Source: The Journal News (Westerchester County, N.Y.)
Remember the golf boom? Remember those head-spinning days just after Tiger Woods turned pro? Oh, those were wild times, for sure. Clubs were flying off the shelves. Courses were sprouting up in every direction. Everyone you knew was decked out in plaid pants and saddle shoes and rushing to their tee times.
OK, so maybe we're exaggerating just a tad. The point is, there was a time not so long ago when it seemed like golf's future was limitless. With Woods at the fore, the game seemed to be gaining traction as a mainstream sport. Golf was cool. Golf was fun. And everyone from Woods to the guys pulling balls out of lakes saw there was money to be made.
According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of rounds played in the United States jumped from 420 million in 1996 to 481 million in 1997 - an increase directly related to the ascent of Woods. In the ensuing years, that number has reached as high as 518 million. Moreover, golfers were spending money. In 2002, American golfers spent upward of $24.3 billion on equipment and fees, which, one would have to assume, was more than what was being spent on pingpong.
So the sentiment was to strike while the proverbial 5-iron was hot. More public courses needed to be built. More private courses, too. At some point soon, the thinking went, we're all going to need them.
Or, as we've learned in recent years, maybe not. Because a funny thing happened on our way to this all-golf, all-the-time utopia. Golf stopped booming. Interest has leveled off, even declined - from the high of 518 million rounds nationwide to 498.3 million rounds in 2004. On their own, those numbers aren't so troubling. But when you pair them with the rapid construction of golf courses here and around the country, it is troubling.
Consider the courses that have been built around these parts in the past decade. Centennial. Mansion Ridge. Branton Woods. The Links at Union Vale. Patriot Hills. Hudson Hills. And those are just the public facilities. Add to the mix new high-end private clubs like Trump National, Anglebrook, Manhattan Woods and the recently opened Hollow Brook Golf Club in Cortlandt Manor, and you wonder if there's enough interest to keep them all in business.
Which raises the question: What happened? As easy as it would be to say golf was just a fad no different from hula hoops and leg warmers, the reality is more complicated. Some of it can be attributed to the game itself. But more has to do with the surrounding circumstances.
For starters, golf is difficult. It requires patience, hand-eye coordination and unwavering focus. And that's just in placing a ball on a tee. For a CEO or a mother of three or anyone who has decided to give the game a whirl, there is invariably that moment when he or she realizes that making any strides as a golfer will require a commitment. Some people are willing to take that plunge. Many decide it's easier just to go for a jog.
And that raises another point. Golf takes time. Even for the best players, an 18-hole round is going to eat into a large chunk of their day. Are there worse ways to spend a weekend morning? You bet. But when there is a lawn to mow and bills to pay and a kids' soccer game to go to, a round of golf often is dismissed as an extravagance. Especially now. In the wake of 9/11, priorities have changed. More than ever, people want to spend their free time with their loved ones. And unless those loved ones are filling out their foursomes, golfers are more willing to leave their clubs in the garage.
Add it all up, throw in the fact that golf isn't exactly a cheap hobby to begin with, and one can understand why those in the business are concerned - and why some of the game's governing bodies have begun to force themselves to find new ways to spark interest in the game. Already we have seen the early success of initiatives like the First Tee, especially at the Mosholu facility down the road in the Bronx. But not to be discounted are programs like the PGA's Play Golf America or Golf 20/20. All are efforts to not only make the game more accessible to the masses, but perhaps more importantly, to re-think what constitutes golf.
This last point is an important one. For as much as we have been conditioned to believe that golf is 18 holes on a full-sized course, the game's new realities have forced us to reconsider. Maybe golf is nine holes. Maybe golf is three clubs and a putter on an executive course, or just a bucket of balls at the range.
"The last few years have forced all of us to look at the way we operate our facilities, to look at the people who play the game, to understand what the barriers are to getting into the game, what it's going to take to keep people playing once we get them back," PGA of America president Roger Warren told reporters at the PGA Merchandise Show this winter. "We are recognizing that we have to look at our business differently in the environment we're in today than we have done in the past."
With the golf boom now a memory, something is always better than nothing. Only a small percentage of the population would be willing to fork over thousands of dollars for clubs, lessons and a private club membership. A lot more people, though, might be content to take a few hacks when they can. Get them started, and some are guaranteed to stay with it. It might not be a boom. But at least it's something resembling golf. "
