Why are we losing long term avid players ?

[RickyBobby_PR]

54 minutes ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

Every course I've played and the rule at our course...You don't  sit and eat at the turn.  If you do, you forfeit you position on the course.  Our GM and I had this discussion just last week, some players seem to think it's  the 1970's country club mentality where a 30 minute lunch at the turn is the norm.  

Everywhere I’ve been that’s the case. I’ve been to a course or two where you pretty much either go out after getting your food or your done and no getting in line of groups coming off the front 

[TR1PTIK]

14 hours ago, Middler said:

Younger generations didn't have nearly as many organized sports/activities to choose from way back when than they do now.

Yeah, because now we have hobby horses  

 

[DiscipleofPenick]

Congratulations and good luck!  You'll be busy for a while, but the game will be waiting for you when you have time again.  Just get a club into the little one's hands as soon as you can.  Golf with your kids is the best. 

Thanks! Playing with my dad is how I got started so I can't wait to carry this on for another generation.

Take Dead Aim

[HardcoreLooper]

On 9/30/2019 at 10:58 AM, Berg Ryman said:

But then, I pull up after 9 and these guys are chowing down at the turn. I proceed to the 10th and have my tee in the ground when a cart comes whistling up to me. "Hey, we didn't say you could play through! We're in an outing of 6 foursomes, you gotta wait!"

And if you did manage to find yourself in the middle of these six foursomes, what would the issue be?  Would you have somehow interrupted the rhythm of their impeccable games?

[Charli]

Pretty simple for me. Starting a family. My need to golf has disappeared. I don’t even truly enjoy playing 18 because I want to get home and hang out with my daughter. 

[tony@CIC]

10 hours ago, Charli said:

Pretty simple for me. Starting a family. My need to golf has disappeared. I don’t even truly enjoy playing 18 because I want to get home and hang out with my daughter. 

Enjoy while you can hey grow up quickly!

[HardcoreLooper]

On 10/16/2019 at 9:57 PM, Charli said:

Pretty simple for me. Starting a family. My need to golf has disappeared. I don’t even truly enjoy playing 18 because I want to get home and hang out with my daughter. 

I was in the exact same boat. Serious question for you... If 18 holes is too much of a time commitment, would you be interested in being able to play for an hour at, let's say, a third of the normal greensfee?

This is something I am bugging the GM at a local course (a friend of mine) about. 

I know I keep beating this drum on this forum... maybe this will be the last time I mention it. 

 

 

[Mr. 82]

I'm 52 years old, and have been playing golf on and off for 45 of those years, when my Dad got me started at this game at age 7.  If I were to be honest I would guess that more than half of those 45 years I did not pick up a club, sometimes for years at a time, most of it due to life circumstances like military service out of high school, having a child/getting married with no money for anything but necessities.  Working two and sometimes three jobs at the same time it's just enough to get in enough sleep to survive.  Once my kids were starting to grow up a bit, I quit the game to dedicate myself to family and spending valuable free time with them and the wife.

Again, life presents peaks and valleys, and the older I get, the more I see those valleys in other's lives with regards to golf.  When put in a proper perspective, ultimately golf is a luxury item, and it is a leisure activity, played with extra time, and/or extra money.  Pretty much my entire adult life, the experiences on exclusive private clubs have come at the hands of others, and mostly from my father, whenever I visited my parents.

I can also tell you that I just recently joined a golf club that I would consider a really fantastic club about an hour from my house.  I've put out invitations for others to join me to play this club, and have even offered to pay for their greens fees (which is upwards of $50 for a guest fee) and I have not yet received any takers.  The excuses I received ranged from out of town, to "it's too early for me to get up" to family commitments, to whatever.  But I am honest with them in the time commitment, which in this case for all of them, would essentially require an entire Saturday to make playing golf at this course happen.

And honestly, if I step back and examine their reasons, and their lives, compared to mine, perhaps I'm the one whose life is out of balance, as I have nothing else to do, so blowing an entire Saturday on the golf course is no big deal to me.  But I would imagine that even among the die hards here at MGS that a majority of you would have a struggle to spend an entire Saturday on the golf course, including travel to and from.

And for those that don't recall my previous posts on my life experiences, but I'd honestly trade places with a few of the guys who turned me down for golf due to family commitments.  I've got a 27 year old daughter I barely talk to that lives 500 miles away from me, and I lost my only son 5 years ago to suicide.  So I started playing golf avidly again after my son passed.  But it's still a bittersweet experience every time I tee it up, because I'd gladly trade whatever time I am wasting on the golf course, to spend five more minutes with my son again.

I can't speak to the elitist complaining of others here, because honestly I'm just grateful to be healthy enough to tee it up when I can.  I've come to appreciate life as a gift not to be taken for granted.  If I run into people who are selfish and "elitist" I simply move on to greener pastures.  I just don't think my time should be wasted on people that wouldn't change even if I put a gun to their head and forced them to.  I simply move on and find the places where it is welcoming, and people value my presence and patronage.  That goes for anything in life, golf or otherwise.

I've met some really good people playing golf, and have some fantastic friends.  I also have good friends who have never picked up a club in their lives, and my life is better for knowing them.  Sometimes I think it's so easy to pick people apart and blame all of our problems on others.  However, I know that when I look in the mirror, how I interact with the world starts with me, and the only one I can control is me, and how I choose to interact with anyone that comes into my life.  So the bigger question is, will you choose to be a positive influence on others, or blame everyone else for why you have such a negative attitude about life?

Perhaps I've answered my own question in that I'd only hope that I will leave this world a little better then how I found it - on the golf course, or off.

[Charli]

On 10/19/2019 at 12:32 AM, HardcoreLooper said:

I was in the exact same boat. Serious question for you... If 18 holes is too much of a time commitment, would you be interested in being able to play for an hour at, let's say, a third of the normal greensfee?

This is something I am bugging the GM at a local course (a friend of mine) about. 

I know I keep beating this drum on this forum... maybe this will be the last time I mention it. 

 

 

Like a quick 3 holes? Not sure it’s be even worth it. There would have to be nobody in front so I could fly given it’s a hole limit or just a time limit. s*** I’d bring 4/5 clubs and run the course get my exercise in too. They need a night time course... kids go to sleep poppa bear goes and smashes golf balls. That way I don’t feel bad their sleeping can’t do anything else. 

[HardcoreLooper]

23 minutes ago, Charli said:

Like a quick 3 holes? Not sure it’s be even worth it. There would have to be nobody in front so I could fly given it’s a hole limit or just a time limit. s*** I’d bring 4/5 clubs and run the course get my exercise in too. They need a night time course... kids go to sleep poppa bear goes and smashes golf balls. That way I don’t feel bad their sleeping can’t do anything else. 

I'm thinking you should be able to get in six holes playing solo in an hour.  But jam in as many as you can.  Hop in a cart and jump around if you need to, or play multiple balls if you get stuck behind a slow group.  Either way, you should be able to get in six holes-worth of golf if you go out by yourself or with just one other person.  Basically, this is all the kinds of things I did when I belonged to a private club.  That's one big advantage of belonging to a private club (especially a walkable one), you can go out and play for an hour and it makes economic sense.

Early morning/late night speed golf a few times a week would be really sweet.  And playing under the lights is always fun.  There's a scruffy little par 3 around here that lights up on the weekends until it gets cold.  It's not Augusta National, but it's fun to scrape it around out there.

 

[Charli]

On 10/20/2019 at 10:27 PM, HardcoreLooper said:

I'm thinking you should be able to get in six holes playing solo in an hour.  But jam in as many as you can.  Hop in a cart and jump around if you need to, or play multiple balls if you get stuck behind a slow group.  Either way, you should be able to get in six holes-worth of golf if you go out by yourself or with just one other person.  Basically, this is all the kinds of things I did when I belonged to a private club.  That's one big advantage of belonging to a private club (especially a walkable one), you can go out and play for an hour and it makes economic sense.

Early morning/late night speed golf a few times a week would be really sweet.  And playing under the lights is always fun.  There's a scruffy little par 3 around here that lights up on the weekends until it gets cold.  It's not Augusta National, but it's fun to scrape it around out there.

 

I do belong to a club but stupidly joined a club I can’t really get to after work because of traffic. So lost a lot of rounds this year. But now joining somewhere on my way home from work. So things will hopefully change.