Golf’s biggest problem

The overwhelming problem facing the golf industry is finding new players while retaining those who already play and it’s no secret a solution has not been found.

The economy’s slowdown, family considerations, work and other time and monetary constraints are cited for the falling numbers of participants. There has been no surge of players taking up golf and sticking with it as was forecast by some pundits a few years ago. Supposedly thousands if not millions would be drawn by Tiger Woods’ star power or from the retiring baby-boomer population or the general growth of family sports activities. These people have not materialized.

In a good year roughly as many people take up golf as quit so a best case scenario would be a steady number of golfers. That is not occurring with estimates of the number of golfers falling from 30 million plus to 27 million or less. MORE...