Golf is for the upper class?

[jdb1911]

With golfnow, greenskeeper, golfzing and many other choices golf is much cheaper now than when I started playing just 6 years ago. When I first started playing you had to wake up at 6 am to call and book your earlier morning tee time. It's crazy how much less I spend now compared to just recent history.

[Spitfisher]

No way $35,000 is upper class.  Not even close.  Just tonight on the local news they had a piece and any one under $25,000 is considered "poor".  There is no way that there is only a $10,000 difference between poor and upper class.   $35,000 would barely make it into the bottom third of the middle class, and even then it would depend on location and family size.  Add 4 or 5 kids and they could still be impoverished.

You can't just throw around a few unqualified numbers and say that "this or that" puts a person or family in a given class.  Where I am right now in Fleming Colorado $35,000 would be a decent living.   My wife and I are buying a 12 year old, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home, with 2 car oversize garage plus an adjacent second lot for under $150,000.  In Denver the same home would be at least $250,000, and the second lot would be close to another $100,000.

You lost me on the first sentence????? who said that it was 35K- 40K is middle class according to census and the IRS, look it up. Some of you may feel like 75K-100K is barely making ends meet. Quite possibly where you live, what you won and what you aspire it is, No disagreement from me. As I said before upper class is not pure Money, its assets, opportunity, knowledge and intelligence.

Good luck with your house purchase, sounds great.

[newtogolf]

Here are income levels, based on this, middle class income is $51,000, so by strict definition upper class would be anyone in the 51% percentile or higher but in reality there's a wider range.

[PeterKratsios]

The fact that this is even a debate shows why golf needs to change it's image.  There has always been the perception that golf is an elitist sport, which worked for a while, but now that participation is declining the image clearly needs to change.

Organizations like The First Tee are doing a great job at introducing all demographics to the sport and focusing on the next generation of golfers to come.

My biggest fear is that the price of maintaining a course continues to increase, so in order for the industry to stay profitable, the price of each rounds will undoubtedly continue to increase.

[ghalfaire]

My biggest fear is that the price of maintaining a course continues to increase, so in order for the industry to stay profitable, the price of each rounds will undoubtedly continue to increase.

I agree with this.  I played a course yesterday that is a great traditional track, but being a muni just doesn't have the $$ to maintain it properly.  As a result the city (Phoenix) is looking for ways to enhance the budget for the city courses.  Some of these ideas are to turn the course maintenance and in some cases management over to a third party.  Doesn't sound good for keeping lower green fees.  The city courses are the about the only affordable courses in the Jan-March time frame if you play more than once a week.

[newtogolf]

The fact that this is even a debate shows why golf needs to change it's image.  There has always been the perception that golf is an elitist sport, which worked for a while, but now that participation is declining the image clearly needs to change.

Organizations like The First Tee are doing a great job at introducing all demographics to the sport and focusing on the next generation of golfers to come.

My biggest fear is that the price of maintaining a course continues to increase, so in order for the industry to stay profitable, the price of each rounds will undoubtedly continue to increase.

Courses have to look at cost cutting measures.  I read a great article about the additional cost of maintenance longer courses have.  The article goes on to say that less than10% of people that play the back tees on muni courses should be and that they would all be better served if they shortened the course back up if there weren't any plans to host pro level tournaments.

Shortening the courses would improve pace of play, reduce maintenance and watering costs.  I think the real key is for some is to take a hard look at who's playing their course and reduce the costs if that makes sense for them.