a few basic facts:
- i have not read all 8 pages of comments, and only skimmed the forbes article, but i am headstrong in my belief as to why golf is declining.
in my opinion it's that american leisure golf is a failure. the brits/scots can walk 18 holes in 3 hours, yet we have players at public courses using blades, playing the tips and taking practice swings yet they can barely break 90, thus generating rounds that last 4 hours and 45 minutes at best. i'm 28 years old, i picked up a club for the first time before i was 5 thanks to my dad. in the past 10 years, ive been lucky enough to play at a private club annually except for 1 year, when i was living in california and not new york. in that year, in greater LA, i experienced first hand this phenomenon that is ruining the game. people play too damn slowly and are inconisderate. they think their leisurely 18 hole round is like sunday at augusta. golf's lost many of us millelnials b/c it takes too damn long. it's not a cost thing, you can find great clubs for real cheap thanks to the secondary market and also you can play public course on discount too. but it's an ego thing, it's guys who can't break 90 buying big bertha alpha's brand new, and stalking putts etc. try explaining to a serious girlfriend / fiance / wife that youre leaving at 10 am for an 1130 tee time, then you play til unfortunately 430, and then youre home at 630. thats how this game has lost many millenials (though not me). a friend and i 2 weeks ago at our private club zipped around 18 holes in a cart in 2 hours. the fact that whether walking or riding, 18 holes at municipals in crowded metropolitan hours rarely, if ever, have rounds played in under 4 hours is an atrocity. until the pga of america and usga take a page from the other side of the pond and promote fast play, the game will continue to die.
what can be done in my opinion:
-pace of play deposit's of 25% of round cost at public courses.
- ambassadors of the game promoting fast play,
- forget tee it forward inititiave. make people show handicap cards to starters in order to play tees from certain lengths. 5.0's and better only at 7k, 10.0s and better only at 6500 and so forth. don't have a handicap? tough luck youre playing the whites, or go spend the $30 bucks it takes to get one. disappointed you can't play the tees you paid for b/c youre index isn't low enough? tough luck, get better.
- work with people to learn their distances, and to also understand nobody ever died when a ball rolled up onto a green. 15 handicaps shouldn't be waiting from 200 yards out to hit the green, as an example. you roll a ball up on the group in front of you? go up and apologize and tell them you hit a career shot. as i said, nobody ever died from a ball rolling onto a green, or even much less a 1 bouncer ( though that's significantly worse).
- stress how abominable american pace of play is compared to our counterparts in the british isles, and stress how tiring and useless practice swings are.
in short, i think so so much can be done to increase the pace of play, even if it means being a bit snippy/short to a stranger you get paired up with, or 1 of your friends. i passionatley feel that its an epidemic that is slowly killing golf. tournaments are one thing, but leisure rounds at municipalities need to be conducted in 4 hours at worst, else the game will continue to lose players and loyalists alike.
rant over.
This is a really great post and I can relate to everything you say.
I just got back from a week of golf at Hilton Head with my wife. . The place we stayed was beautiful, the courses were beautiful, the food was great, but have little interest in ever going back, at least to play golf. Most of the rounds we played was not golf, it was some aberration. Sit and wait, sit and wait.
We had several rounds that were well over 5 hours and many that were over 4 1/2. One morning we were with a couple that had not played in seven years, the timeshare they stayed comped them the round so they said why not. Another round, I was paired with a decent player, but his brother in law never played. Another round, a father was teaching his son while we were playing. The kid had no idea of basic etiquette or rules, he had no idea what clubs to use, and he dug up the fairways. For two rounds, our partners disappeared at the turn, taking forever to get nourishments. We also had a round where we were paired up with a couple and the lady would take 3 practice swings, go away from the ball, and then do 3 more, and then freeze over the ball and finally hit, the cycle took two minutes each time. This simply is not fun, it is nerve wracking. I consider myself very patient and understanding, but after a while it just becomes too much. Every day it was extremely hot and humid, when I am moving it is barley noticeable, but when you are sitting and sitting and waiting and waiting, , it gets very uncomfortable.
The two rounds I played at some exclusive private clubs I booked through my club, the rounds were all under 4 hours, and one was just under 3. The round at Harbor Town was superb, they had us spaced well from the other groups, and even though the couple that we were paired with was clearly getting hot and tired by mid round, and started hitting really poorly, the caddies kept us moving.
I am everything but a stuffy individual, they do not come more down to earth, but I am pretty much done with public and resort golf. If I do go to a resort, it will be a place where there are mostly serious golfers, like Pinehurst, Sea Island, or Kiawah. And yes, there might be some rude and slow playesr there too, at least there will be less of a chance. I am a club golfer, not to say that there are not rude and slow golfers at private clubs, but there is definitely more courtesy and etiquette. The little time I get off, I can't afford to spend it with such stupidity. Waiting and waiting to hit each shot, and having to deal with incredibly slow play and rude behaviors, is not worth it and there are other things I can be doing in my leisure time. So I am just one person, but with a few exceptions, I am done with public and resort golf. Multiply that by thousands who feel the same way.
Golf won't police itself. It takes just one or two people to back up an entire course and ruin the experience for countless dozens. Rangers are incredibly timid, everyone is afraid of upsetting the consumer, because rounds are indeed down and God forbid you upset someone, you lose another potential customer. I can see where people who have families and work a lot of hours have walked away. I have many friends and acquaintances that have walked away. Because time is a precious asset. And many of us already have stress on our jobs and families, why engage in an activity that should NOT be stressful, but ends up being incredibly stressful because of the inconsideration of others. And then on top of that, paying for all this. There are so many other things you can be do.