September 2007

I had the privilege and honor of being invited to a special Golf Industry Summit this past month, sponsored by the PCS.

About 25 industry leaders met in Atlanta, and the diverse group represented the PGA, equipment manufacturers, retailers, component makers and other factions of the game.

Our challenge was to examine the state of the game in America and come up with possible solutions to a trend of decline in golf in this country.

It proved to be a dynamic group, and we collectively came up with a somewhat different perspective on the game than you might have read about, and some ideas for how we . . . not just as golf industry executives, but as golfers . . . might do our own part to help reverse this trend.

So, for the next couple of weeks, I’d like to share some information with you and get your input on what American golfers can do to shape the game for the future. And I’m going to ask you to sound off, so I hope many of you will participate.

To start this process, let me give you an overview of where golf in America is today.

Generally speaking, participation in the game is flat or even declining. From 2000 to 2006, we experienced a drop in total rounds played from 518 million to 501 million, after over 15 years of steady increases in annual rounds played. There are over 28 million golfers who played last year, but less than half of them – 12-13 million – are considered “core golfers” who played at least 8 rounds. This number has not materially changed in several years, and account for over 91% of total rounds played. Since you’re reading my blog, I have no doubt you are in this group.

This decline is in spite of the tremendous increase in television exposure to golf and the dynamic presence of Tiger Woods, who is now the most popular athlete – across all sports – in this country, possibly the world.

So, why hasn’t this visibility and “popularity” translated into an increase in golfers and rounds played ? That’s the 64 dollar question, as they say, and I’d like to get your input on this to compare with what this group of industry leaders came up with.

So, let’s again use the new TheWedgeGuy.com survey capability. If you will visit the link below and answer a few questions, you’ll see how your input stacks up with golfers across the world who read this blog. And you can help this game you love so much. So give golf a couple of minutes and stay tuned.

Take the Golf in America Survey Now