Is Golf Dying in the USA?

I posted this in another thread, but thought it was a discussion all its own.

This article has some real numbers for what is going on with golf in the US: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid;=138254

Since the year 2000:

People that play 25 times a year - from 6.9 million down to 4.6 million.
People that play 8 or more times a year - 17.7 milllion down to 16 million
People that play golf at all - 30 million down to 26 million.

Anyone care to speculate as to why golf is on the decline in the USA and what can be done to reverse the trend?

Should we reverse the trend? Is there some benefit from having fewer people playing golf?

well i mean, other than golf sales around the US, it doesn't really matter. I geuss if people just don't want to play, your not gonna make em' play

Dying? No. Regressing as far as population goes? Yeah. I think it's gotten a bit expensive for a lot of people, honestly. With the economy and stuff nowadays. I mean, seriously, their is a real nice course up near me, it's called Architects, someone on the sand trap actually wrote a review about it...awesome course, but it's 135 dollars per round on the weekend. A little ridiculous.

I also heard a stat that the game is fading because young people (in their 20's) are becoming more busy, and don't have time to join country clubs and play golf a lot.

The decline of the economy is definitely a major factor. Hell there's a public course near me that just jacked up its rates to 50+$ for 18 and a cart, and its not even that good of a course (Chick Evans). When park district courses are that pricey, it really discourages novices from coming out.

Bite your tongue.

I do not want to think about golf being done less and less. I do not want to hear that.

More than likely. GAS PRICES. They are taking a chunk of money and people do not have as much to play golf now. That is the major thing.

More Americans Are Giving Up Golf - NY Times

Published: February 21, 2008
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — The men gathered in a new golf clubhouse here a couple of weeks ago circled the problem from every angle, like caddies lining up a shot out of the rough.

“We have to change our mentality,” said Richard Rocchio, a public relations consultant.

“The problem is time,” offered Walter Hurney, a real estate developer. “There just isn’t enough time. Men won’t spend a whole day away from their family anymore.”

William A. Gatz, owner of the Long Island National Golf Club in Riverhead, said the problem was fundamental economics: too much supply, not enough demand.

The problem was not a game of golf. It was the game of golf itself.

Over the past decade, the leisure activity most closely associated with corporate success in America has been in a kind of recession.

The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third.

The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The five men who met here at the Wind Watch Golf Club a couple of weeks ago, golf aficionados all, wondered out loud about the reasons. Was it the economy? Changing family dynamics? A glut of golf courses? A surfeit of etiquette rules — like not letting people use their cellphones for the four hours it typically takes to play a round of 18 holes?

Or was it just the four hours?

Here on Long Island, where there are more than 100 private courses, golf course owners have tried various strategies: coupons and trial memberships, aggressive marketing for corporate and charity tournaments, and even some forays into the wedding business.

Over coffee with a representative of the National Golf Course Owners Association, the owners of four golf courses discussed forming an owners’ cooperative to market golf on Long Island and, perhaps, to purchase staples like golf carts and fertilizer more cheaply.

They strategized about marketing to women, who make up about 25 percent of golfers nationally; recruiting young players with a high school tournament; attracting families with special rates; realigning courses to 6-hole rounds, instead of 9 or 18; and seeking tax breaks, on the premise that golf courses, even private ones, provide publicly beneficial open space.

“When the ship is sinking, it’s time to get creative,” said Mr. Hurney, a principal owner of the Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River, which last summer erected a 4,000-square-foot tent for social events, including weddings, christenings and communions.

The disappearance of golfers over the past several years is part of a broader decline in outdoor activities — including tennis, swimming, hiking, biking and downhill skiing — according to a number of academic and recreation industry studies.

A 2006 study by the United States Tennis Association, which has battled the trend somewhat successfully with a forceful campaign to recruit young players, found that punishing hurricane seasons factored into the decline of play in the South, while the soaring popularity of electronic games and newer sports like skateboarding was diminishing the number of new tennis players everywhere.

Rodney B. Warnick, a professor of recreation studies and tourism at the University of Massachusetts, said that the aging population of the United States was probably a part of the problem, too, and that “there is a younger generation that is just not as active.”

But golf, a sport of long-term investors — both those who buy the expensive equipment and those who build the princely estates on which it is played — has always seemed to exist in a world above the fray of shifting demographics. Not anymore.

Jim Kass, the research director of the National Golf Foundation, an industry group, said the gradual but prolonged slump in golf has defied the adage, “Once a golfer, always a golfer.” About three million golfers quit playing each year, and slightly fewer than that have been picking it up. A two-year campaign by the foundation to bring new players into the game, he said, “hasn’t shown much in the way of results.”

“The man in the street will tell you that golf is booming because he sees Tiger Woods on TV,” Mr. Kass said. “But we track the reality. The reality is, while we haven’t exactly tanked, the numbers have been disappointing for some time.”

Surveys sponsored by the foundation have asked players what keeps them away. “The answer is usually economic,” Mr. Kass said. “No time. Two jobs. Real wages not going up. Pensions going away. Corporate cutbacks in country club memberships — all that doom and gloom stuff.”

In many parts of the country, high expectations for a golf bonanza paralleling baby boomer retirements led to what is now considered a vast overbuilding of golf courses.

Between 1990 and 2003, developers built more than 3,000 new golf courses in the United States, bringing the total to about 16,000. Several hundred have closed in the last few years, most of them in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and South Carolina, according to the foundation.

(Scores more courses are listed for sale on the Web site of the National Golf Course Owners Association, which lists, for example, a North Carolina property described as “two 18-hole championship courses, great mountain locations, profitable, $1.5 million revenues, Bermuda fairways, bent grass, nice clubhouses, one at $5.5 million, other at $2.5 million — possible some owner financing.”)

At the meeting here, there was a consensus that changing family dynamics have had a profound effect on the sport.

“Years ago, men thought nothing of spending the whole day playing golf — maybe Saturday and Sunday both,” said Mr. Rocchio, the public relations consultant, who is also the New York regional director of the National Golf Course Owners Association. “Today, he is driving his kids to their soccer games. Maybe he’s playing a round early in the morning. But he has to get back home in time for lunch.”

Mr. Hurney, the real estate developer, chimed in, “Which is why if we don’t repackage our facilities to a more family orientation, we’re dead.”

To help keep the Great Rock Golf Club afloat, owners erected their large climate-controlled tent near the 18th green last summer. It sat next to the restaurant, Blackwell’s, already operating there. By most accounts, it has been a boon to the club — though perhaps not a hole in one.

Residents of the surrounding neighborhood have complained about party noise, and last year more than 40 signed a petition asking the town of Riverhead to intervene. Town officials are reviewing whether the tent meets local zoning regulations, but have not issued any noise summonses. Mr. Hurney told them he had purchased a decibel meter and would try to hire quieter entertainment.

One neighbor, Dominique Mendez, whose home is about 600 feet from the 18th hole, said, “We bought our house here because we wanted to live in a quiet place, and we thought a golf course would be nice to see from the window. Instead, people have to turn up their air conditioners or wear earplugs at night because of the music thumping.”

During weddings, she said: “you can hear the D.J., ‘We’re gonna do the garter!’ It’s a little much.”

I grew up in west-central Illinois, where many public courses near my hometown offered greens fees of less than $20. I now live in the suburbs of Atlanta, and even the executive courses and munis have base rates of over $30. Granted, there are more golfers in Atlanta than in the whole of downstate Illinois, but hearing a public course with $45 greens fees be referred to as a value is still a shock to me. The only saving grace for me is the fact that some courses offer heavily discounted rates for college students. Let's see what happens next year, when I'm out of school.

In my opinion, a decline isn't about people not having time or having other options. It's simply a matter of dollars and cents. Like a lot of things in this country right now, golf is pricing out the middle class.

Cost. That's probably the number one reason. I didn't play golf from the end of 2002 until this Spring. One of the courses I went to quite often went from $30 to $48 with cart on the weekends. That's a 60% increase. Although, maybe the cost is going up because the number of golfers is down? I do know that most of my golf for the foreseeable future is going to be during the week (I'll just have to take off at lunchtime and make up a few hours the rest of the week) because after 2:00 is $33 during the week. Less crowded than a weekend too. Also it gives me the weekends to spend with my wife (who just happened to start golfing this year!)

I don't know if the people in their 20s are "more busy," I played plenty of golf in my 20s and I don't think as a group, they are any busier now than I was then. Golf just costs more now and people in the 20s (generally) are nowhere near their maximum earning potential yet.

Dying? I don't think so. Rounds dropping? Definitely. Several times this summer I have gotten onto courses during a midday Saturday that in years past I would avoid on summertime weekends because of the difficulty of a single getting on. It's also possible some of the golfers are flocking to the new shiny courses but I don't believe that is enough to offset the ease of which I have been able to get walk in tee times lately.

great thread by the way

this coming from a personal stand point.

I used to Golf regulary, always on a weekend day with buddies and once during the week with my Uncle, but when my Wife and started our family 5 yrs ago I gave it up, until last season I hadn't picked up or touched a club in 4years, and you know the reason?

Money....simply put....people who have small children can understand this, diapers and fomula are very expensive and do that twice in a 4 yr span and you can guess the outcome (even more so when your living on 1 salary).....granted my Wife staying home was our decision but also a decision I don't regret, Golf was just too expensive for me to play.........but now that the fomula and diapers are history the money we save from that is what I play Golf with and (granted I've gotten 2 raises at work since then as well).....from Officer to Detective....

my point of my rant is this.....Money is the biggest reason why Golf seems to be on the decline in the USA, add to that we don't know how to spend our money wisely either in the US imho

My dad an I have had this discussion before. 10 years ago at his course (semi-private) it was always crowded, tournaments were full and memberships were up. Just last year you could get on at any time you wanted, they cancelled some tournaments, and membership was down.

Golf shot up in the mid 90's and now it is showing decline. Watching some of the people who played at his course we figured out the main reason. We call it the Tiger boom. Everyone saw this likeable guy with the great story on TV who was young and was winning everything. Suddenly golf seemed less elite and people began to take interest; it was the cool thing to do. Courses went up everywhere, equipment was getting better for the beginner, and golfers started wearing red on Sunday. After a few years of beating the ball around and realizing that they weren't any good, and had no real desire to get better, they quit playing. Just like any sport, the pros make it look so easy. These beginners wanted to hit 300 yard drives and stick a wedge to 4 feet. After a few years they figured out they couldn't do it, so they just gave up. I saw it happen with three friends who don't even play anymore.

I am sure there are other factors; money, family, work, available time, etc. But I have always thought that not as many people play anymore because it is a very hard game to learn and even harder to become good, and many people pick up a club thinking they could be Tiger Woods. The reality is, it is harder than they thought.

In answer to the question, I don't think golf is dying, I just think that many people who originally had little interest aren't playing anymore. Golf went up, then it came back down to where it probably should have been. We'll see if in another 5 years or so it is increasing or still declining. I would guess that we have hit the low point, which is where it should have been, but now there will probably be slight increases in the coming years.

Money and time. The local muni near me charges 57 bucks to play on the weekend. It's an OK course, but no way it's worth that much. And these days I mostly play 9 holes. I'd feel guilty leaving my wife with two small kids for 5 or 6 hours.

is that Enterprise? I know it's in Landover and I think Landover is close to Bethseda......

If it means courses will be less crowded and play will be faster then I'm all for some regression in the game of golf.

No, it's Falls Road Golf Course in Potomac. The problem with Bethesda is that there are no public courses, only very exclusive country clubs (Congressional, anyone?).

Enterprise is farther away, over in Prince Georges County. I've played it a couple times. Good course, and a better bargain than Falls Road.

Id say the economy has a large part to do with it. People arent certain if they are going to have a job in the future, so they are tightening their belts and not spending money on stuff they dont need.
The price of everything has gone up considerably to compensate for the fuel prices, so that leaves people with less money for fun stuff.

IT TAKES TOO LONG TO PLAY GOLF!!

5-hour rounds are turning people away from the game.

No one says you have to play 18 holes. It never takes me longer than 2 hours to play nine holes.