Is Golf Stagnating?

[Bagger Lance]

Not shook up at all Daryl. I think we are saying the same things. Mine at a macro-level and your examples at a micro-level. It's pretty hard to be specific when discussing the behaviors of 25M to 30M people in a segment. My point is that number hasn't moved significantly in nearly 20 years and according to Barbara, last year saw negative growth. More people left the game than joined. This to me is shocking.

Even 2-5% real growth year to year after factoring population increase would be enemic by most standards, but in the golf industry it would be a boom.

Bagger

[tradekid]

I think it may be a natural progression, or cycle. Boatloads of people took up golf after Woods came on the scene. It would seem normal for a lot of those people to quit after a couple of years thinking "This game aint for me." I think golf is currently on the "down" part of the cycle.

Kind of like Elliott Wave applied to golf, five waves up, three waves down. A bull cycle followed by a bear cycle.

[Bagger Lance]

It would seem normal for a lot of those people to quit after a couple of years thinking "This game aint for me."

That is the crux of the question.
Why is it "normal" for people to leave?
Would vast improvements in instruction and instructor accountability prevent this and thereby grow the industry?

[EdZ]

That is the crux of the question.
Why is it "normal" for people to leave?
Would vast improvements in instruction and instructor accountability prevent this and thereby grow the industry?

The game is difficult and expensive with a legacy of exclusion.

Note the chart posted tracked the economic trends as a whole. When people have the money, they play, they take lessons and they join clubs.

When they don't, the trends go down.

And to think, our national debt ceiling was just raised by Congress and is now 9 trillion $$$$$$$.

Being in debt doesn't lend itself to playing games. Before long, it's GAME OVER.

To everything, there is a balance.