No, Golf Is NOT Dead!

     I wasn't going to post today but I ran across this post by Mike Kahn who has been in the golf business for quite some time. It kind of talks about what I have been saying about the state of the game.  Thank you Mike for allowing me to share this.

GOLF IS NOT DYING!

Look. National Golf Foundation (www.ngf.org) informational material discussing golf course creation, circulated back in the 1960's, indicated it takes a population of 25,000 people to support an 18-hole golf course. We also used to determine that a Florida 18-hole golf course in 1995 needed 35,000 rounds before it broke even financially.

So, in the 1990's in Florida, many 'reasonably' managed golf courses were enjoying 40,000 to 50,000 annual rounds. In fact, a St Petersburg, Florida, municipal golf course PGA Pro told me his 18-hole muni golf course would host 100,000 rounds in 1992.

So, since 1992, Florida added several hundred golf courses. However, the State population did not grow proportionately. Therefore, where the heck did golf's 'rocket scientists' think all those added golf courses would get their players?

Let's see ... We had two golf courses serving 50,000 people. Then a few years later four golf courses serving 60,000 people in the same area. Originally, the two golf courses were hosting 50,000 rounds each, 100,000 total - and each making money. Not long later, there are four golf courses serving the area with a 10,000 increase in population resulting in 110,000 potential player rounds, but split 4-ways... Let's do the math - Calling Golf's Rocket Scientists!

110,000 divided by 4 = 27,500 round for each golf course.

So, next thing the banks are calling in their loans, because the two money-making courses, plus the two (ill-planned) added courses can't pay their mortgages.

Next, it's on the news that golf participation is falling - causing golf courses to fail. All the Tiger hype has been wasted. Golf is doomed to disappear forever. I mean, I was hosting 50,000 rounds, now fewer than 30,000, because people are quitting golf!

[Some of those folks need to refresh their fifth grade arithmetic]

Golf is Dying? What BS!

Good news from a guy who's been in golf since the 1950's

The game of golf in some form or another was probably played by cave men 5 million years ago. Forms of stick games that looked like golf are being discovered by anthropologists going back 5,000-years (http://www.golfmagic.com/g…/estonia-5000-years-of-golf/10722).

The fact is that we built too damn many golf courses. We also made them too expensive to build. On top of that we had to have 40,000 square foot clubhouses, swimming pools, tennis courts, and fine dining rooms. Taxes, debt service, outrageous demand for green speeds, chefs, tennis pros, and swimming instructors - all cutting in on the annual operating budgets.

Gad! We went from mowing fairways with seven-gang mowers to much narrower five-gang movers (duh!). Today we mow the grass so tight we're hurting the plant to a point we need to force feed it to keep it alive.

Yet, I believe golf is less expensive today than it was when I had my first golf job as an assistant pro in Toronto, Canada. Did you know the cheapest golf ball you could buy in 1957 was 50 cents? Average wage in 1957 was $3,750 - enough to buy 7,500 golf balls. You can buy golf balls today for $1.00, while average wage in 2014 was, 46,481.52, which can buy 46,481 golf balls - over six times what a person could buy in 1957!

So quit crying that golf is more expensive in 2016.

Anyway. One day in the future of planet earth the sun will burn out. I can guarantee there will be a foursome scrambling to finish the 18th hole before the earth is snuffed out.

Mike Kahn, President
Golfmak, Inc.
www,golfmak.com

    There is a lot in this article.  Thank you Mike for sharing it.  The piece kind of puts a lot of things in perspective.  

How can you NOT enjoy playing golf.  What's not to like?