We do all this research every year to keep our fingers on the pulse of the industry. We pour over reports from NGF and Pellucid about rounds and revenue. We hear endless experts analyzing the market and making predictions about the murky future of golf.
The data flows in vast quantities. Spreadsheet after spreadsheet of metrics suggest we're in the midst of a flattish market that needs to shrink to get healthy.
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Yet, when push comes to shove, I'm gonna always go with my gut. And my gut tells me we've got some momentum going.
In conversation after conversation today, suppliers, distributors and course operators told me their businesses were growing or at least getting more profitable. There is a little mojo working and it bodes well for the core of our business. Clubs are getting smarter and more customer-focused. Supers are getting creative to handle labor challenges, remodeling jobs and in-house upgrades. Architects and builders are busy helping the smart clubs attract and retain a new generation of golfers.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that there are 8,000-10,000 great, good or decent operations in the U.S. That means about 5,000 are just selling crappy commodity golf or are so badly managed they deserve to die. Screw 'em. Let's stop worrying about them and focus on the healthy part of the business I saw on the floor of the GIS today.
Enough with gloom and doom about the "market." Let's grab this momentum by the horns and ride it. Let's build a new, better golf business. And let's keep having fun doing it. Because if it ain't fun, I'm out.
Are you with me?
