Saturday
Apr122008
"Golf is going to have to do a lot of thinking in the future."
Reader Andruw pointed me to this AP story talking about how all the well-off patron offspring would be getting in this week to help grow the game. Not much of interest, though this quote from Gary Player is worth remembering:
"Golf rounds are going down. The average golf course is getting so long. All the clubs you go to are making their golf courses longer and longer, so all the costs are going up and up," Player said. "Golf is going to have to do a lot of thinking in the future. That’s why we need a lot of young people to be playing golf."
Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 06:57 PM
Reader Comments (10)
Gary, if only you had maintained your fitness over the years, you'd have that distance you're looking for...
Picking up on Gary Player’s point, I think what is essential is to ensure that maximum focus is put on course design. You cannot keep increasing the length of a golf course. Sooner or later you are bound to run out of real estate and more importantly, people are not interested in walking 7,500 yards just to see the players bomb their shots from point to another,.
I think the classic case in point is the 12th hole at Amen Corner. It is the shortest par three on the course and at the same time the most challenging par three on the course. These guys are not supposed to be loading the cannon and firing away, we want them to work magic with their wands. That is what will keep people glued to the game and will bring more and more youngsters in. May the force be with course architects.
http://www.golfswingsecretsrevealed.com/blog/2008/03/13/lets-talk-about-golf/
Obviously this is a small sample, but I've seen four new courses open within the past few years in my area. One is nine holes and measures 3100 yards (only one par five). Another was highly touted and tops out at 6700 yards. The other two reach less than 6800 yards. My experiences seem to parallel those in other locations around the U.S.
There are simply not a lot of 7500 yard golf courses being built. The occasional one gets attention (as Erin Hills has recently), but for all the attention they're getting look at, say, the Bandon courses and the attention they get. Or are you choosing just to look at the negative examples?
We hit the ball further these days than 30 years ago. You bet, and no denying it. The reasons why are another debate (and it ain't just or even primarily the ball), but I think some people have managed to convince themselves that a) distance continues to trend upwards at a rate of 10 yards per year (it's not), and b) every new course being built is 7500 yards or longer. They're not.
Gary Player says that golf courses are getting longer and longer and are thus driving costs up. Who's to say those two are so closely connected as he believes? Aside from the cost to build a new tee, what's the expense? A little extra mowing (or not, since the players playing those back tees should be able to carry the ball into the existing fairway just fine)?
Perhaps the cost of a round of golf is going up simply because less people are playing. Perhaps it's simple supply and demand. If a course needs to make $x per year to stay in business, and they used to get 200 golfers around in a day, they could charge half what they charge nowadays with only 100 golfers. And that's assuming the costs of doing business (labor, electricity/gas, etc.) have remained the same - which they've not.
Why are there less golfers? Rounds take longer to play. The average work week has gotten 25-50% longer. Dads no longer enjoy their "leisure time" like they used to and are expected to stay home with the family more than in, say, the 70s. Lots of reasons.
And how about those expenses? How about rising fuel costs for carts, mowers, etc? Or increased minimum wage requirements (and the bumps that everyone else gets to maintain the stratification)? Or the simple fact that we're in a bit of a recession - which happens periodically - and taints the view slightly?
To say that "golf courses are longer, and that's why golf is more expensive" seems to me an awfully ignorant take on things. There are a LOT more factors that play into the cost of a round of golf, and pinning it on one thing - a thing that may not even exist on the scale some people believe it to exist on - seems to me a bit silly.
We don't even know that golf IS "getting more expensive." Where are the numbers that show that the cost of a round of golf has grown faster than the inflation rate? Is it more expensive these days, or are we just bemoaning the good old days when gas cost $0.15 a gallon, penny candy cost a penny, a pack of baseball cards cost a dime, and a sleeve of the good balls ran $2.79?
Drug abuse is a huge problem on the PGA tour "I personally know many guys are taking illegal drugs - but I can't tell you who"
He is going to solve the obesity epidemic by playing in the masters
Trevor Immelman is the "best ball striker I have ever seen in my life". This comes out of the blue when Trevor is leading the masters- after having never heard Gary say a word about Trevor before.
I believe Gary designed that course down in South Africa where they played the Presidents Cup (or Ryder, I can't remember) to be 7800 yards from the back - do as I say - not as I do. LOL!
Nice bit of cherry picking Geoff, but you should find more respectable sources for your arguments.
If they say anything about speeding up play as part of grow-the-game initiatives they'll really look bad for setting such a poor example their ownselves.-