Golf traces its origins to 15th century Scotland but it
was in America starting in the 1890s that it really came into its own.
The country is by far the world’s biggest market for golf, home to about
half its players and courses. Golf adds about $70 billion a year to
America’s economy.
In 2006 some 30m Americans were golfers. But since then golf has hit a rough patch.
And
it is now struggling to attract a new generation of American players.
In 2013, 160 of the country’s 14,600 golf facilities closed, the 8th
consecutive year of net closures. The number of players has fallen to
around 25m.
Why are fewer Americans playing golf? There are three main reasons.
First,
golf’s calm pace may no longer fit in with modern lifestyles. It can
take more than four hours to play a full round of 18 holes. And
disappearing to the golf course for half the weekend is not compatible
with modern attitudes to child-rearing.
Second, while golf may
have managed to shake off some of its elitist image, America’s troubled
economy is once more making it a pursuit of the wealthy. Middle and
lower-income golfers have seen their pay packets shrink, hurting
membership numbers at mid-range golf courses. Some public courses have
been closed by local governments making spending cuts.
Third,
golf has become harder to play. Since the 1990s golf-course designers
have taken to building longer, tougher courses in order to put golfers
and their equipment to the test. The sport’s growing difficulty and its
200-page rulebook make it a tough sell to new players.
In the past
stars have had the power to reignite interest in the game. Tiger Woods
drew an unprecedented number of newcomers to the sport. But he fell from
grace and no new star has emerged to take his place.
Instead, in a
bid to renew golf’s appeal, faster, easier versions of the sport are
being invented. Foot golf, a hybrid of football and golf and top golf,
which involves hitting gold balls onto huge, coloured targets in outdoor
sports bars, are two experiments.
Will they succeed in reviving the sports popularity? That, as a golfer would say, is a long shot.