The scariest number for the golf business is this---According to the National Golf Foundation's most recent participation report, the number of golfers age 6-17 dropped 24% to 2.9 million from 3.8 million between 2005 and 2008.
To stay in business today, a golf course has to be a place for families.
When I was that age, playing golf was reasonably priced and playable for a teenager. When my son was that age, it was fun for both of us to play together, although a bit more challenging and expensive at the country club. Today, my 8-year-old grandson is beginning to play the game with his mother and father but blocking out time for family golf competes with the cost and time commitment required for baseball, football/soccer and basketball team participation.
Want to make an eight-year-old cry? Tee up a ball for him on a 450-yard hole with a green surrounded by bunkers and tell him to hole out before the group waiting to tee off starts complaining to the course superintendent. All the testosterone-induced courses constructed over the past decade just make it worse. Kids need to start on family-friendly facilities where they can be provided with some good old-fashioned self-esteem.
Try finding a decent pitch-and-putt where young kids and their families can hone their skills playing a mini-version of the game that doesn't involve putting through a windmill.
Golf has to accept that today's parents don't have the patience to traverse the local muni with their kids for six hours and get yelled at for slow play, said Joshua Jacobs, chief executive of Total Golf Adventures, which runs after-school programs in 2,200 schools.
"The future of golf not only for kids but for families has got to be short-course facilities, like the nine-hole executive course that wraps around the range, or the pitch-and- putt next to the larger course," he said. "People aren't spending money on the lessons or on private courses with $75 green fees. You have to make golf affordable and accessible and I'm not sure the game is equipped for that yet."
Source: The Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2010
