Troubled Present. Brighter Future?

Filed in archive Golf Wanderings on April 30, 2007

Courtesy: Play Golf America

The game of recreational golf is in trouble in North America.

And there are a number of reasons to make that statement.

First of all, the number of recreational rounds being played is down. Why? Depends on who you talk to. But here are a few reasons being offered.

Golf takes too long to play; four to five hours in anyone's day is a lot to ask our busy lifestyles.

A round of golf has become too expensive. Even many average courses are asking $15 to $20 more than they are worth (maintenance costs and taxes rise; the greens fees rise accordingly).

Golf memberships continue to increase in price - for many of the same reasons that force up the price of pay-as-you-play tracks.

People who live in the downtown cores of large cities have to drive for an hour or more through congested city streets to reach the nearest course.

But the biggest threat to the game is demographics. Sure, the baby boomers make up nearly 60 percent of the North American population at the moment and that number will rise in the next five to 10 years.

And sure the boomers are retiring with their fat retirement savings plans underwriting comfortable retirements.

But, and it's a big "but", they are retiring to communities built around new courses, leaving the existing courses in their old neighborhoods struggling.

That struggle is exacerbated by the fact that kids are not taking up the game fast enough to pick up the slack.

Marketers and ad agencies will talk your ear off all day about how kids don't listen to radio or watch TV the way we did when we were young and how that makes it difficult to sell them stuff.

Well, kids also don't want to learn golf, either, when there's so much to do on the internet.

If their parents don't play, then there's no chance of making a kid into a golfer.

So, okay, these are some of the challenges facing the game. What are some possible solutions?

Public courses that are in fairly reasonable proximity to each other need to form co-operatives and offer their clients (us) package deals much like private clubs have done in major cities in North America.

They need to get aggressive. Zero percent financing has been a savior in the North American auto industry for years (an enormous cash drain but it moves cars).

Private clubs must continue to form the same kind of alliances and find more ways of providing desirable value-added elements to their rising memberships. Perhaps travel deals, car rental deals, high-end hotel deals. And they must articulate these benefits clearly to potential members.

The days when "you build it and they will come" are over in recreational golf. Even PGA events on TV don't push rounds-played higher or bring new golfers into the game.

Programs like Play Golf and First Tee are critical to getting the message out to kids.

But even more needs to occur. Should we shorten course to 12 holes instead of 18 and reduce the time factor? Way back in the history of the game, 12 holes was the standard - that left plenty of time to milk the cows and feed the chickens. Or harass the tenant farmers with more levies.

Greater minds than mine are tackling the problem. But there is no clear consensus.

What would you do to grow the game? Leave your comments and I'll post them in a follow-up to this story.