have been forced to change with the times.

"It was awfully nice when 300 to 400 golf courses were opening every year," says John Kelly, president of Cedar Falls, Iowa-based Standard Golf Co. "That made us all look pretty good. But it's a little bit tougher now."

Last year only 124.5 golf courses (in 18-hole equivalents) opened, according to the National Golf Foundation. With 98 closures, the net addition was only 26.5 course openings. Compare that to 2000 when 398.5 golf courses opened.

Standard Golf's Magnum Harvester Ball Picker is billed as a product to save time and money.

Kelly says he expected the downturn, which began shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. It was easy to see, what with the high number of new courses being built in accordance with the low number of new players coming into the game.

Also, with real-estate prices skyrocketing, Kelly wasn't surprised that some owners jumped at the chance to sell their courses to let them be converted into housing developments.

Steve Garske, president of Lino Lakes, Minn.-based Par Aide Products, says he began telling people in the late 1990s that he expected golf course growth to decline significantly by 2000. He wasn't far off. But Garske says Par Aide's business has been steady despite the economic downturn.

"We haven't seen any huge downturns, but we haven't seen any huge increases either," he adds.

But Garske's outlook for the business is brighter than it has been in the last few years.

John Kelly, President | Standard Golf Co.

"This is the first spring in the last five years where I've heard a number of people tell me they were going to buy new equipment," he said in May.

So, what's driving the resurgence? What's new and cool on the golf course accessory circuit? What are the products that manufacturers can't make fast enough?

Shirley Anderson, president of Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Bayco Golf, says recycled plastic products — such as rope, hazard and out-of-bounds stakes — are selling well.

"They're maintenance free, they don't warp, and you don't have to paint them," she says. Bayco's custom accessory business has also been strong, Anderson notes.

"Everybody wants embroidered flags, screen-printed flags and their courses' names printed on their ball washers," she adds.

Anderson believes the custom business boom is because of increased competition among golf courses.

"[Courses] are trying to go the extra mile to make sure their names are up front," she says.

Anderson says her customers are also asking for different-colored accessories to brighten up their courses.

"Before it was just red and green," she says. "Now they want navy blue and gray."