I've never played much, enjoyed it when I did. There are just so many options these days that people do other things.
Is Golf Fading?
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Golf's popularity is definitely declining, at least among the generations younger than baby boomers. I work in an industry (law) where once upon a time, going out for a round of golf with the partners or with an important client would have been fairly commonplace. I've been practicing law for about six years, and a round of golf has only been mentioned once that I can recall. I've been invited to go hunting with clients and with other attorneys more than I've been asked to play golf. Of course I practice in a relatively rural area in Indiana, so there are more hunters than golfers here.
A course requires such a block of land, and it has to be maintained to amount to anything. Some of the housing developments built around golf courses find a way to get out of the covenants to sell off the courses as lots for houses. I think overbuilding of golf courses has somewhat kept the greens fees down at less exclusive courses. Some of the golf resort areas go through troughs in business when the economy sags, but regularly recover too.
I’m horrible at golf, I tried playing steadily a few summers ago and got a little bit better, but I still can’t hang around a real golf course. Having said that, I’m one of the weirdos that absolutely loves watching it. I could watch PGA and LPGA golf literally all day, every day.
Amateur golf also lends itself well to liquor and cigars, which I very much enjoy! While golf courses are a colossal use of money and resources, I believe the PGA tour surpassed $1,000,000,000 in charitable giving a year or two ago, I like that these tours are keen on giving back and doing things for the community. Not to mention the boat loads of revenue the tournaments bring in for the local economies.
All in all, I think professional golf is steadily on an upward trend. Local/municipal courses might be struggling, though.
Amateur golf also lends itself well to liquor and cigars, which I very much enjoy! While golf courses are a colossal use of money and resources, I believe the PGA tour surpassed $1,000,000,000 in charitable giving a year or two ago, I like that these tours are keen on giving back and doing things for the community. Not to mention the boat loads of revenue the tournaments bring in for the local economies.
All in all, I think professional golf is steadily on an upward trend. Local/municipal courses might be struggling, though.
My grandfather was a semi-pro golfer in the 50-60's, and he and my uncles would all take me to play golf until I graduated high school. I had many fond memories of them pranking each other or me. Balancing their pipes through the swing. Watching my grandfather get mad and destroy clubs against the trees, while my uncles made excuses for him. My Uncle Joe would always drop a ball for me when I couldn't find mine, and fudge my points to show how I had been improving.
College, I played on weekends on the college course. We got to play for free, just paying for carts if we used them. But, mostly my friends and I would take our clubs and buckets of balls up to the roof of the dorms and practice our swing intro the parking lots, with many students wondering why their windshield got cracked or paint got dinged. We were rather thoughtless, but we never got caught.
They offered a PE class in college on business golf, making deals on the course and the art of winning or losing to help seal deals, etiquette and that sort of thing.
The last time I played was about five years ago. 18 holes cost me around $150, so I stopped going. That is just about the cost of taking the family out to eat, which I need to do more than just chasing a white ball around all day.
But, I always see the parking lots at courses packed out. I wouldn't have thought it was in decline at all. I thought that it was just me that was finding the cost a little outrageous... and we have the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail running right through the state with a golf course located at the end of the last course, and so on and so on... so, there are lots of competition, just expensive.
College, I played on weekends on the college course. We got to play for free, just paying for carts if we used them. But, mostly my friends and I would take our clubs and buckets of balls up to the roof of the dorms and practice our swing intro the parking lots, with many students wondering why their windshield got cracked or paint got dinged. We were rather thoughtless, but we never got caught.
They offered a PE class in college on business golf, making deals on the course and the art of winning or losing to help seal deals, etiquette and that sort of thing.
The last time I played was about five years ago. 18 holes cost me around $150, so I stopped going. That is just about the cost of taking the family out to eat, which I need to do more than just chasing a white ball around all day.
But, I always see the parking lots at courses packed out. I wouldn't have thought it was in decline at all. I thought that it was just me that was finding the cost a little outrageous... and we have the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail running right through the state with a golf course located at the end of the last course, and so on and so on... so, there are lots of competition, just expensive.
Golf is dying big time.. young people don't want to spend half to a whole day pissing around. It takes too long... too expensive... too elitist... too much practice needed... etc etc. There will be a day when there aren't enough people to fund public golf courses.
When I was in middle school and high school the courses here were packed all the time.. especially on the weekends.
Now I can drive by the same courses and they barely look open..
you might see a few lone groups out on the course over the whole thing but no one waiting, no big crowds.
the PGA is different because you have tons of people that watch it that don't play... just like any professional sport.
You don't see tons of public football fields where groups of folk play against each other...
soon golf will be the same way besides private courses IMO.
When I was in middle school and high school the courses here were packed all the time.. especially on the weekends.
Now I can drive by the same courses and they barely look open..
you might see a few lone groups out on the course over the whole thing but no one waiting, no big crowds.
the PGA is different because you have tons of people that watch it that don't play... just like any professional sport.
You don't see tons of public football fields where groups of folk play against each other...
soon golf will be the same way besides private courses IMO.
The course a couple blocks from me has a membership fee of $35,000. But, that's only a one time payment for life, so a pretty good bargain... You then have to top it up each year with an additional $4,500, but who's counting anyway? That's like 35 rounds a year at $130. A steal!
My family is also deeply rooted in golf. When I was growing up I had a membership at a club that my grandfather helped build, so I played several days a week and met some interesting people.
It started with my grandfather, who made me a set of clubs from his when I was about 8 by cutting all of the shafts in half.
I did have fun spending a lot of time with my grandfathers on the courses they liked. I can't think of anything else we might have done together, to spend so much time together, so it was good for that.
It's a therapeutic sport, I think, as long as you're not one of those lunatics who thinks they're a pro and playing for a million dollar purse. Very little noise except for the wind in the trees and occasional "ping" of a tee shot. How can that be stressful? Some people are just wound up too tight, if they can't take it easy on a golf course.
One of my brothers went on to become a PGA touring pro, but the rest of us took up hockey and eventually golf dropped out of my life.
The next time my brother visits, I'm going to get him to take me on that $35k course. I am curious to see what $35k buys you. I'm guessing it is underwhelming, but still...
If golf is fading, I expect there's always going to be a place for high end clubs, at a minimum. People love status symbols, and it's tough to top pulling into an exclusive club that costs a decent chunk of "fuck you" money. That won't go out of style for a certain part of the population.
Golf on t.v. is an amazing sleep aid. I haven't had a t.v. for decades, and that's the only thing I miss. Boring as hell, but it put me out like a light every time the grandfathers came by for thanksgiving, christmas, anything, and golf was on. Hushed tones of the commentators, sounds of wind, rustling of crowds. They could re-brand it as sleeping therapy and make a killing.
My family is also deeply rooted in golf. When I was growing up I had a membership at a club that my grandfather helped build, so I played several days a week and met some interesting people.
It started with my grandfather, who made me a set of clubs from his when I was about 8 by cutting all of the shafts in half.
I did have fun spending a lot of time with my grandfathers on the courses they liked. I can't think of anything else we might have done together, to spend so much time together, so it was good for that.
It's a therapeutic sport, I think, as long as you're not one of those lunatics who thinks they're a pro and playing for a million dollar purse. Very little noise except for the wind in the trees and occasional "ping" of a tee shot. How can that be stressful? Some people are just wound up too tight, if they can't take it easy on a golf course.
One of my brothers went on to become a PGA touring pro, but the rest of us took up hockey and eventually golf dropped out of my life.
The next time my brother visits, I'm going to get him to take me on that $35k course. I am curious to see what $35k buys you. I'm guessing it is underwhelming, but still...
If golf is fading, I expect there's always going to be a place for high end clubs, at a minimum. People love status symbols, and it's tough to top pulling into an exclusive club that costs a decent chunk of "fuck you" money. That won't go out of style for a certain part of the population.
Golf on t.v. is an amazing sleep aid. I haven't had a t.v. for decades, and that's the only thing I miss. Boring as hell, but it put me out like a light every time the grandfathers came by for thanksgiving, christmas, anything, and golf was on. Hushed tones of the commentators, sounds of wind, rustling of crowds. They could re-brand it as sleeping therapy and make a killing.
Genuinely interested in how many years have elapsed since 'the courses were packed' to what you see now that suggests to you golf is dying?
I cant help wondering, without apportioning any blame to you personally
if it isn't 'your' generation that has made golf in your area elitist, expensive and taking too long (clearly those things were not barriers or problems to those that played when you were of school age because courses were packed, so who else could have changed them & why do you think they did that?)
I’ve never tried proper golf. I’ve tried the Super Golf with these massive clubs, which was fun.
in the Netherlands where I’m originally from golf is quite elitist, but here in Australia where I live now everyone can have a go and it is much less elitist. It is still a very popular past time with people playing early mornings before it gets too hot.
I might pick it up when I’m a bit older, but prefer to do other things with my free time at the moment.
in the Netherlands where I’m originally from golf is quite elitist, but here in Australia where I live now everyone can have a go and it is much less elitist. It is still a very popular past time with people playing early mornings before it gets too hot.
I might pick it up when I’m a bit older, but prefer to do other things with my free time at the moment.
I still don't think the sky is falling on golf. Maybe it has declined in some areas, but the golf section at the sporting goods store here is always hopping in the Spring with young and old golfers and parking lots are full at the courses, with new courses popping up.
Of course, I guess it could be that guys buy clubs to use as really long hammers, and people use golf course parking lots as places to park for ride-shares. But, that is a long shot.
It's like when we ask members about the numbers on pipesmokers... guys will say that they have never seen anyone smoking a pipe in their area. But, they can't see into everyone's houses around them, while some of us see pipesmokers everywhere.
A forum post just isn't a very good weather report. I could post, "why have men stopped wearing socks," and guys would line up to talk about why they hate socks, lament about the days when men all wore socks, and only a few would say, "hey wait, why do you think men all aren't wearing socks?"
Of course, I guess it could be that guys buy clubs to use as really long hammers, and people use golf course parking lots as places to park for ride-shares. But, that is a long shot.
It's like when we ask members about the numbers on pipesmokers... guys will say that they have never seen anyone smoking a pipe in their area. But, they can't see into everyone's houses around them, while some of us see pipesmokers everywhere.
A forum post just isn't a very good weather report. I could post, "why have men stopped wearing socks," and guys would line up to talk about why they hate socks, lament about the days when men all wore socks, and only a few would say, "hey wait, why do you think men all aren't wearing socks?"
One of the reasons I haven't played in a while is because golf was one of those activities that I always did with a bit of chemical enhancement. I mean, most things were like that for me, but with golf it was pretty exclusive. We used to do a lot of fancy driving in those carts, and I remember one time my brother was hauling ass down a hill and then decided to go Tokyo drift, with a sharp, skidding turn that threw my ass right out the side of the cart and face first onto the grass. It was always a pretty good time.
You must be in one of these.
I never realized there was so much action on golf courses LOL...some of these had me in tears.
My wife and I tagged along on a second all terrain vehicle after her cousin who was checking his fences on the land where he runs cattle. Apropos of the golf cart driving, I noticed big time this is nothing like driving a vehicle on an engineered road where most curves are banked to favor the vehicle. You have to make all of your judgements based on whatever physics you know, and be your own engineer. Things got hairy when we came near the banks of a river near flood stage. I knew I was into some serious ATV driving. Because this was pasture land, it was even less predictable than a golf course.
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