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Are course architects and real estate developers responsible for golf's decline?

I wouldn't pay to play in people's back yards. It feels like trespassing. Even if I lived there, I wouldn't play there because I would be tired of looking at it.
 
It is a potentially small factor, but a bigger factor is the entry price of starting up in the game. Many of us started with hand me downs, which is of course great. But if you don't have that opportunity you are looking at a pretty daunting number just to be positioned to walk on the course. The median household income is about 30k. That means many people would be looking at spending a weeks salary (which very likely is not disposable income) just to get started with older or used clubs, shoes, clothes, balls, etc. (and let's be honest, how many people get fired up to load up on used stuff?) And that's before a person even knows whether or not they like the game...and this person probably associates with people in the same socio-economic background, so he's likely to be the only person entering the game, which means playing by himself. If someone overcomes all of that they then come to the time and greens fees issues.
 
tequila4kapp said:
It is a potentially small factor, but a bigger factor is the entry price of starting up in the game. Many of us started with hand me downs, which is of course great. But if you don't have that opportunity you are looking at a pretty daunting number just to be positioned to walk on the course. The median household income is about 30k. That means many people would be looking at spending a weeks salary (which very likely is not disposable income) just to get started with older or used clubs, shoes, clothes, balls, etc. (and let's be honest, how many people get fired up to load up on used stuff?) And that's before a person even knows whether or not they like the game...and this person probably associates with people in the same socio-economic background, so he's likely to be the only person entering the game, which means playing by himself. If someone overcomes all of that they then come to the time and greens fees issues.
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I have to think you're right. When I look at the societal and economic factors that allowed me to take up the game in the 1970's, I see few of those same factors in place today. I had cheap hand me down clubs for a song. Sure they were crap, but I hit them anyway. I worked as a caddy and fished balls out of ponds to pay my way. Parents didn't care what I did after school so I rode my bike with clubs strapped across my back to the range. Pro's tolerated youngsters as long as we didn't bother adults. And we had the TIME to play because everything was slower paced. Now helicopter moms must shuttle kids to a million staggered activities, kids don't work part time jobs, clubs cost a bunch, greens fees cost a bunch, junior programs are more geared around short term organized "camps" than discounted fees that allow a kid to play all summer and make a dent in his "10,000 hour" quota.
 
On another economic note. Club memberships were tax deductible for business and corporations at one time but no longer is that the case as far as I know. So in addition to the average "joe" financially hurting and not golfing we also have (if I am correct) a decline of golf in the corporate world too as initiation fees and monthly dues are no longer deductible. I would think that a pretty substantial amount of less golf being played too.
 
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