Ten ways to change the golf model??

[WUTiger]

...For those of us who have settled in and play regularly, after perhaps a long and expensive learning curve, it's not broken.

One possibility might be to cater golf instruction to the goals of the potential golfer. A more basic swing would be better for someone who wants to break 90 regularly, and 80 on occasion. If you want to play college golf or the PGA tour, more complex swings would be the way to go.

In my case, I used pendulum putting and chipping (straight back, straight forward) for a long time. Last year, I switched to arc putting and chipping because most of the pros seem to use it. When I had a lot of time to play, the arc seemed to produce better. But this year, when play time was hit or miss, I just couldn't keep the arc "tuned up." Recently I found a book by LPGA pro Debbie Steinbach on the pendulum method.... She has some good tips I never knew before. So, I'm going back to pendulum. It's just simpler.

[sean_miller]

One possibility might be to cater golf instruction to the goals of the potential golfer. A more basic swing would be better for someone who wants to break 90 regularly, and 80 on occasion. If you want to play college golf or the PGA tour, more complex swings would be the way to go.

For everyone who say's golf isn't in trouble, you must be living in one of the hot beds of the sport. Personally, I can call our local courses in the summer and get a tee time almost any day of the week. 10-15 years ago you had to book a week in advance or you weren't golfing.

Golf is a relatively expensive individual sport. User fees (or memberships) are many times higher than other activities. There also needs to be an easier way for non-athletic video game and fast food junkies to get involved in golf other than riding their whale a** around in a golf cart which just adds even more cost to the day. There's an epidemic of obesity in North America (a huge problem - no pun intended - for young people in Alberta) and even an almost sedentary activity like golf is too much for some people. Plus, if the recent Ryder Cup outfits are any indication, the establishment is hardly taking the next generation of potential golfer into consideration. It's an old man sport and it's getting older.

[ghalfaire]

Lots of good comments and thoughts in this thread. But I do believe the primary reason golf is having trouble is the same as other businesses; the economy. I do live in a "golf hotbed" and business is down. We depend upon Winter visitors here and they just are not showing up in the same numbers as they used to. Private course in this area are doing the right things I believe with reduced or special memberships, permitting public play, and reducing monthly fees, but many are still near bankruptcy. I doubt changing the rules would help. I play some with my 9 year old grandson and we don't play by the rules in order to keep up and not annoy others. But it would be nice if they let us play the last 6 hole ahead of any tee times so we could play by the rules. Now if we want to do that we play executive courses. The Grandson and I were on the practice tees one day when a LPGA pro walked by and spent a few minutes with the Grandson. She was helpful and patient with him so I bought a few lessons for the kid. Helped him a lot, so I guess Charlie was right on that one.

[newtogolf]

For everyone who say's golf isn't in trouble, you must be living in one of the hot beds of the sport. Personally, I can call our local courses in the summer and get a tee time almost any day of the week. 10-15 years ago you had to book a week in advance or you weren't golfing.

You can replace the word "golf" with "tennis", "skiing", "racquetball" or any other sport or recreation that requires a significant amount of money to participate. As I said in an earlier post, golf isn't broke, the economy is. Watering down the rules, and having better Ryder Cup outfits isn't going to fix it. Many areas in the U.S. where golf is a hotbed is also areas that have been hardest hit by the economy, such as Arizona, Florida and Nevada. No matter how big you make the cup holes if people can barely afford the necessities they aren't going to spend $65 on a round of golf. Video game / fast food junkies won't turn to golf no matter how easy you make it, game is too slow and non-stimulating to hold the attention of these people.

[1par2win]

The recent Golf magazine which had those wacky pictures of Will Ferrer also had comments from the big Golf Club Maker CEO's (Calloway, et al) that said the same thing. Golf is broken because not enough new people are learning the game and buying gear from these CEO's.

+1. This is very well stated.

[jdjanda]

As a father of a Jr golfer (11) by after the 9th hole he'd rather ride. Many courses around here offer little to no discount for Jrs.

[tristanhilton85]

My wife and I are both beginners. We wish we could play faster, but the fact of the matter is we simply take more strokes and have more shots go astray.

...or you could practice more, that'll help eliminate some of those stray shots.

[Topper]

...or you could practice more, that'll help eliminate some of those stray shots.

I could practice more if I chose to....

A) neglect my family because golf is time-consuming or B) neglect my job which would which would make it more difficult to pay for more greens fees and lessons. God bless you if you have all the time you need to master this game. However, I guarantee that I'm not alone with respect to pressures placed on "disposable time" (and money), but I see that most Sandtrap members are relative youngsters who aren't yet in this predicament or maybe just starting families. Anyway, I appreciate the intellectual depth of your response. On a side note, Golf has been on a relative decline in the United States for a decade or more. The 2008/2009 recession only accelerated what was already happening in the U.S. and put a real damper on global expansion of the game.

[B-Con]

The only thing I can think of that could be of use from that article would be if courses offered a set of even yet shorter tees and strongly encouraged 110+ shooters to play those tees. And even then he didn't say that explicitly, he just implied it.

...or you could practice more, that'll help eliminate some of those stray shots.

1) He didn't indicate that he didn't practice. 2) Someone shouldn't be bared from playing just because they're a beginner. 3) Practice doesn't garuentee results. I've seen players who've played for years who still slice OB a couple times a game, never mind other shots.

[sean_miller]

I've seen players who've played for years who still slice OB a couple times a game, never mind other shots.

Maybe not OB, but I hit at least one tee shot every round that results in one of the following: a lost ball, a ball in a hazard, a ball that will be found only by pure luck and coincidence. But I know that the next shot will likely be in play and so will the next one and the next one . . .

Some people only get off a certain tee box when a playing partner finally says - that's enough lost balls, just go drop one on the fairway. At up to $4 a pop, that's an expensive lesson.

[stealthduffer]

Golf is experiencing a number of phenomenon right now - maybe even a "perfect storm". First is the economy - it's down right now and that reduces disposable income. Golf has to be one of the first things to go when expenses need to be cut. It is expensive and wholly elective (as much as we'd like to think otherwise). Second - demographics have changed. Where my father played golf a significant portion of my youth (introducing me to the game as well - Thanks Dad!) I essentially gave up the game when my children were young. I coached soccer for numbers of years as a way of spending time with my daughters. We tried the golf thing but it just didn't stick. I think you find more fathers (and mothers) who work hard and want to spend weekends with the family. Now that my girls are grown I can get back into the game (and other things too). Third is that a lot of locales over built golf courses when demand was high. Now that demand has dropped courses struggle to fill the available slots.

So, instead of changing the rules, adding a 10" hole (WTF?) or offering 3, 6 or 12 hole rounds lets look at some solutions that address the root problems.

1) Expenses - too many courses require (by design) a cart - often doubling the cost of a round. How about creating opportunities for walking? I didn't ride in a golf cart until I was 18 and love to walk when I can. Twilight rates, special rates for juniors, package deals all help to make the cost more bearable.

2) Demographics - How about family day/times? Junior clinics where parents can mentor and help the kids learn? Parent/child leagues.

3) Overbuilding - That's a tough one. A course requires a minimum amount of revenue just to pay the bills - which are significant to be open at all. But the courses that get innovative with their marketing will be the ones that survive and thrive.

[deronsizemore]

Wow! Have a second, larger hole? Did he really just say that?

Plain and simple, golf is struggling because green fees continue to rise, as does everything else at the course, e.g., snacks, soda, beer, range balls, cart fees, etc. These things continue to go up in cost yet the course conditions seem to continually get worse. Or at least around here. I understand that it takes a lot to run a golf course and keep it in playable shape, but if you're operating your typical goat ranch muni and are charging $45+ to play 18 holes with a cart, you're going to lose business. If I'm paying in the $50+ range for golf, I have certain expectations for the course conditions and if those aren't met, I won't be back. I assume most other golfers are the same way.

[B-Con]

1) Expenses - too many courses require (by design) a cart - often doubling the cost of a round. How about creating opportunities for walking? I didn't ride in a golf cart until I was 18 and love to walk when I can. Twilight rates, special rates for juniors, package deals all help to make the cost more bearable.

1) I don't think carts cost that much, they just use carts to justify the fees. I can play at a local course for $20 on a twighlight rate. Since I have a certain membership, I get a free green fee. This moves the cost from $20 to... $17. Yes, the cart fee is about 85% of the fee. Cutting the cart would just make them re-shuffle the fees. They rely on cart fees to bring in money. If they lost that, they would want/need to make it up elsewhere.

2) Carts also help speed up the game. I don't think limiting carts would improve the experience for beginners.

2) Demographics - How about family day/times? Junior clinics where parents can mentor and help the kids learn? Parent/child leagues.

That might work, although I think that pitch-n-putts tend to get that market for most parents with kids under 12. I've thought that most golf courses should also have pitch-n-putts. You can get a pitch-n-putt into the space of about two par-4s. It'd probably be easier to lure in famlies if they didn't have to commit to playing at least 3,200 yards of golf. Also, you could play a quick round of nothing but short game on a day when you didn't have two hours for a 9 holes. I know I'd do it if there were one more conveniently located.

[whatwhatwhat]

Tennis, mountain climbing, skiiing, snowboarding, running, swimming, track, field (shot put, javelin, discus, etc), ad infinitum.

Tennis, really you can play on wimbledon and try and return a nadal backhand......just like the pros do....no, the rest of the "sports" you mentioned are activies nowadays, they are too one dimensional to be considered sports in te modern world. In golf you can play the same shot from the same area in the same course with the same equipment, but you,re point is run 100m in 9.70 seconds and its as close to the experience as you can get......no, that flew over you,re head

[sean_miller]

no, that flew over you,re head

Nice.

Anyway, the next time you can arrange a game at a Augusta National set up like it is during The Masters, give me a call. Of course you're not playing golf at a Major Championship venue set up like it is during the tournament and even if you were lucky enough to play that venue, there's no way in H*** you're in a foursome with Ernie, Davis, and Tiger. Grow the F up.

[pittpanther]

Anyway, the next time you can arrange a game at a Augusta National set up like it is during The Masters, give me a call. Of course you're not playing golf at a Major Championship venue set up like it is during the tournament and even if you were lucky enough to play that venue, there's no way in H*** you're in a foursome with Ernie, Davis, and Tiger. Grow the F up.

A side question - Other than the US Open, do any other tournaments change the setup of the course especially for the tourney? I have been at Viking for the past 4 years - other than the pro tees, Annandale isn't any different than it is the rest of the year.

[WUTiger]

Golf is experiencing a number of phenomenon right now - maybe even a "perfect storm". ..

I think we will see a shakeout (distressed courses shutting down) once the economy improves. Some courses in my area had multiple design flaws, and have trouble with periodic flooding or losing greens even before this year - messed up courses will be subdivided for homes. Courses with sound design and construction will survive because they don't have the financial drain of perpetual rebuilding.

Also, I would hope courses in same neighborhood would coordinate events - males play Saturday AM at course A, families at course B. Then, rotate them next week. I also like the idea of family clinics. Beginners who take only solo lessons feel bad when they're the only one topping every other shot. If a whole bunch of people are missing shots, you build community.

[sean_miller]

A side question - Other than the US Open, do any other tournaments change the setup of the course especially for the tourney? I have been at Viking for the past 4 years - other than the pro tees, Annandale isn't any different than it is the rest of the year.

The post to which I was replying stated unless you're playing against the best of the best (i.e. Rafael Nadal), playing tennis is not the same as game as the one played by the pros. Somehow a round of golf played with random goofballs at XYZ Country Club is the same as a professional tournament. I only introduced the Major Championship caveat as that poster had specifically mentioned playing at Wimbledon.

I'm so dumb I thought cycling and track and field were sports, so I really can't help you.