As a weekend golfer, why do I want "to grow the game"?

[manku]

We've all heard it hundreds of times over the years...the pros are always saying they want to "grow the game".   Especially the LIV fellas.

 

Well, I understand why it's good for them...more money, more fame, more everything.   Most businesses want to grow.

 

But as a non-professional, weekend duffer, how is this good for me in any way?

 

Courses are more crowded, green fees are higher, tickets/concessions to tour events are pricier, equipment and apparel costs keeps climbing.

 

None of that helps me.

 

Why do these guys think this is a benefit to us?  

 

[dropkicked]

[iBanesto]

[ANimz]

The prices going up so much are more a result of inflation. Not growing the game.  The crowded courses could go though for sure. 

[farmer]

Boomers, like me, are gradually aging out of the game.  Golf needs new blood, new enthusiasts or it will wither.

 

[golferdude54]

Tour players and USGA blazers live in private course bubbles and are completely unaware of our peasant problems.

[st1800e]

2 hours ago, manku said:

None of that helps me.

That settles it! 

At some point you were a non golfer. Now you are, and apparently enjoy it.  So you want to limit others from finding the game so they can’t enjoy it like you do? Because it doesn’t help YOU? 
 

[DoughBack18]

I’m not sure about elsewhere, but the game seems to be shrinking around here. I think the amount of people playing hasn’t changed a whole lot, but numerous public courses around me have closed or are in the process of it. Mostly being converted to homes or warehouses. 
 

I think that the reduction in options will reduce the amount of play by your more casual player as they aren’t going to want to take the 5+ hours. Diehards, people that love the game will find a way to play no matter what. But I would certainly agree that nothing in the current landscape of professional golf has appeared to grow the game in my little world.

[Chunkitgood]

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “Golf was sweet before Woods.”  A lot of people playing now have no idea how sweet.  Strolling around the course without some guys breathing around your nice, yet finishing faster.  Getting a beer and sandwich at the turn.  Still finishing faster.  Far fewer duffers on the course, and proportionally more people who could play.  Everybody polite and considerate of others…well,  mostly.  Making a 10 foot putt did not elicit screams of delight and celebration dances.

[KNOWMOREDOUBLES]

29 minutes ago, farmer said:

Boomers, like me, are gradually aging out of the game.  Golf needs new blood, new enthusiasts or it will wither.

 

Like the stock market it will have highs and lows. The game will never wither, it will have lows and have highs where people over inflate its popularity. The game is a ‘niche’ sport. It will never be the NFL, NBA or world Soccer ⚽️.  The whole growing the game thing is a bunch of BS. The only people who really grow the game are people who bring their friends, sons, daughters out to play. 

[Greenie]

13 minutes ago, Chunkitgood said:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “Golf was sweet before Woods.”  A lot of people playing now have no idea how sweet.  Strolling around the course without some guys breathing around your nice, yet finishing faster.  Getting a beer and sandwich at the turn.  Still finishing faster.  Far fewer duffers on the course, and proportionally more people who could play.  Everybody polite and considerate of others…well,  mostly.  Making a 10 foot putt did not elicit screams of delight and celebration dances.

 

I think a lot of what you say has to do with it was a different time. The world has changed a lot since then. People are more about themselves these days. I experience it everywhere I go. It's not only on the golf course.

[PedronNiall]

1 hour ago, iBanesto said:

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

No one will build new courses, nor keep around existing ones, if there isn't demand.  This is far more true of XYZ, USA Municipal Golf Course than it is of Pine Valley, Sawgrass or Pebble Beach.

 

For a course to not catch a land developer's glistening eye, it has to be more expensive to acquire and develop than some random block of land next door.  If the course is making money, that's pretty likely.  If no one is playing it, it gets a lot less likely.

 

Plus, non-golfers look at courses and think of all of the wonderful things their groups could do with the land instead.  Again, harder to do if there's a lot of vocal people already using it.

[Mp14forlife]

54 minutes ago, Jayjay_theweim_guy said:

No one will build new courses, nor keep around existing ones, if there isn't demand.  This is far more true of XYZ, USA Municipal Golf Course than it is of Pine Valley, Sawgrass or Pebble Beach.

 

For a course to not catch a land developer's glistening eye, it has to be more expensive to acquire and develop than some random block of land next door.  If the course is making money, that's pretty likely.  If no one is playing it, it gets a lot less likely.

 

Plus, non-golfers look at courses and think of all of the wonderful things their groups could do with the land instead.  Again, harder to do if there's a lot of vocal people already using it.

Bingo!!!! I live in Utah and developers here want to build subdivisions on any bare grass they can find. Having intense demand for golf means you have a lot of allies that can bring pressure upon city councils to keep/maintain golf courses. I hate having to set an alarm to make sure I book a tee time but it's better than seeing places close. 

[Chopper Dave]

2 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “Golf was sweet before Woods.”  A lot of people playing now have no idea how sweet.  Strolling around the course without some guys breathing around your nice, yet finishing faster.  Getting a beer and sandwich at the turn.  Still finishing faster.  Far fewer duffers on the course, and proportionally more people who could play.  Everybody polite and considerate of others…well,  mostly.  Making a 10 foot putt did not elicit screams of delight and celebration dances.

I’m still trying to figure it out - in the early 90s nearly everyone walked, a lot of clubs did not own a fleet of carts - only a few old coots. Everyone stopped for a quick drink and a bite after 9 holes and the rounds never exceeded 4hours. Nobody rushed either.

 

anyways on topic - who grows the game more right now? Our current top 10, 20, 50, 100 golfers on tour? Or social media darlings like good good, Rick Shiels etc etc?

[Pops99]

No one, especially LIV guys, want to "grow the game" or even really know what that means. It's like how TW made "it is what it is" a popular saying that they all use now.

 

"Growing the game" is just a ubiquitous term they use when they don't want to admit that they did something for the money. It's a phony, fake, nonsensical, cop-out term. 

[Hankshank]

Thing is, for me, not at all from a golfing family, starting playing in the early 80’s as a late teenager in the Scandinavian golf boom with lets say even the lower middle class and the craftsmen starting playing, that my feelings for golf was more or less exactly the same as for the guys in the early 1900’s Wodehouse novels. The fascination of the difficulty of hitting that ball, the sense of tension albeit being social when playing, the etiquette and the manners. And on the tournaments I visited, the absolute quiet before someone hit it and the roar when a putt went in.

 

And through the years I have introduced a lot of guys and girls to the game. Just taking them to the range. Some, like missus, will find it more boring than shovelling snow(her words) pretty much right away. While others will go exactly like that guy in the Wodehouse novel, hitting 25 shots effortlessly before finding the sweet spot, and the fire is started. Still when I (too seldom) go to golf tournaments, I see young fellows following the game exactly with the interest and revere as anyone ever, and playing with young fellows, its nothing much different than playing with old gaffers. 
 

i tried to post links to the newer, flashy Snooker formats with shiny clothes and drunk guys hooing before shots taken(Shaun Murphy made the first 147 in the party format, which would be a HIO on a par four) and in contrast some of the more famous 147’s where everyone is dead quiet, the commentators politely whispers, and then the roars when pots are made. I think it perfectly captures this  different kinds of loud. If you want good ol golf loud get last day masters 1986 on youtube.

 

And I have not at all noticed that some kind of party loud should attract young fellows to the game. Ok, beer has always, I guess even in the Tom Morris days, been a part of the game and that does turn volumes up, golf bags full of elephant beer empty at the rounds was maybe even more common in my early days of joining in with strangers when none of my buddies wanted to play. 
 

But I see all the same qualities in young players, on tour and on my home course as I have always seen.

 

Do golf really have to grow?

 

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Hankshank

[Dave230]

Agree with the sentiments, especially if you play golf in cities and it's hard to get memberships for a reasonable price and the ones that do, the timesheet is very full. I love playing golf with no one on the course, it's peaceful.

 

But... shrinking the game is all well and good until it affects your club and they have to let go of staff, maybe a golf club you like closes down because they can't cover the costs. Some friend who may have got into golf in the past doesn't have the interest.

[The Pearl]

"Grow the game" really means increase players/revenues without corresponding "management" of the obvious 2nd order effects.

 

There are obvious exceptions, but I have argued that golf courses are, in general, are horribly managed.

Edited December 10, 2023 by The Pearl

[Hickory4ever]

When professional golfers say they want to “grow the game”, it is more likely they mean “grow the pot that They are playing for”.

 

Golf is not likely going to grow quickly, especially in the big metropolitan areas where building new courses is not going to happen because the real estate is more valuable for other purposes. 
 

Golf certainly needs to replace those that age out or leave the game because of personal circumstances. That will be done at the local level by friends or family inviting new people to try it, which has always been the case. Affordability has always been a challenge and a limiting factor.

 

[CDLgolf]

In our area golf can't grow much more. Most private clubs have a 2+ year wait list with a $20k to $50k initiation fee. Public course tees sheets are full a week in advance or more. If the economy changes golf might also see a change but right now it's doing great.

 

[Duct Tape]

Golf was better before the LIV, and the PGAT’s changes in response. 
 

Making the most possible money, while completely understandable from a personal perspective, is not “growing the game”. 

[RainShadow]

13 hours ago, farmer said:

Boomers, like me, are gradually aging out of the game.  Golf needs new blood, new enthusiasts or it will wither.

 

 This is the main reason.

Everyone's time on earth is limited.

If you want golf to continue for your kids, grandkids, great grandkids and future generations, golf need to remain attractive and viable.

I agree, courses are crowded these days, but it was just 10-15 years ago that we were closing couses due to lack of financial viability and water resources, and less people playing. Part of the reason the one's we have are crowded.

Gold seems to go through cycles of popularity, and we are in an up cycle currently. 

Many wo picked up the game during covid will leave it after a few years, I'm sure.

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by RainShadow

[jordan2240]

14 hours ago, farmer said:

Boomers, like me, are gradually aging out of the game.  Golf needs new blood, new enthusiasts or it will wither.

 

I'm 63, and one of the guys I play with regularly is 93.  Based on who I see on the courses I play, no one is aging out of the game.  Dying out maybe, but not aging out.

[subrew]

I'm happy the covid-boom golf received locally is over.  My little 6-hole course went from walking up at anytime and teeing off pre-covid, to tee times booked out on weekends a week in advance, now back to just the usual group of people in the morning playing.  

 

I met a lot of people, usually from other sports.  An entire group of bowlers took up the sport as their facilities closed.  Likewise the local university kids took it up as many of their facilities (mostly gym) either closed or had restrictions.  So lots of non-golfers took up the sport as a way to get outside and socialize.

 

I think only two of the older ladies that came from the bowling league have remained.  And none of the college kids lasted more than a few months.

 

I didn't play any of the larger 18-hole local muni courses during covid, as you simply couldn't get a tee time.  And if you could, you were in for a 6 hour round of golf.  The only time I played my entire group walked off the course after 6 holes, because the 7th tee had five groups backed up on it, and it had already been 2.5 hours.  This was a 10am tee time on a Tuesday.

Edited December 10, 2023 by subrew

[Ghost of Snead]

14 hours ago, Greenie said:

 

I think a lot of what you say has to do with it was a different time. The world has changed a lot since then. People are more about themselves these days. I experience it everywhere I go. It's not only on the golf course.

 

This 1000x ... 

 

Civility is waning and the sense of entitlement growing. 

[widow-maker]

Grow the game amongst these pro's is short for grow their pocketbooks. 

[drb1956]

15 hours ago, farmer said:

Boomers, like me, are gradually aging out of the game.  Golf needs new blood, new enthusiasts or it will wither.

 

I wouldn't worry about that, as all the "covid" golfers that fill the tee sheets now is crazy. When I started playing in 1998, you could pretty much walk on most course later in the day on weekends. Now, the tee sheet for Saturday is filled by Monday afternoon during the season. So, I would give it a thought...     

[TwistedSister]

17 hours ago, manku said:

We've all heard it hundreds of times over the years...the pros are always saying they want to "grow the game".   Especially the LIV fellas.

 

Well, I understand why it's good for them...more money, more fame, more everything.   Most businesses want to grow.

 

But as a non-professional, weekend duffer, how is this good for me in any way?

 

Courses are more crowded, green fees are higher, tickets/concessions to tour events are pricier, equipment and apparel costs keeps climbing.

 

None of that helps me.

 

Why do these guys think this is a benefit to us?  

 

So the world revolves around you?

[TiScape]

14 hours ago, Greenie said:

 

I think a lot of what you say has to do with it was a different time. The world has changed a lot since then. People are more about themselves these days. I experience it everywhere I go. It's not only on the golf course.

I’m officially blaming social media. TikTok, Instagram etc. My favorites are the ppl that get all their “news”/info from these sites. Just when you thought ppl couldn’t get any dumber! 
If you need me I’ll be in my cabin in the woods.