Why millenials don't play our game...

[markb]

Because it ain't Halo.

 

I realize I'm being flippant, but upon closer examination, I'm speaking truth on a deeper level.   Millenials aren't just impatient ADHD video heads who can't sit still for our archaic game; it's that playing golf on a championship course is like jumping straight to level 47 of "Call of Duty" with no reboots.  The millenial newb gets fragged or sniped or steps on a landmine on every hole, with every shot, and all while grizzled veterans watch his every humiliation, telling him to hurry up and die so they can play through.   No wonder they don't like it.

 

How did we learn to play?  First, we spent an enormous amount of time on the "practice range" getting familiar with our weapons where no one was shooting back at us.   Millenial newbs don't want to do this with golf, the driving range is boring and they can't make that kill shot except one out of twenty times.  Plus they are used to skipping it in their video games, knowing that the first couple of levels are easy and they can always reboot when they make a wrong step.  Not so with golf. 

 

Next, video games are largely "closed" courses where you must merely learn the sequence of correct dance steps in order to conquer the level.  Once you learn those steps, you don't go back to the level again.  Imagine if you played a round of golf like that?  Birdie Hole 1, move on to hole 2, never go back.   Mastery of the video game is available to everyone who learns (or acquires) the correct sequence of dance steps. 

 

But there is no such correct sequence on a golf course and what's worse, you have to count all the land mines you step on during the day!   Imagine if your score in "Call of Duty" was not your winning of bronze stars and conquering of levels, but a tally of your 98 ignominious deaths?   Our game doesn't pat you on the back for your pseudo-accomplishments, it reminds us of our flaws!  

 

Lastly, I think millenial newbs aren't playing our game because there is a lack of "veteran sergeants" out there to take them by the hand and steer them around the first few levels until they break their boots in.   When we were newbs, every one of us had such a guide who told us what to do and when to hurry up and how to avoid embarrassment.   Without our sarges, we would have taken a bullet to the forehead as soon as the landing craft door dropped on our first tee.

 

You wanna grow this game?  Try being a sarge to a few newb's and help them survive past level one.  When you run into them on the course, try not making them feel like useless meat sacks awaiting burial while you play on.

[BIG STU]

To be absolutely frank on the subject. It takes getting out of the chair or off the couch and actually doing something physical. It requires physical effort no matter the level you wish to play at. In other words most are not going to make the effort to get off their "fat francis" and do something real that involves effort and sweat.Just my .02 worth

[MmmmmmBuddy]

As soon as those "noobs" quit pwning me on the digital battlefield, I will be nicer to them ITRW....   (I hate having 44 year old reflexes.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding. 

 

I am as nice as possible to the gaming crowd. they need the sunshine.  And we need the players.

[Jondagcl]

I work with kids every day. They are super active and do lots of stuff out doors. I think it's sort of cliche to think that they sit around all day and play on their iPhone. There is a ton of video game playing, but not more than there was in the 90s when I played games. Maybe golf is just what it is, and maybe we are the weird ones for liking it so much.

[sp0rtsfan86]

Biggest thing is the lack of guys who are obsessed with golf in my age-- lots of my friends own clubs but they never really want to play. If you weren't in school to study golf management, I was one of the only maybe 10-12 out of 10-15K who were willing to play golf more than a few times a week in college.

 

It's really a few things: cost not only to play but in some cases to get a set of clubs, because the hand me downs from the 80's aren't doing any favors to new golfers. Second is time commitment. Most kids my age aren't coming close to being able the time commitment. My job gives me 2 days off, but I usually recover one day and clean the next day. Other than starting the day at 5am playing golf and going to 11PM at work, there's no chance for me to play. Plus, 20-25 bucks twice a week eats through a 200 a month allowance a recent college grad has.

 

I still think though by the time most of my generation hits 40, a lot of us will be playing. Right now things are hectic, but perhaps in 10 years when were settled you'll see a lot of us starting to play more often and figure out the game.

[kygolfer1980]

I haven't played video games in 10+ years.  Don't have anything against them,  just not for me.  My little boy is 6 going on 7 though and I love that he would much rather be outside playing than sitting in front of a TV.  He occasioanlly plays his Nintendo DS and we have an XBox 360 that more or less serves as a DVD player but if you tell that kid to go outside he's through the door before you can finish the sentence.  Can't say that for alot of kids now days.

[fozcycle]

I haven't played video games in 10+ years.  Don't have anything against them,  just not for me. 

 

Ditto for me as well.....I have a PS3 & Wii with TW on both machines.  The Wii allows you to swing the "club".  I just do not set time to sit down and play for the past 6 months or so.

[jpcgolf]

I work with kids every day. They are super active and do lots of stuff out doors. I think it's sort of cliche to think that they sit around all day and play on their iPhone. There is a ton of video game playing, but not more than there was in the 90s when I played games. Maybe golf is just what it is, and maybe we are the weird ones for liking it so much.

 

Thank you, score one for the kids. I do spend time on my phone like most kids, but I spend enough time outdoors like most kids my age (14). My parents make me bike to the course which is nine miles each way, and I am there every day in the summer except when it is closed on mondays.

[markb]

In talking to a girls' high school golf coach today I learned of one thing they do to encourage a more positive response among the girls on the team. They use a modified Stableford system to do most of their scoring. 5 pts for birdie, 4 for par, 3 for bogie, and so on. They pick up after triple. In this way they move faster and only focus on the positive points acquired, ignoring the bad holes. Not a bad idea.

 

Imagine if this practice spread and regular hackers were encouraged not to "tee it forward ", but "pick up after triple" as they wrote down only positive points acquired on their scorecards. A round of golf might seem more like a quest for trophies, instead of a recitation of errors and weaknesses.

[Jondagcl]

I like that idea a lot Mark. Picking up after a triple keeps up the pace, stops the bleeding and keeps the spirits up. My buddy who is the girls golf coach at a local high school even refers to it as "double plus 1, so they don't even have to say they got a triple. They know they got a triple, but they chuckle about calling it a "douple plus 1". They write it down and keep moving and having fun.

[revkev]

In talking to a girls' high school golf coach today I learned of one thing they do to encourage a more positive response among the girls on the team. They use a modified Stableford system to do most of their scoring. 5 pts for birdie, 4 for par, 3 for bogie, and so on. They pick up after triple. In this way they move faster and only focus on the positive points acquired, ignoring the bad holes. Not a bad idea.

 

Imagine if this practice spread and regular hackers were encouraged not to "tee it forward ", but "pick up after triple" as they wrote down only positive points acquired on their scorecards. A round of golf might seem more like a quest for trophies, instead of a recitation of errors and weaknesses.

 

 

I'll refrain from suggesting what might get millenials to play because I'm not one.  Like some others here I have tons of contact with kids ages 2-14 because my church has a day school.  They are hardly what the stereo type suggests - they are really no different from my generation, the boomers, they are trying to carve out their own place in a very complex and scary world.  They have some different obstacles and some different diversion is all.  I enjoy them thoroughly and would gladly be and actually am a sarge to some of them on the golf course and in life.

 

To the point above I totaly agree - I think Stableford is easier to understand, promotes a better pace of play and great tactical thinking.  Since my league is individual its stableford.  We don't do the quota thing, it's straight stableford and then we are flighted by handicap and ranked with in our flight by points earned per week.  We pick up after double par but for kids I like the pick up after triple.  You start out with 5 pick ups per nine, then you get down to 4 and you see your progress at first by reducing the pickups. 

 

The other side impact of Stableford is that since you are contending for a point you are constantly thinking of the best way to take the lowest possible number of strokes from the spot that you are currently at.  It's the way all of us should think after a bad shot but Stableford helps the focus.

[revkev]

Tonight's Restaurant impossible is at a golf course. It's a classic, spot on this and all the other golf discussions on how to attract people to the game.

[markb]

BTW, the Foot-golf experiment at the exec at my local course has been Extremely successful so far. I've seen eightsomes of exuberant kickers and it's packed every evening.

[sp0rtsfan86]

BTW, the Foot-golf experiment at the exec at my local course has been Extremely successful so far. I've seen eightsomes of exuberant kickers and it's packed every evening.

 I saw a story on that. I'm just a traditionalist and wonder if that would actually get people to play golf. I think Top Golf has a much better shot at getting a ton of people into the game of golf.

[markb]

 I saw a story on that. I'm just a traditionalist and wonder if that would actually get people to play golf. I think Top Golf has a much better shot at getting a ton of people into the game of golf.

 

Well, you're probably right about Foot-golf not getting people into GOLF.  Foot-golf only gets paying bodies onto the course, it doesn't make golfers.   I'm seeing lots of latinos and girls and youth, precisely the demographic we'd like to tap into, but they're just coming out for a diversionary outing.  I see coaches bringing out their teams for a different sort of practice sessions.  It will probably go away once school starts, but it is extra revenue for the course while it lasts.

[BIG STU]

BTW, the Foot-golf experiment at the exec at my local course has been Extremely successful so far. I've seen eightsomes of exuberant kickers and it's packed every evening.

My local exec and par 3 course has had the "frisbee" golf for quite a few years now. In fact they have a big national tournament every year in the fall around September or October which for here is a "dead" part of the season between summer tourism and the beginning of snowbird season. As far as getting those people into golf as we know it I dont know but it does provide needed revenue for the course for that time of the year