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The Economist graces us with a piece on the future of golf: The future of golf - Handicapped


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Though thriving in parts of Asia, golf is struggling in America and much of Europe, and is trying to reinvent itself for a generation brought up on the quick hits of video games

Dec 20th 2014 | WEST MONROE, LOUISIANA | From the print edition

Quote:

On weekends Mr Owens’s 12-year-old course once swelled with golfers, but that ended when the economy sliced into the rough in 2008. He offers prices “affordable for rednecks”, but bargains are not enough to bring back customers. “I sometimes believe that I could give golf away, and they still wouldn’t come,” he says. At the end of December he will close the course, and it will become a public park.


What is happening in West Monroe is not unusual. In America, the heartland of golf, the game is in decline.

...
Others have their eye on another recruitment tool. In 2016 golf will re-enter the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 112 years, which will raise its profile internationally. People who have never watched golf on television will be exposed to it for the first time. Leaders of America’s golf establishment hope the Olympics will persuade new players in Latin America and Asia to try the sport that swept their own country over a century ago. Some undoubtedly will. But the odds of Americans flooding back to the sport are about as long as those on a small, white, indented ball flying down from tee to hole in a single stroke.

http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636688-though-thriving-parts-asia-golf-struggling-america-and-much-europe

I'd check this piece a couple of days later for the comments. Always interesting comments in The Economist.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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Very good article describing the problems of golf today.  I don't think we'll be getting back to the hey days of the Tiger years.  Companies and courses are just going to have to adjust to lower levels of participation.

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There is much I agree with in the article, but some key points where I disagree:

The notion that golf has become too expensive is primarily true in the case of certain private clubs or resort courses (i.e. Pebble Beach),   Most courses today offer some great deals and from my observation are no more expensive (relatively speaking) than 15 years ago.   The problem is due to a sour economy for the last 6-7 years when real income has decreased and even at bargain prices fewer people want to spend their smaller amount of discretionary income on a round of golf.

Another point that only exclusive schools have golf teams is not true in my home state of NJ.  Many high schools in moderate income areas field good golf teams and are able to find courses to host their tournaments.  Of course this is not true in poverty stricken districts just as it was 15 years ago.

Even with the construction of some crazy long courses over the last 20 years, there are still multiple tees to choose from

while the John Daily's and Tigers can still play from the tips. In the 23 years that I have played, I believe that the advances in clubs and golf balls have made the game less difficult to play than at any time in the past.  I started with a hand me down set persimmon woods and blade irons at age 40 and hole of 400 yards was near impossible for me to reach in regulation.  Today with a 460cc Titanium driver and #2 hybrid this 63 year old 18 handicap can be "in the vicinty" of the green for holes as long as 440 yards with 2 good swings (of course I do not always make 2 good swings, but when I do..).  The game itself has never been easy, and I doubt it ever will be.

Also, the demands on parents taking their children to soccer, baseball, softball, ballet, or any other activity is no greater than it was 15 years ago.   It was not easy 15 years ago for one spouse to take 5-6 hours on a weekend to play golf, just as it is today (I lived it).

In my State courses like Baltusrol, Pine Valley, Plainfield, and others were always the domain of the wealthy and connected, just as they were 15 years ago and are today.  But there is a tremendous amount of great golf to be played for between $35 and $75 in one of the most expensive areas in the country.  The root cause for fewer golfers is not the cost of golf, the difficulty of the game, parental duties, or lack of public access courses, but is the reduced real income many have experienced since 2008.

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There is much I agree with in the article, but some key points where I disagree:

The notion that golf has become too expensive is primarily true in the case of certain private clubs or resort courses (i.e. Pebble Beach),   Most courses today offer some great deals and from my observation are no more expensive (relatively speaking) than 15 years ago.   The problem is due to a sour economy for the last 6-7 years when real income has decreased and even at bargain prices fewer people want to spend their smaller amount of discretionary income on a round of golf.

Another point that only exclusive schools have golf teams is not true in my home state of NJ.  Many high schools in moderate income areas field good golf teams and are able to find courses to host their tournaments.  Of course this is not true in poverty stricken districts just as it was 15 years ago.

Even with the construction of some crazy long courses over the last 20 years, there are still multiple tees to choose from

while the John Daily's and Tigers can still play from the tips. In the 23 years that I have played, I believe that the advances in clubs and golf balls have made the game less difficult to play than at any time in the past.  I started with a hand me down set persimmon woods and blade irons at age 40 and hole of 400 yards was near impossible for me to reach in regulation.  Today with a 460cc Titanium driver and #2 hybrid this 63 year old 18 handicap can be "in the vicinty" of the green for holes as long as 440 yards with 2 good swings (of course I do not always make 2 good swings, but when I do..).  The game itself has never been easy, and I doubt it ever will be.

Also, the demands on parents taking their children to soccer, baseball, softball, ballet, or any other activity is no greater than it was 15 years ago.   It was not easy 15 years ago for one spouse to take 5-6 hours on a weekend to play golf, just as it is today (I lived it).

In my State courses like Baltusrol, Pine Valley, Plainfield, and others were always the domain of the wealthy and connected, just as they were 15 years ago and are today.  But there is a tremendous amount of great golf to be played for between $35 and $75 in one of the most expensive areas in the country.  The root cause for fewer golfers is not the cost of golf, the difficulty of the game, parental duties, or lack of public access courses, but is the reduced real income many have experienced since 2008.

Well said and agree 100%. Here in Ohio I can play a round for under $30 at a variety of courses that are well-maintained. Used clubs are cheap on EBay.

Real incomes have been dropping since the late 90s, we've been living in a perpetually under-performing economy for the past 6 years. And if you look at Japan's experience since the 80s, it's questionable if that will change anytime soon.

I do think though that options requiring less time would boost the game. Not saying it was easier 15 yrs ago but if you want to counteract the economic issues I think time (both length and variance) is the biggest "problem" with golf right now. With middle-school aged kids I can safely go out for ~3 hrs without catching hell from the wife, but unless I'm one of the first tee times there's just no guarantee of how long a round will take. Could be 3.5, could be 5+ which would be a disaster for me when I got home.

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