Interesting Article About Growing the Game

I saw this linked on one of my emails today, and it's a half decent read despite the source:

http://back9network.com/article/golf-faces-retention-problem/

Basically, it argues that golf has done a really good job through the "grow the game" initiatives we are seeing a lot of the last few years in attracting new players to the game, but failing to keep them around. They blame this on new golfers not feeling comfortable in the golf community and having a lack of competency when starting (read: golf is hard).

What are your thoughts on this? For me, I think that the first issue could be addressed by a quick etiquette primer being offered at courses for new golfers. The second issue is a bit harder, but I think having more "short courses" and chip and putts at quality facilities (like the one at Bluejack mentioned in the article) is a great way to start.

I think having other options for golfers who,want to have fun and not worry about holding up the course, being embarrassed about their skill is fine.

Golf is hard and requires some work to get better and has very little instant gratification. We live in a world where people want stiff done and done yesterday. People can get answers to questions immediately with search engines, products shipped to house next day or in store pickup. There is a segment that will try gold and without the instant gratification will leave the game.

it would be nice to see clubs offer etiquette courses would help people have an understanding of the rules but it may not help them stay if they don't get better

emart2173 said:

I think having other options for golfers who,want to have fun and not worry about holding up the course, being embarrassed about their skill is fine.

Golf is hard and requires some work to get better and has very little instant gratification. We live in a world where people want stiff done and done yesterday. People can get answers to questions immediately with search engines, products shipped to house next day or in store pickup. There is a segment that will try gold and without the instant gratification will leave the game.

it would be nice to see clubs offer etiquette courses would help people have an understanding of the rules but it may not help them stay if they don't get better

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I think the bolded is the key point new players need to understand, and need to feel. It's one thing to be told it's ok to suck, but that can be hard to reconcile with your own internal thoughts if you're embarrassed. Perhaps some sort of initiative to get new golfers playing together would be a good way to get people interested. Maybe certain times at courses designated as "friendly times" for new golfers, maybe with some discounted specials or something. I know I felt like an ass when I first started, but I always played with people who sucked just as bad so it felt very inclusive and I kept at it.

I was one who never really cared about my score so maybe I enjoyed golf more when I started than others.

I can't put in unreasonable expectations on myself if my time is limited. And now that my handicap is moving I still don't use score as a barometer of how much fun I'm having.

There's also some innocent pleasure in just swatting away in abandon without caring about the score.

There should be some formats which are shorter and less penal and take less time. But we're a bit far away from that. At this point we're even cannibalizing our single players.

interesting, I have a thought or two.

golf is hard, golf takes time to learn and play well

how many people take up hobbies and drop them after a period of time because it is a struggle to become well versed at that hobby and enjoy said hobby ?

people will only do something so long before that will change their outlook toward a "hobby". whether it is cost, (golf is expensive) whether it is skill level (golf is hard) and if they have the time to put into a hobby to become proficient at it (golf takes time to learn and play)

some people enjoy getting out once a week and some people enjoy playing 5 times a week, but no matter what, you have to enjoy golf, I am lucky, I enjoy the game even if I suck at it every now and then...lol

Having more courses of a different nature in order to keep people interested imo is still not any answer. There are (at least in my area) enough par 3 and exec courses and they too need to be maintained and cost money to operate. So would special courses like no rough, no hazards , and very forgiving courses. You would need to fill the tee times just like one would on a regular course in order to keep the place open. Where will there be enough people drawn in to keep them in business. Its not like the par3 courses near me are hard to get out on. I live in an area where courses do well via a lot of players, and still even with a good golfing population you can basically walk up to any exec or par3 course and get right out. As soon as people start to play this game , most of them want to go to a regular full size and full type layout because that's golf. Most people regardless how out of place they may feel on a regular course will still always feel that what their doing is not really golf because their not playing on a real course. Most people want the golf (like anything else) without the process but golf is a long process and there is nothing we can do about that. It always has been that way. Now if we were to have some sort of pre golf etiquette class and also teachings about the4 game before we begin, it will just become even more of a process that mopst people don't want to deal with in the firsat place.

To be honest I get kind of tired of everyone (as in the article) thinking they found some new solutions to why more people don't golf. Most of the (in game) issues with the game that so many people come up with and think are the answers are really only issues to those who already play and not those who dont.

Golf does take time and does cost money and is a process. Not everyone has to golf. The game is basically the same as its always been since I am alive at 51. There is not much different about golf then there was decades ago. In fact I would argue that the demographics and social status of the game has actually fallen some relative to years ago. Many more the average joe's are playing golf than they did decades ago. The game became attractive to many more from all sorts of demographics.. Fitting in is not as hard as it once was imo. There is always going to be a "fitting in" issue just like there is with anything that is new to someone. Golf isn't any different in that sense.

The economy is part of it and also. I believe in some recent years , membership fees can no longer be considered a business expense. Nor should it imo but regardless that is one thing that hurt expensive private clubs. Our daily lives are affected by the economy of course too. And as a society we are for many different reasons always changing and evolving and that affects what our interests are and what one can partake in doing and even wants to partake in doing. There doesn't have to be one in every household who plays golf nor should there be. and there never was. Nor does golf have to be a dominating choice of recreation within society nor was it ever such.

The game (the entire sport) was far over expanded for a few reasons that all worked towards this around the 2000ish era. It was imo an explosion never seen before. Well, life and economics, and societies interests for choices of recreation change and that's just the way it is. The almost irresponsible imo over expansion of everyone trying to cash in during the one time great explosion (as if it were going to last forever) has made the decline seem like golf is at the worst its ever been because the void is just falsely that much larger vs if it never over expanded itself.

Golf is going to have its ups and downs like anything else. Never was it a poor mans recreation, never was it easy, never was it quick, never was it not a process, never was it the most comfortable thing for a newbie to fit in. There are going to be high points and low points in golf participation, on rare occasion (such as the last influx) its going go sky high and sometimes even super low too. Imo golf is normal and where it should be. Everyone is trying to fix something that never really broke. Its not out of the norm for anything (especially an unnecessary choice of recreation) to have high and low points. Nothing is broken here imo. Its just not as popular as it was during the last and greatest explosion but thats also been magnified due to that recent explosion and also due to its imo over expansion.

I think Tiger Woods is the man, The Playgrounds looks like great fun for kids that should really help grow the game, and he looked like he really loved it all, not just a stunt, good for you Tigs.

Golf is hard and it's so easy to get upset and quit, there's plenty of other things to do with our lives, but to me that's a reason I was drawn to golf, I think the difficulty should be part of the allure for everyone, challenge your ass dammit!

One thing I think could really slow the quitters is to promote lessons more, and get those newbies into a class, spread the word, all it takes is a few and any beginner will have 1000x more fun out there.

[QUOTE=MrDC;4383751]I think Tiger Woods is the man, The Playgrounds looks like great fun for kids that should really help grow the game, and he looked like he really loved it all, not just a stunt, good for you Tigs.

Golf is hard and it's so easy to get upset and quit, there's plenty of other things to do with our lives, but to me that's a reason I was drawn to golf, I think the difficulty should be part of the allure for everyone, challenge your ass dammit!

One thing I think could really slow the quitters is to promote lessons more, and get those newbies into a class, spread the word, all it takes is a few and any beginner will have 1000x more fun out there.[/QUOTE]

but again, what you speak of is actually a process and not what most people want when making choices of recreation. A process is not much fun, its work. They don't care that it will make things easier down the road and quite frankly don't realize this. Making one realize this can in itself be a process. And besides, millions of us had and still take lessons and read, and view and all that stuff and still golf is a process. Nothing is 1000x more fun. Its only fun if you enjoy it even though its a process. But many people are not going to. Not anyone will find golf fun or worthwhile nor like it. Just the way it is.

And I think this stuff about making golf courses extremely easy to play is nonsense. Sure we can tame the difficulty of courses to better accommodate us amateurs but only to an extent. We can build short and open field courses with no troubles and extremely forgiving. Its not imo going to work to all of a sudden immensely grow the sport. Easy Pitch&putts, par3, and exec courses have been around forever. Has that ever solved this "so called" problem? People are either going to golf or they are not based on many factors within their lives and that's it.

MrDC said:

I think Tiger Woods is the man, The Playgrounds looks like great fun for kids that should really help grow the game, and he looked like he really loved it all, not just a stunt, good for you Tigs.

Golf is hard and it's so easy to get upset and quit, there's plenty of other things to do with our lives, but to me that's a reason I was drawn to golf, I think the difficulty should be part of the allure for everyone, challenge your ass dammit!

One thing I think could really slow the quitters is to promote lessons more, and get those newbies into a class, spread the word, all it takes is a few and any beginner will have 1000x more fun out there.

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I'm interested to see how he/Bluejack utilizes the Playgrounds course. I've read that the club buy in is 100K and is going to be super exclusive. I'm not sure how that is going to help grow the game. Not hating on the sales model, just don't see it getting utilized by more than a few hundred people.

Some of this is generational. I currently teach young adults, where I've learned that by the time someone is, say, 18-20, they reach the point where they really don't want to be seen being bad at something. They don't really want to experiment to figure out what works, and they don't want to go through trial and error even if they have someone there to tell them what they're doing wrong. The response, usually, is a total shutdown. I think the age where you still have a kid willing to try something until they get it to work is getting younger and younger, and right now I think it's butting against the age where someone can even competently swing a club. In other words, by the time they can learn to swing a club properly, kids don't want to be told how to swing a club properly. Further, they don't want to get into golf socially, because people are often deathly afraid of looking dumb in front of their peers, so no one wants to go golfing with their buddies. And it seems like the response to "I stink at this" is less frequently "I'm going to practice and take lessons until I get good at this." And if they don't do that, what their teachers try to tell them simply won't stick.

To the first point about new golfers not feeling comfortable, I can see that. There are many clubs where it can be really tough to crack the social circles, and where beginners are looked down on and made fun of which is a crying shame. I've started to get my wife playing some shorter courses and her biggest fear is "looking like she doesn't know what she's doing." I don't really know how to overcome that obstacle for her.

I think an obstacle to growing the game is that it's tough to be a 'single'. So not only do you need to find the love, time, and money for the game but so do two or three of your friends at the same time. Thank goodness for THP in my case.

-CRW- said:

I'm interested to see how he/Bluejack utilizes the Playgrounds course. I've read that the club buy in is 100K and is going to be super exclusive. I'm not sure how that is going to help grow the game. Not hating on the sales model, just don't see it getting utilized by more than a few hundred people.

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It is an awesome idea even though it will only be used by kids who's parents are members. 100k sounds close since there is a cap on memberships. None of that has much to do with Tiger though. Course designers design what the person paying the bill wants. I hope Tiger builds some public ones in the states. I am sure he will eventually do it, he just started designing courses at the worst time possible economy wise.

Paladin said:

Some of this is generational. I currently teach young adults, where I've learned that by the time someone is, say, 18-20, they reach the point where they really don't want to be seen being bad at something. They don't really want to experiment to figure out what works, and they don't want to go through trial and error even if they have someone there to tell them what they're doing wrong. The response, usually, is a total shutdown. I think the age where you still have a kid willing to try something until they get it to work is getting younger and younger, and right now I think it's butting against the age where someone can even competently swing a club. In other words, by the time they can learn to swing a club properly, kids don't want to be told how to swing a club properly. Further, they don't want to get into golf socially, because people are often deathly afraid of looking dumb in front of their peers, so no one wants to go golfing with their buddies. And it seems like the response to "I stink at this" is less frequently "I'm going to practice and take lessons until I get good at this." And if they don't do that, what their teachers try to tell them simply won't stick.

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Yes but golf is hard for most people. The kids/teens whatever will all (at least most) struggle about the same. I see teens at ranges all the time laughing and having fun knowing full well its not easy. So not being much good at the game is not in this case a problem of ego among ones peers at all because the peers are most all in the same boat anyway. No?

Paladin said:

Some of this is generational. I currently teach young adults, where I've learned that by the time someone is, say, 18-20, they reach the point where they really don't want to be seen being bad at something. They don't really want to experiment to figure out what works, and they don't want to go through trial and error even if they have someone there to tell them what they're doing wrong. The response, usually, is a total shutdown. I think the age where you still have a kid willing to try something until they get it to work is getting younger and younger, and right now I think it's butting against the age where someone can even competently swing a club. In other words, by the time they can learn to swing a club properly, kids don't want to be told how to swing a club properly. Further, they don't want to get into golf socially, because people are often deathly afraid of looking dumb in front of their peers, so no one wants to go golfing with their buddies. And it seems like the response to "I stink at this" is less frequently "I'm going to practice and take lessons until I get good at this." And if they don't do that, what their teachers try to tell them simply won't stick.

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I definitely see a lot of this, but I'll again speak to my experience - I started playing with a group of friends, and we ALL sucked mercilessly for a while. So it was OK to look like an idiot in front of each other because we ALL looked like idiots. That's why I think that something that could be really helpful is something like "beginner's times" at courses, or even beginner's clubs. Sure it'll be painfully slow golf, but maybe offer 3 or 6 hole rates to keep it cheap and set the time aside ahead of time so everyone knows.

I'm not sure whether I ever see a course buying into this, but it would be pretty cool.

ArmyGolf said:

To the first point about new golfers not feeling comfortable, I can see that. There are many clubs where it can be really tough to crack the social circles, and where beginners are looked down on and made fun of which is a crying shame. I've started to get my wife playing some shorter courses and her biggest fear is "looking like she doesn't know what she's doing." I don't really know how to overcome that obstacle for her.

I think an obstacle to growing the game is that it's tough to be a 'single'. So not only do you need to find the love, time, and money for the game but so do two or three of your friends at the same time. Thank goodness for THP in my case.

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I do recognize that I caught lightning in a bottle in this way.