Why have so many left this great game?

[Big money]

Why do people leave the game? Any stories of long time avid players who left as well. And why 

[perseveringgolfer]

I reckon its 3 fold.

1) The time it takes to play 18 holes and the time needed for practice- 

2) Cost- the cost of a round, the cost of equipment, the cost of membership

3) The rules, snobbery, elitism at many courses

[tommc23]

Add their bodies not allowing them to on that list.

[Mr. 82]

Looking around the local muni, and even my Dad's private club, there are plaques at the base of trees and bridges, etc from the dearly departed everywhere.

Looking at the one-day tournament I played in yesterday there were a bunch of retired guys, aged 70+ and a few guys younger than that.  There were 3 guys in the under 50 flight, including me, and I am 51.

When you start generating the numbers from the overall state of the game, you can point to almost any town across the country and count the number of older private courses that are either closing, or have turned public.  There are 3 private courses in this town.  One still breaks even, and is holding steady.  Another one that used to be the place to go, but hasn't been vibrant since the 90's, has sold off 9 of it's 27 holes, and the owner is borderline bankrupt.  The 3rd private club has gone through 2 or 3 management companies, and has recently reopened for public play.  The public courses in town are all struggling.  

They made a comment on the Sirius PGA Tour radio channel that there are literally no golf courses being designed or built anymore.  That was in reference to why Tom Weiskopf was not in the hall of fame, and they mentioned his golf course design credentials.  Jack Nicklaus has made the same comments about how he has ZERO contracts or projects to design new courses in the United States, and he has expanded his company to pursue courses in far off remote countries around the world.

This topic has been discussed in other threads I am sure, but essentially the game is dying.  The "Greatest Generation" built up golf after World War II and the Baby Boomers didn't pick it up as much as they did.  Times have simply changed to where the typical working class man doesn't have the time to play golf or to invest in the equipment and expenses is incurs.  Also factor in that we've added a ton of women to the workforce since the 1980's, and the single income family is almost non-existent now, so a lot of guys don't have permission to spend on golf, whereas their fathers had the only income in the household, so the man did the budget and decided to play golf and invest in it.  But when 50% or more of the household income is controlled by the woman, she might have something to say about the money and time the husband spends on the golf course.

A lot of different factors, but I see it over and over again everywhere I play.  Just wait 10 years if you think things are bad now.  Those guys in their 70's and 80's will be gone in 10+ years and you can double the number of private clubs that will be folding, sold off, bankrupt or opened to public play.  And honestly, not that I want to pick on the older generation ahead of me, but they are very selfish.  They wanted their private clubs, where they can lock out the rest of the world, and have their 7 miles of playground to go hit a little white ball on.  I read some thread here about a private club where the members were actually thrilled no one was coming to their course anymore, because they opened up the course to just them and their buddies.  In fact, I know of a few local courses that are just that way.  A group of 20 or 30 retired guys who selfishly keep the course to themselves, and don't even consider the future beyond their own face.  They don't care as long as they can play golf, and once they are gone, what does it matter to them?

Adapt, change or die, and golf really has chosen to die in my humble opinion.

[TheWahoo]

19 minutes ago, tommc23 said:

Add their bodies not allowing them to on that list.

Personally, you have hit the point.   This year I entered my seventh decade on this planet and, additionally, have some health concerns.   As a result, while I have not completely left the game, I do not play as often as I had.   I find that extremely hot days are difficult.   With all the rain lately, courses are applying "cart path only".   While I certainly understand their need to do so, it does make it difficult for me.   What is the real shame is that darn I love them senior tees.  

[Mr. 82]

You also can look at golf from another angle.  The professional game is extremely healthy and vibrant at the moment.  Tournament purses are the richest they've ever been.  And you also have some very wealthy private courses sprinkled throughout the country.  The top 1% will always be there, and the game will be maintained and even thrive within the 1% that are either very rich, or very talented at this game.  But it's the other 99% that are leaving the game never to return.

It kind of reminds me of college and professional football.  The New England Patriots and the Alabama Crimson Tide continue to monopolize their respective leagues.  But outside of those two teams, the rest of the league is struggling to not only compete, but to stay in business.  But the value of the Patriots and Alabama are at an all time high and those two teams have carte blanche to create their own rules essentially as to how the game is played and prepared for.  As an example, how many other teams have their own fleet of private 767 aircraft?  Sure, it's great for the Patriots, but the Cleveland Browns of the world are wondering how they can turn a profit this year.

[Big money]

Count me in as one who has almost or will be leaving the game for good.The last 5 years my golf has diminished down to nothing.Ive went from an extreme avid 6 day a week golfer for 25 plus years.And now I played only 3 rounds this year and last was late April.My excuse is I just don’t want to be out there anymore.Still go to the driving range a few times a month but that is the extent of it.My love for the game in general will always be with me.The one thing that hurts was buddies calling me up every week for a round on the weekend.They all stopped calling a few years ago since I kept on telling them no.I miss the banter and good times, but don’t miss being on the course as much.At the pace I’m going now, in a few years I won’t even have one round a season.It isn’t money,time or my body preventing me from playing at all

[revkev]

We have this topic come up often so clearly there is a perception that people are leaving the game and not returning.  Of course that has always been the case and certainly the reasons why vary from death to life circumstance to moving on to some other endeavor (having children).  I'm currently in a rut where I play much less golf than I did five years ago.  There are three reasons for this - my job, my daughter's health, my wife's health (she was injured in a car accident and requires much more from me around the house).  None of those things have to do with golf, they have to do with life.  My round totals have dropped from 75 a season to below 50.  I could easily increase these by playing 9 holes more frequently.  I intend to rejoin the league that I used to play in over in St. Pete rather than the one in Tampa next season and that plus Penny's treatments starting to stretch out to once a month or even longer between will help increase those totals.

As a sport Golf is doing fine in my section of the country.  Of course people retire here in part because of golf so its a skewed perspective.  The other thing that's skewed though is golf's decline.  I'd like to see real numbers that compare golf pre-Tiger boom to today.  IMO the perspective that golf is in decline today comes because of an artificial high created by the Tiger hysteria from the late 90's into the mid 2000's.  The economic crash of '08 followed by the decline in Tiger's play and perhaps even many who took up the game discovering it really wasn't for them in the first place led to this so called decline.  OEMs didn't necessarily read the tea leaves well and contributed to the perception and the ruling bodies certainly haven't helped with some very public blunders in their oversight of the game.  I would say that golf is in transition to a new norm, not in decline.

Does anyone know of a study, not an ad hominem discourse based on personal observation, that compares the state of golf today to that in the late 80's early 90's?  That would be interesting. 

Since the OP asked I know lots of stories about avid golfers who left golf for good.  All but one of them died, the other one preferred bowling because it was cheaper and took less time.  He did that for his wife who recently left him anyway.  The moral of that story is that he should have stuck with golf.

[MaxEntropy]

21 minutes ago, revkev said:

We have this topic come up often so clearly there is a perception that people are leaving the game and not returning.  Of course that has always been the case and certainly the reasons why vary from death to life circumstance to moving on to some other endeavor (having children).  I'm currently in a rut where I play much less golf than I did five years ago.  There are three reasons for this - my job, my daughter's health, my wife's health (she was injured in a car accident and requires much more from me around the house).  None of those things have to do with golf, they have to do with life.  My round totals have dropped from 75 a season to below 50.  I could easily increase these by playing 9 holes more frequently.  I intend to rejoin the league that I used to play in over in St. Pete rather than the one in Tampa next season and that plus Penny's treatments starting to stretch out to once a month or even longer between will help increase those totals.

As a sport Golf is doing fine in my section of the country.  Of course people retire here in part because of golf so its a skewed perspective.  The other thing that's skewed though is golf's decline.  I'd like to see real numbers that compare golf pre-Tiger boom to today.  IMO the perspective that golf is in decline today comes because of an artificial high created by the Tiger hysteria from the late 90's into the mid 2000's.  The economic crash of '08 followed by the decline in Tiger's play and perhaps even many who took up the game discovering it really wasn't for them in the first place led to this so called decline.  OEMs didn't necessarily read the tea leaves well and contributed to the perception and the ruling bodies certainly haven't helped with some very public blunders in their oversight of the game.  I would say that golf is in transition to a new norm, not in decline.

Does anyone know of a study, not an ad hominem discourse based on personal observation, that compares the state of golf today to that in the late 80's early 90's?  That would be interesting. 

Since the OP asked I know lots of stories about avid golfers who left golf for good.  All but one of them died, the other one preferred bowling because it was cheaper and took less time.  He did that for his wife who recently left him anyway.  The moral of that story is that he should have stuck with golf.

Excellent post! I firmly agree with your assessment of it being a perceived decline - even course closures fall into this category IMO. Too many opened during the boom which was not sustainable as things normalized.

I more or less left the game for a decade because life happens. I'm really glad a friend encouraged me to join him a few years ago - I had forgotten what I was missing.

[srooch2]

I'll add from a "young" man's perspective. I take this game on as a sport not a social thing. There are times, usually when I'm having a bad round, that I ask myself what's the point? I don't have the time to get better which infuriates me. I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm also starting to have back problems already from work and golf. I would like to play forever but why? I want to be scratch, then what? Unless my son gets into the sport I don't see me playing it forever. All that coupled with I'm in a lower ish income and always will be makes golf not seem like a forever sport.

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[bens197]

The current state of our nation, the economy. There is a greater discrepancy between haves and have nots.

In order to have, it now requires two jobs and or OT to make a comfortable living. In that spare time, a four or five hour round may not take precedence.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[fixyurdivot]

The cost of golf balls most certainly is contrubuting factor .  So what are the statistics on "players leaving the game"? We are currently in the midst of the Baby Boomers reaching retirement and this demographic has always had a large population of players.   And what of the TW's era and and handful of his peers who have brought so many of the Millennial's and GenX age groups into the game?  Based on tour event attendance, how popular tour TV, Golf Channel, and continued pipeline of new equipment, the premise of the threads question just doesn't compute.  I recently stumbled on a website not long ago (National Golf Assn or something like that) that looked to be in the business of studying golf from many angles, but I could not open up some of the data/reports.  Is anyone familiar with what I'm referring too and have any recent studies showing what is happening with player numbers?

[Gg Owen]

58 minutes ago, Big money said:

Count me in as one who has almost or will be leaving the game for good.The last 5 years my golf has diminished down to nothing.Ive went from an extreme avid 6 day a week golfer for 25 plus years.And now I played only 3 rounds this year and last was late April.My excuse is I just don’t want to be out there anymore.Still go to the driving range a few times a month but that is the extent of it.My love for the game in general will always be with me.The one thing that hurts was buddies calling me up every week for a round on the weekend.They all stopped calling a few years ago since I kept on telling them no.I miss the banter and good times, but don’t miss being on the course as much.At the pace I’m going now, in a few years I won’t even have one round a season.It isn’t money,time or my body preventing me from playing at all

I’m so surprised you are a member on a golf forum 

[perseveringgolfer]

1 hour ago, tommc23 said:

Add their bodies not allowing them to on that list.

My club have the majority of players in the 45-70 age range, plus I get a club email weekly (seems like weekly but prob fortnightly) about another 'with regret' email as another member passes.

There are times when I'm sore and tired, 12 over par, it's wet and cold and I wonder why I'm walking around this field lugging bits of metal while wearing only 2 layers of clothing. This, and my wife thinks I'm out enjoying myself lol

Once back home I'm itching to play yet again though.

[revkev]

The cost of golf balls most certainly is contrubuting factor .  So what are the statistics on "players leaving the game"? We are currently in the midst of the Baby Boomers reaching retirement and this demographic has always had a large population of players.   And what of the TW's era and and handful of his peers who have brought so many of the Millennial's and GenX age groups into the game?  Based on tour event attendance, how popular tour TV, Golf Channel, and continued pipeline of new equipment, the premise of the threads question just doesn't compute.  I recently stumbled on a website not long ago (National Golf Assn or something like that) that looked to be in the business of studying golf from many angles, but I could not open up some of the data/reports.  Is anyone familiar with what I'm referring too and have any recent studies showing what is happening with player numbers?

My camp exactly - show me the data - not the ten year old data starting from the boom downward but the 20 and 30 year old data - heck go back 50 years.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are more courses and that the game is more accessible and affordable for more people than it was 50 years ago. But I would want data to prove that thought


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[TheWahoo]

19 minutes ago, revkev said:

 

My camp exactly - show me the data - not the ten year old data starting from the boom downward but the 20 and 30 year old data - heck go back 50 years.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are more courses and that the game is more accessible and affordable for more people than it was 50 years ago. But I would want data to prove that thought


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While maybe not 50 years ago, but 40 years ago, I can remember when people would join a private club in order to get access to tee times.    I can remember a local muni would start taking tee times for the weekend the  Monday prior at 8:00am.   If one could get through by 8:15 the best tee times were taken.  

But I'm not sure it is just golf that is impacted in our current digital age.   When I was a youngster, I'd meet my buds for some sort of a pick-up game.   Now it seems that youngsters would prefer to text their buds and use social media.  It would not surprise me that in some point in the future, video golf will be more popular than actually going to a course.   

[GB13]

7 minutes ago, TheWahoo said:

While maybe not 50 years ago, but 40 years ago, I can remember when people would join a private club in order to get access to tee times.    I can remember a local muni would start taking tee times for the weekend the  Monday prior at 8:00am.   If one could get through by 8:15 the best tee times were taken.  

But I'm not sure it is just golf that is impacted in our current digital age.   When I was a youngster, I'd meet my buds for some sort of a pick-up game.   Now it seems that youngsters would prefer to text their buds and use social media.  It would not surprise me that in some point in the future, video golf will be more popular than actually going to a course.   

Yeah, while we say that golf on a course is declining, golf is booming in things like TopGolf and Screen golf. You get rounds done quicker and it appeals more to my generation. I would never trade being out on the course for 4 hours for TopGolf but I know 99% of people my age don't have the attention span for a 4 hour round. They would much rather go to TopGolf or a simulator for an hour. 

I don't know why you simulate something when you can actually do it but I am quite different from most in my generation. 

[Mr. 82]

1 hour ago, Brewmaster said:

I'll add from a "young" man's perspective. I take this game on as a sport not a social thing. There are times, usually when I'm having a bad round, that I ask myself what's the point? I don't have the time to get better which infuriates me. I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm also starting to have back problems already from work and golf. I would like to play forever but why? I want to be scratch, then what? Unless my son gets into the sport I don't see me playing it forever. All that coupled with I'm in a lower ish income and always will be makes golf not seem like a forever sport.

Sent from my VS988 using MyGolfSpy mobile app
 

We seem to be in similar shoes.  I'm hovering around a 7 handicap, which I realize is a lot better than the average golfer, but it prevents me from competing against even the best amateurs around my age range.  I do get frustrated at my limited ability to get better, and the lack of time needed to really go that extra mile.  I've got back issues as well, so health is a new concern for me.  And I'm not breaking the bank with income either, which means I have to get creative in how I approach this game.  But my expenses are minimal, which leads me to why I actually play the game.  I've been playing on and off for over 40 years, since I was 7 years old.  But I've gone stretches of years where I didn't play at all, mostly when the kids were young and I was struggling just to pay the rent and day care.  But those days are long gone for me.  My life circumstances have changed now to where I am actually looking at life and from my perspective, if I am not playing golf I am sitting around the house doing nothing beyond staring at TV.  Well screw that.  That's exactly what I said after my son died.  I hit the golf course, and I haven't looked back since.  I'm not going to sit around and do nothing, and since I am pretty decent at golf I keep at it.  Will I ever accomplish anything of any significance in this game?  Probably not.  But if it's a choice between sitting around staring at the TV, or playing golf, I'll choose golf every time.  So maybe I'm a one trick pony, and I have a limited number of years remaining.  But I refuse to sit in front of the TV waiting to die, like I've seen my in-laws, and now my own mother do.  Like I told my wife, I'll be on the golf course.  And frankly, I've never had a hole in one.  Maybe, just maybe the good Lord will grant me one of those, and it will be the day I make one of those, and then I just collapse on the tee box after celebrating the hole in one, and then they can just bury me there.

Quote

Here lies GSwag.  He had a hole-in-one here and then breathed his last.

 

[cksurfdude]

Not golf, but on a parallel track - windsurfing in most parts of the country is in decline, primarily due to cost + difficulty. Most of the younger people (mostly guys) take up kitesurfing - which I guess may look similar to a non-sailor but is pretty different.

So I guess a takeaway here is any sport* will change over time.

* Probably this relates more to non-team sports not played on a rules-defined field, eg. baseball, football, basketball, soccer.

[Mr. 82]

Some numbers, since some were asking for real data...

https://www.golf.com/tour-news/2018/05/01/15-numbers-you-need-know-about-us-golf-economy

[Mr. 82]

I mean, if you want to, a cursory google search will have you buried in the weeds of opinion and data on the state of the game of golf...

Here's a news article that seems to have an agenda, citing multiple sources with numbers of muni golf courses that are losing money in Florida.  They spend 99.9% of the article asking and interviewing people from money losing munis.  At the end of the article they cite one example of a muni that operates in the black.  Well, why not ask that muni why it's profitable and share that information with the other munis in hopes that what that information provides can help the other munis be profitable.  Nah, no agenda in this article whatsoever.

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2018/04/23/many-floridas-public-golf-courses-struggle-declining-participation-and-revenue/537882002/

[Big money]

I really love your posts GSwag . I venture saying most people affiliated with golf via (a local golf pro/course owner / golf manufacture / wholesaler/ or major golf club companies ) will always say golf is booming . They have a vested interest and will never say it is declining. It’s the nature of being in a business. It’s dying , and dying  a slow painful death. I’m even going to say that most if not all outdoor sporting activities are dying. It’s society and today’s generation of the technology age . And people’s general lifestyle changes of go- go go . Golf just doesn’t appeal to them. It’s demanding; time consuming ; and just won’t fit in their busy lifestyles. My advice for anyone considering entering the golf business is look for another form of income. Would be a huge waste of time pursuing a career in this industry . It’s a great time buying a golf country club membership or even equipment. Some excellent deals out there. Heck , I even talked to a guy that negotiated his price for a round of golf locally. The course was so slow they gave him a cart and round for twilight fee mid day 

[GB13]

2 minutes ago, Big money said:

I really love your posts GSwag . I venture saying most people affiliated with golf via (a local golf pro/course owner / golf manufacture / wholesaler/ or major golf club companies ) will always say golf is booming . They have a vested interest and will never say it is declining. It’s the nature of being in a business. It’s dying , and dying  a slow painful death. I’m even going to say that most if not all outdoor sporting activities are dying. It’s society and today’s generation of the technology age . And people’s general lifestyle changes of go- go go . Golf just doesn’t appeal to them. It’s demanding; time consuming ; and just won’t fit in their busy lifestyles. My advice for anyone considering entering the golf business is look for another form of income. Would be a huge waste of time pursuing a career in this industry 

I don't think golf is dying. I think it is becoming a more niche sport and will thrive in its own little spot. It just needs to downsize and it will be healthy again. It may not look how it does now but it will come back. Maybe there will be a course every 4 towns instead of one in every town, but that one course will thrive instead of having 4 failing courses. There will always be avid golfers but the "recreational" crowd might stop playing as much. Golf will end up being like curling. A niche sport that is still popular to those who care about it but not a popular, mainstream sport  

So instead of golf dying, I think it is downsizing but is going to thrive as a niche sport. 

[Big money]

3 minutes ago, GB13 said:

I don't think golf is dying. I think it is becoming a more niche sport and will thrive in its own little spot. It just needs to downsize and it will be healthy again. It may not look how it does now but it will come back. Maybe there will be a course every 4 towns instead of one in every town, but that one course will thrive instead of having 4 failing courses. There will always be avid golfers but the "recreational" crowd might stop playing as much. Golf will end up being like curling. A niche sport that is still popular to those who care about it but not a popular, mainstream sport  

So instead of golf dying, I think it is downsizing but is going to thrive as a niche sport. 

Niche sport-hobby is just a kind way saying it is dying. And condensing. It is what it is, can’t force people to play the game 

 

[Mr. 82]

12 minutes ago, Big money said:

I really love your posts GSwag . I venture saying most people affiliated with golf via (a local golf pro/course owner / golf manufacture / wholesaler/ or major golf club companies ) will always say golf is booming . They have a vested interest and will never say it is declining. It’s the nature of being in a business. It’s dying , and dying  a slow painful death. I’m even going to say that most if not all outdoor sporting activities are dying. It’s society and today’s generation of the technology age . And people’s general lifestyle changes of go- go go . Golf just doesn’t appeal to them. It’s demanding; time consuming ; and just won’t fit in their busy lifestyles. My advice for anyone considering entering the golf business is look for another form of income. Would be a huge waste of time pursuing a career in this industry . It’s a great time buying a golf country club membership or even equipment. Some excellent deals out there. Heck , I even talked to a guy that negotiated his price for a round of golf locally. The course was so slow they gave him a cart and round for twilight fee mid day 

I could make an argument that people's interests have changed as well.  Here in Tallahassee, it is similar to other college sports towns in the southeast.  With golf it isn't about the money or the time, because I've got good friends that will play golf in the spring and the summer, but I don't even bother asking them during football season.  They've got their pickup trucks and they will spend $1,000 a week during a home game to tailgate, starting Saturday morning before the sun comes up, where they'll drop God knows how much money on food and liquor for their tailgate.  They've also bought a golf cart, just to cruise around the stadium during the tailgate.  They eat all day Saturday and consume countless amounts of liquor - everything from beer, to hard liquor and beyond.  They'll also travel for road games as well.  Some of these folks bought an RV just for these road games.  They drive wherever the team is playing on the road and tailgate there as well.

I would argue away from the "busy lifestyles" argument either.  If these people are so busy, then how come they can invest 22 hours of their Saturday, and another day or two driving to and from a road game during football season?  They aren't busy.  They just prioritize football over everything else.  They won't spend $20 on greens fees for a four hour round of golf, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they are dropping $10,000 a year on football tickets, tailgating, and everything else that goes with it.  It's definitely not a money thing, especially when you look at it from that perspective. 

Look, I just picked football tailgating and fandom as one other thing people spend their money on, but honestly, wherever you live, just look around at what people are doing.  If anything, the liquor store sure isn't hurting for business.  We've got an entire nation that honestly doesn't even need an excuse to get liquored up whenever.  Sure, they use a football game as an excuse to eat and drink WAAAAAY too much, but honestly people will make up reasons for why it's time to drink and eat too much.  Golf just isn't one of those things for them.  

People want the quick and easy, and to party, and to have a good time.  Like you said, golf is too much work, and fitting their drunken party into golf just doesn't work for most people anymore.  Taking it even one step further, I played in my Dad's member guest a couple of years in a row, and I remember how they set that tournament up.  They enticed a bunch of players into playing in that tournament by making it open bar.  It was all the beer and hard liquor you could drink.  And I am pretty sure there were a bunch of players that made sure the club lost money on that offer.

I guess I'm just different then the mindset and mentality I describe in this post, and honestly, it's hard for me to hold down more than a couple of beers.  And I've been drunk a few times, and I really don't get the fascination with drinking to the point of where you are close to passing out or acting like a fool in public.  All I remember from those experiences is waking up with the worst hangover imaginable and being completely worthless for the next 24 hours.  But for those of you who enjoy this lifestyle, more power to you.  It's just not for me.

[NiftyNiblick]

I feel very confident that the most applicable reasons for golf's decline

would result in a political discussion not appropriate for this forum

 

Most--certainly not all but most-- people who actually play golf are likely to have a world view

that actually diminishes the likelihood of their seeing the true causes for golf's decline.

 

Anyway, that's my opinion. 

I can't carry it much further than this, but please feel to do so if you think that you can..

Or discuss it in PMs.

[B81Smith]

Count me in as one who has almost or will be leaving the game for good.The last 5 years my golf has diminished down to nothing.Ive went from an extreme avid 6 day a week golfer for 25 plus years.And now I played only 3 rounds this year and last was late April.My excuse is I just don’t want to be out there anymore.Still go to the driving range a few times a month but that is the extent of it.My love for the game in general will always be with me.The one thing that hurts was buddies calling me up every week for a round on the weekend.They all stopped calling a few years ago since I kept on telling them no.I miss the banter and good times, but don’t miss being on the course as much.At the pace I’m going now, in a few years I won’t even have one round a season.It isn’t money,time or my body preventing me from playing at all

Then what is the reason if not time, money, friends, or your body.....that’s literally every possible reason aside from horribly sucking as good which can’t be the case if you’ve played for 25 year 4-6 times a week.


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[B81Smith]

I'll add from a "young" man's perspective. I take this game on as a sport not a social thing. There are times, usually when I'm having a bad round, that I ask myself what's the point? I don't have the time to get better which infuriates me. I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm also starting to have back problems already from work and golf. I would like to play forever but why? I want to be scratch, then what? Unless my son gets into the sport I don't see me playing it forever. All that coupled with I'm in a lower ish income and always will be makes golf not seem like a forever sport.

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I’m I. The same boat. Lower income but highly educated. Near scratch and once a plus 1. Now I’m like a 4 but feel I’m a hack has been at 37. I’ve lost about 30-40 yards on tee shots. I’ve lost about 10 yards on irons. I hate not being really good and hate that I’m basically out of time to get really good like plus 5 good and I always had my eyes set on senior tour but the way things are going it’s no chance. It’ll be the hall of fame tour soon and no one will get a chance unless you’ve got tour wins.

I don’t think we are in a decline though. More of a shift. A shift from the local muni kid making it to strictly the private country club kids making it. The ones who can pay for lessons from a top tier teacher at 500/hr to nutrition and weight training plus all the amazing golf they play. I just came from a wedding at a top private club. Think it’s 100k to join. Yes they’re hurting for members but the folks who are there play a ton. They have heated bays in the winter with indoor putting greens and indoor golf simulators. You name it. Regular kids can’t compete with that. It’s in great health in the highest of tiers. I’d say Ryan Moore was the last to win both the pub links plus the us amateur.


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[B81Smith]

The cost of golf balls most certainly is contrubuting factor .  So what are the statistics on "players leaving the game"? We are currently in the midst of the Baby Boomers reaching retirement and this demographic has always had a large population of players.   And what of the TW's era and and handful of his peers who have brought so many of the Millennial's and GenX age groups into the game?  Based on tour event attendance, how popular tour TV, Golf Channel, and continued pipeline of new equipment, the premise of the threads question just doesn't compute.  I recently stumbled on a website not long ago (National Golf Assn or something like that) that looked to be in the business of studying golf from many angles, but I could not open up some of the data/reports.  Is anyone familiar with what I'm referring too and have any recent studies showing what is happening with player numbers?

Ah golf balls costing a lot has nothing to do with it. I’d know because o don’t have money but really look for balls on every hole I play. I’d say after 37 rounds of golf I may have lost a net 3 golf balls. A typical round for me is loose 3 balls but find 5. So I’m up a net 2 balls. I’m literally just getting balls out of the bag and hitting them into the water or woods because they’re 10 years old or have a scuff or cut in the cover.

I’d say it’s the boomers who’re giving the game up because they used to be good and their bodies are giving out. My dad is in the bunch. He went from being a 9 handicap and playing 3 times a week to being a 20 handicap and playing 10 times a year due to a shoulder injury and that quickly accelerated a shaky balance and issues with bending over. Etc etc. it’s like a dog whose fine one day and suddenly develops a limp and in a matter of days is being put down because they can’t go outside or get around anymore. It’s a quick down fall and it’s really sad to watch. You literally watch your hero go down hill so fast and no one can do anything about it.


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[TheWahoo]

23 minutes ago, Big money said:

Niche sport-hobby is just a kind way saying it is dying. And condensing. It is what it is, can’t force people to play the game 

 

While I understand your perspective, I do think that GB13 makes a valid point.   At my age, one thing that I have come to realize is that "you are not dead, until you are dead."    I have also discovered that as I age I must accommodate the circumstances that come with age.   While some my perceive golf to be dying, it is not dead yet.   As long as there are still people on the course, it is still breathing, in a manner of speaking.   Like CB13 suggests, it is accommodating its changing circumstances to assure that it keeps breathing.  If it can keep breathing, who knows what changing circumstances may bring in the future.