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Is golf in the USA dying?


Roadking2003

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The number of rounds of golf played declined 4.8% last year while the total population continued to increase. So, what is happening? Is golf in the USA dying a slow death?

 

Looking at the state by state breakdown doesn't produce any answers either. TN down 12%, OR up 5%. WI down 12%. WA up 8.7%.

 

https://www.thengfq.com/2019/01/december-2018-national-rounds-played/?utm_source=ngf&utm_medium=QC&utm_campaign=Feb19&ID=

 

Click on the map to see the details.

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Seasonal Weather could be a factor in the ups and downs.......

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I was thinking it was not about golf dying but the impact of weather on golf, no? The article the article references...

https://www.thengfq....eather-to-play/

This x 1000.

Year vs previous year comparisons are so obviously pointless - in helping to answer some tired trope - in an activity so beholden to the weather.

 

Give us 2008 to 2018 and then maybe a conversation can be had.

[url="http://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTOZNxdsDKajrKxaUCRjcU8eB7URcAMpaCWN-67Bt6QG8rmBUPYW3QAQ7k87BlYizIMKJzEhuzqr9OQ/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true"]WITB[/url] | [url="http://tinyurl.com/CoursesPlayedList"]Courses Played list[/url] |  [url="http://tinyurl.com/25GolfingFaves"] 25 Faves [/url]

F.T.

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I was thinking it was not about golf dying but the impact of weather on golf, no? The article the article references...

https://www.thengfq....eather-to-play/

This x 1000.

Year vs previous year comparisons are so obviously pointless - in helping to answer some tired trope - in an activity so beholden to the weather.

 

Give us 2008 to 2018 and then maybe a conversation can be had.

 

Do you have that data?

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Seasonal Weather could be a factor in the ups and downs.......

I definitely believe this is a large part of it. For a good number of years, I played year round in TN. The last 3-4 years have seen much colder temps and lots of rain. The last couple of years the courses have not tried out well until May.



 

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For my input - where I live, we received 2.5 times the annual rainfall from average. Each year for the 5 years before - as well as this year to day - we have fallen behind on the amount of rain received.

 

If I rememember correctly, there were no hurricanes in Washington state, or Oregon, but we had a major hurricane affect the entire east coast, plus multiple tropical storms not categorized as hurricanes, but bringing torrential amounts of rains.

 

I won't say that golf in America is doing handsprings, but data does show that the number of course closings has greatly dropped, most likely due to the fact that we are reaching a balancing point, where the drop in golfers is becoming matched to the drop in golf courses.

 

The growth of new courses has also slowed, again, I believe, as a result of the realignment of facilities vs players.

 

Final statement: if you ain't doing something to make golf "better" - you aren't helping the situation at all.

 

The responsibility golfers have to keep the game growing is greater than in other sports. And I mean recreational golf - the tours will always seem to go on, but - start a kid out in golf today, and see what happens. If every golfer in the US did that this year, we could double the number of players. Doesn't seem all that hard to me.

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The baby boomer generation hitting their peak earning years and enjoying unprecedented prosperity as family units moved from a single earner model to a dual income model fueled the extraordinary growth of the game starting in the early 90s. Subsequent generations with the exception of Millennials have been incapable of filling that void in large part due to their generational populations simply being significantly smaller.

 

Millennials have the population to drive growth, but have not shown as much of an interest in the game so far. It is yet to be seen if they'll take to the game en masse as their disposable incomes increase. Seems that Millennials are far from traditionalists, so it will be interesting to see how it all evolves, particularly the private club model.

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Final statement: if you ain't doing something to make golf "better" - you aren't helping the situation at all.

 

The responsibility golfers have to keep the game growing is greater than in other sports. And I mean recreational golf - the tours will always seem to go on, but - start a kid out in golf today, and see what happens. If every golfer in the US did that this year, we could double the number of players. Doesn't seem all that hard to me.

 

Why do you feel responsible for growing the game? If fewer people want to play golf, why is that a problem?

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1 year is a small sample size.

 

This is true and I can't find much historical data. I did find the December 2017 data from the OP website.

 

2017 was down 2.7% compared to 2016.

 

Then I found this from December 2017:

 

" The net is that the industry has given back the gains from the prior two years, which were up 1.8% and 0.6%, respectively – resulting in a relatively stable number of rounds played over the last several years."

 

 

https://www.thengfq.com/2018/01/december-2017-national-rounds-played/

 

So, here is what I have found;

 

2015: Up 1.8%

2016: Up 0.6%

2017: Down 2.7%

2018: Down 4.8%

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Final statement: if you ain't doing something to make golf "better" - you aren't helping the situation at all.

 

The responsibility golfers have to keep the game growing is greater than in other sports. And I mean recreational golf - the tours will always seem to go on, but - start a kid out in golf today, and see what happens. If every golfer in the US did that this year, we could double the number of players. Doesn't seem all that hard to me.

 

Why do you feel responsible for growing the game? If fewer people want to play golf, why is that a problem?

 

Gotta agree with you. As a boomer, my wife any I started golfing 8 years a go. Thats two more playing about 50 rounds each a year. Plus I take my millennial son out twice a year. Thats three extra golfers.lol

 

Population makeup and societal changes have and always will drive industries success and failure. Korea, Japan, India (pick your country) golf is really taking off, but even there, will ebb and flow with population changes and their spending habits.

 

People are getting there news in different ways-newsprint is declining

People are getting screen entertainment in different ways-conventional television programming is declining

Boomers are dying-the golf population is declining

The Boomers (that pig in the python) created significant spending habits. Greed and Developers have over built residential neighbourhoods including a golf course in north america-houses don't sell, golf course closes

 

There's golf, then there's the business of golf.

 

The golf business has to contract until the next large pig in the python introduces more golfers. and that will be effected by screen time and attention span.

 

and not speed of play. 18 Golf takes time, driving to and fro, Checking in, Playing, 19th hole. If you don't have 6 hours, do something else.

 

Will 18 hole golf change-sure it will,driven by business greed to make money marketing to folks who want glitz, glitter and a one hour round

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Come to Florida and ask me if golf is dieing after having the privilege of playing a 6 hour round for $80 with stacked tee times all day in 8 min intervals on EVERY COURSE.

 

Baseball is dieing, too. Both sports aren't going anywhere though!

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not dying, just falling victim to the accessibility of everything else. I don't think there are as many people that "specialize" with their hobbies anymore, they just do so many more things in addition to playing golf.

 

That's an interesting thought. What hobbies other than smartphone and computer games have an increasing number of participants?

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I blame the rain. I have a friend in eastern PA who for years has played every single Saturday and Sunday plus at least 2 weeknights during the season without fail so long as it isn't raining and his home course is open. He told me that in 2018 he played the least number of rounds he's played in 15 years simply due to it either raining on those days or the course being flooded/closed/severely restricted due to heavy rains or flooding. He said unlike most years, it was so wet that the course never really dried out all summer, it played soft/wet with the rough growing vigorously the whole time, whereas usually in July/August it gets real firm and dried out.

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not dying, just falling victim to the accessibility of everything else. I don't think there are as many people that "specialize" with their hobbies anymore, they just do so many more things in addition to playing golf.

 

That's an interesting thought. What hobbies other than smartphone and computer games have an increasing number of participants?

 

 

 

 

Facebook is a verb, apparently.

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I can only speak for my area and golf is not dying, but it is bleeding out. In the past 2 years, there have been 5 courses that have closed (that were news worthy because of housing developments that surrounded them). I primarily play on a military installation and if it was not for the over the hill gang, the course would most likely be closing also. Very rarely do we see any younger players in any meaningful numbers on the course or even at the driving range. Now on the other hand, the Top Golf location seemed to be doing fine, but after talking to one of the guys that work there, they have seen a steady decline in participation also. In addition, our weather is not all that conducive for year round play, so that adds to the declining factor. Also take into consideration the costs and time involved and you have a recipe for non participation. I know the being on a fixed income has reduced my playing ability, so it should stand to reason that the younger guys with families also fall prey to this obstacle.

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I blame the rain. I have a friend in eastern PA who for years has played every single Saturday and Sunday plus at least 2 weeknights during the season without fail so long as it isn't raining and his home course is open. He told me that in 2018 he played the least number of rounds he's played in 15 years simply due to it either raining on those days or the course being flooded/closed/severely restricted due to heavy rains or flooding. He said unlike most years, it was so wet that the course never really dried out all summer, it played soft/wet with the rough growing vigorously the whole time, whereas usually in July/August it gets real firm and dried out.

 

It was the same in dc area

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Your map covers Dec. through Feb. Too much of a spot weather effect to make decisions on multi-year national trends.

 

In St. Louis area, frost on ground continues until 11 AM, then it gets really cold by 3 PM. I just think a lot of people are working on Income Tax so they can play in mid-March when things warm up. Also, 20* F at dawn means no thaw all day long.

 

National trends: One factor is charting impact of indoor, simulator golf. Once simulator was a cottage industry in our area, with winter leagues when snow was on ground. Now, sim traffic heavy most of the year. And, enter TopGolf in Chesterfield/West County, and sim golf is growing bigger. TopGolf = golf + night club.

 

Over in Asia, golf boom in South Korea reveals that more than half of golfers are simulator players only.

 

USA: Golf is continuing to right-size. Still more green-grass courses closing than opening.

 

Also, look at growth in 6-hole golf courses, many of them build entirely with synthetic turf. Need a huge vacuum cleaner rather than lawn mower. With shorter Millennial attention spans, 6 holes is all some people want. (No offense meant to Millennials, it's what demographics tell us.) Also, six holes a week between occasional 18-hole rounds better than only 18 holes a month for busy people.

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