Courtesy: jameswagner.com

There's a paragraph in a New York Times story today that begins "...the economy [is] facing what now seems to be the sharpest downturn since the 1930s".

And if you read enough business stories, you'll find a growing number of economists who say we are entering a depression.

Depressions are always characterized by deflation at their outset; the prices of things come down, sometimes spiraling down (note the price slashing of new automobiles by the former Big Three, for example) because consumers refuse to part with their cash.

Cash, itself, becomes more valuable since a dollar or whatever unit of currency is used in your country, buys more stuff.

And that's the very reason that debt is the enemy for any person or business during deflationary times.

Whenever the golf industry introduces new equipment or training aids, companies are forced to bear a level of costs to produce those items. Then, the marketing guys go to work creating enticing campaigns to sell the products. In effect, they have to spend money to make money.

That becomes a lot tougher in a depression. Golf companies will either cut way back on new products or focus on new products that are cheaper to produce.

For those companies with shrewd marketing departments, the internet becomes the most valuable and cost-effective tool in the arsenal.

Through the use of what web analytics types call "behavioral targeting", marketers can track the websites you visit and then hit you with a fast pop-up ad in line with what they think you're looking for.

So, for example, if you visit the PGA's online store, golf equipment companies or big box golf stores like Edwin Watts can get wind of that and hit you with ads to buy golf stuff wherever you surf the web. They think you're in the mood to buy and they want to sell you something.

And it costs far less than taking out a full-page ad in Golf Digest or producing a 30 second commercial for The Golf Channel, for example.

Behavioral targeting is behind much of what constitutes web advertising today and it's refining fast into a superb weapon.

Now, I don't know if any golf companies or retailers are tracking visits to eagleparbirdie.com or other golf blogs, for that matter. If they're not, they probably will very soon. You can easily tell by whether or not you see a pop-up golf ad on the next sites you visit after this one.

Email marketing is another cost-effective tool, although not as effective as behavioral targetting. I'm seeing more and more of them in my own inbox from golf equipment producers.

During a depressed economic state such as we are in - and will be in for some time - every cost-effective method to reach golfers' wallets will be used.