The State Of The Game
We are continually hearing that golf is in a decline and that the industry is doomed. While this may be true to some extent, the game as it is currently being played needs to shift to promote a healthy growth.
It is clear that in today’s society, work-life balance is becoming increasingly difficult. Smart phones mean we always have our emails on hand both after we go home at 5pm and on weekends when we should be spending time with family and friends. Weekends in some industries are virtually non-existent and in other industries employees rarely ever get two consecutive days off. All of this leaves almost no time to undertake any recreational activities let alone recharge the body and mind for another week of working to putting food on the table.
Many clubs are resisting the obvious shift in the game and as a result are losing members. It is my opinion that clubs need to start to embrace a new category of memberships (9-hole, social) and different formats of play to encourage current members to support the club and to also attract new people to the sport.
The closure and amalgamation of golf courses across the globe makes golf appear to be worse off than it really is. During the boom in the 90’s and early 2000’s golf courses were popping up everywhere, there was a strong demand for practice facilities and golf courses and as a result retail was strong for both the green-grass (pro shop) retailer and, as they emerged, the big box stores.
With the lack of participation comes a lack of demand for equipment and as a result many green grass facilities are struggling. For them, competing against the big box stores on price and product availability is all but impossible. For the big box stores, the Internet is making them become more conscious of pricing as well. Add to this that many OEM’s are now also selling direct to the customer and cutting out the retailer (both big box and green-grass) it’s no wonder that margins are getting tighter and smaller stores are closing their doors.
While there are many things that I would like to see change within the industry to help promote participation, it isn’t possible to have any of these take momentum when the majority of the industry is trying to hold onto the boom from 15 – 20 years ago. I feel that many of the younger PGA Professionals across the globe share my views on there needing to be a shift, and over the coming years we will begin to see an upward trend to both the participation and retail support throughout the game.
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the current state of golf and, if you were in charge of promoting a positive change, what would you like to implement. Please leave any comments and questions below.
Happy Golfing!
Glenn Paul
Certified PGA Member
Advanced - Coaching