When Did Golf Die? It Seems I Missed The Funeral.
A New York Times article entitled “More Americans Are Giving Up Golf” and posted on Digg in February 2008, discusses that people are moving away from golf. From club play through to tournament attendance, golf is in decline and clubs, sponsors and the industry are concerned.
Paul Vitello reports on five men, “golf aficionados all,” meeting to find answers to the problem. It seems they found lots of problems and few answers. The five concluded that “changing family dynamics have had a profound effect on the sport.”
While that may be a characteristic of what is occurring, generally speaking, people will always find a way to do what they enjoy. What the meeting missed was that these days, golf is rarely played as a game … for fun.
The game of golf has been turned into a competition and fallen beneath the marching feet of business that has spawned a billion dollar industry. Not only is the business of golf a battle for supremacy, playing the game is largely motivated by competition and winning.
Few golfers I meet create their game from joy and the fun of playing one of the greatest games in the world. Many players suffer golf and function from frustration or apathy on the course. They joke about the “one great shot that brings you back.” It’s a hollow laugh though; out of some 80 shots and fours hours on a course, it seems that only one 30-second moment is actually memorable. Where’s the fun in that?
What was missed at that meeting is that golf is a losing game; 99% of players lose when competing in the Saturday comp’ at their club. How many competitions can you lose before you are truly beaten by golf? When does apathy and frustration replace curiosity and adventure? And at what point does a player give-up on what was the seductively packaged promise of leisure, relaxation and fun.
When did the Game Of Golf die? It seems I missed the funeral.
Stephen Outram is the author of the book, ‘There’s No Sex In Golf!’
