So what plans does your family have for the summer? I’m going to assume they don’t involve golf.
That’s because about every number coming out recently regarding the state of the sport is a negative, with millennials — as in, young people, as in, the future of the game — in particular abandoning, or having no interest at all in, a good walk spoiled.
There are a lot of theories as to why this is happening, including the grumpy old (in mind or body) coot’s favorite scapegoat, everybody-gets-a-trophy leagues. However, I have no doubt that a big issue is the sport getting out of sight, out of mind for a declining middle class. Golf’s high cost to entry and association with an older, moneyed elite has resulted in young people sending it to the same golden scrap heap as formerly mass activities such as tennis, attending college football games, and democracy.
One of the latest indicators of golf double-bogeying the sport of life was the disappointing quarterly earnings report issued May 20 by Dick’s Sporting Goods. The company said its difficulties were related to golf and hunting, but looking at the numbers, it’s golf that’s the bigger concern. Dick’s same-store sales at its namesake locations were up 2.3 percent, but the total for its Golf Galaxy stores was down 10.4 percent.
The decline is reflective of an overall drop in interest in golf, particularly among the younger generations. Bloomberg quoted the National Golf Foundation as saying 200,000 players ages 35 and younger “abandoned the game” over the past year, not that it’s easy to get them onto the course in the first place. It turns out they wanted to watch Tiger Woods, not be Tiger Woods. That age group’s decline is only the half of it, literally: another 200,000 players also abandoned the game in that same period. More from Bloomberg:
The people sticking with the sport are playing fewer rounds than before, often opting for nine holes rather than 18. In total, U.S. golfers played 462 million rounds last year, according to Golf Datatech. That was the fewest number since 1995.
“Golf has been a crummy business for a long time,” said Paul Swinand, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago.
It might seem there’s a chance to market the game more toward women, with the National Golf Foundation reporting a net gain of 260,000 women players over the last year. However, there are indications of that young women’s interest has peaked.
While boys’ high school golf team participation peaked at 167,781 in 1998-99 and has been in steady decline since, girls’ high school team golf participation had been going up for most of the time, according to data complied by the National Federation of State High School Associations. However, over the last five years, girls’ participation has plateaued at around 71,000. (Dick’s Sporting Goods, by the way, has undertaken a public effort to boost all school sports participation.)
A big problem for golf, and it’s reflect in those high school numbers, is that access to the game is growing more limited. As equipment and course prices got more expensive, and as people had less disposable income and time to play, access to courses where young hackers could play a low-cost round for kicks, and discover maybe they liked the sport, went down. Also, the home mortgage crisis also cut down on courses. Some explanation from Bloomberg BusinessWeek (emphasis on middle-class economic factors is mine):
More golf courses closed than opened in the U.S. in 2013 for the eighth straight year, according to the National Golf Foundation.
A total of 14 18-hole courses opened last year, up from 13.5 in 2012, while 157.5 courses were closed during the year, three more than a year earlier, the Jupiter, Florida-based organization said in a statement on its website. The organization counts every nine holes as 0.5 of a course.
Since 2006, course closings have outnumbered openings after more than 4,500 courses had opened over the previous 15 years. Those courses, many of which were built as part of real estate projects, shut down as the U.S. recession led to a reduction in home sales needed to support the courses. Golf club memberships and rounds played also declined during the recession.
Of the closings, 66 percent charged less than $40 for greens fees during peak times. The closings decreased the total number of U.S. golf courses to 14,564.5, the Foundation said.Public courses made up 97 percent (151.5) of the closures, with private courses accounting for 4 percent (6). A total of 8.5 public courses opened last year, compared with 5.5 new private courses.
Just to clarify, a public course is not merely one that is government-owned. It refers to any course that does not require a membership. Public courses, unlike private clubs, live and die on having lots of golfers out every day. Certainly, a private club needs that, too, but it can live on if it’s socked away enough cash in reserve. Still, even the country-club set is growing a little nervous about its future propsects, especially with itstraditional population base (and corporate support of individual memberships) in decline.
As a result, the golfing industry, Dick’s Sporting Goods and beyond, is getting the yips. Manufacturers are discounting equipment — andmight have to cut prices even more. Golf courses are experimenting with offering more nine-hole playing options, larger holes or golf-ish activitites (such as FootGolf, golf with a soccer ball) in hopes of attracting families and time-pressed individuals. Golf Digest is attracting attention for trying to reinvent itself as a hipper publication, with stories such as smoking marijuana on the course. (If there’s a perception that golf is too slow, I’m not sure playing behind stoners is going to make the game go faster.)
But is any of that going to encourage young people to play the actual game of golf? Or turn around the middle class so they have the money and leisure time to play? I guess we’ll find out in future Dick’s Sporting Goods financial reports.