I recently spoke with a golf industry professional about the future of golf.
Golf content, golf interest, but most poignantly, the demographic of the new golfer. Not his or her skin color or age range or gender, but their why.
The reasons people are beginning to play golf are changing.
We discussed that (years ago) new golfers fell into just two primary categories:
Children, beginning to play golf at a young age, presumably due to a father’s desire to see his child fulfill his own lifelong dream of golf superstardom (I only half joke).
The business golfer: this is the successful businessperson who must at least fake interest in golf to get good enough to hang with those he or she wants money from (money in the form of a business deal, of course).
There is of course the honorable mention: the casual college golfer. He picks it up because a few of his friends play, but he gives up golf because he gets married and has children.
This golfer doesn’t get his own spot, as he matures into the business golfer 15 years later.
Why was this so?
Golf was not a popular thing to simply pick up in your mid-twenties for fun. Now this, we understand. Golf is hard, it rarely gives in the beginning. It takes and takes and takes.
Golf was hardly a welcoming sport. Very country club, very stuffy, very exclusive. Reserved for successful businessmen and the children of successful businessmen. Dress code, tight. Club memberships, expensive.
Golf was for a very particular type of person.
The Pandemic
The pandemic forced us inside, and golf became an escape to the outdoors. We’d hear stories of new golfers sneaking on to courses with their friends. Covid closed the clubs, but you can’t close the tee boxes (I guess you could, but few did).
Golfing became about health and wellness, it became about community (in the normal human sense, not the exclusive country club sense).
Side note: I don’t disapprove of the country club model. I think if you can afford the luxury of a high-end club that offers golf, tennis, dining, events, etc., go for it. There will always be a place for luxury, and for a good portion of our population, that’s what accumulating money is for: to enjoy luxury and pleasure.
While I enjoy a luxury from time to time, this is where our philosophies go their separate ways. Regardless, I think these establishments can certainly add to quality of life and introduce you to those in a similar life-stage and position as you.
But again, golf as a sport got roped into that exclusivity that required money and status, and that has changed.
Though still an expensive hobby, it’s becoming more and more about time spent outside, with friends, for the sake of improvement and for the sake of enjoyment.
Now
Now you have young guys going out there knocking balls around in their sweats. You’ve got Youtubers influencing kids just to hit the course with their fun games and silly challenges.
That influence did not seem to exist pre-pandemic.
To learn about golf years ago, you almost had to have a father who was obsessed or you had to have a subscription to some golf magazine, which as a kid, you’re not going to have.
When Gen Z thinks about golf, they don’t think about who’s performing well on tour. They think about the next video their favorite influencer is going to drop on Youtube. Things are just different.
Alas
The new golfer of old needed a referral or a successful father or maybe a friend with good access. The new golfer today has the world of golf all around them. At their fingertips, they can be entertained by golf in a way that suits their interests.
The game of golf is multidimensional enough to satisfy the athlete, the history buff, the fashion designer, the businessperson, the artist, the architect, the film junkie.
Golf is for anyone and everyone, and that is how it’s changed.
Though keeping the game small would have me feeling like I could have the game all to myself, it’s a beautiful thing that more and more are coming to the game in their own respective ways.
Why don’t we welcome them as we were once welcomed?
Cheers,
Luke ManganOn Golf