What we won't be able to find on a golf course on January 1, 2040.

[John Kavanaugh]

Fads come and go and if it lasts 25 years it ain't a fad. I am positive that we won't find a single large mechanical permanent green side fan in 2040.  

Other dream scenarios:

No more walking only courses.
No more forecaddies.
No more men only courses.
No more human marshals.  
No more range pickers during operating hours.
No more lost balls.

25 years is a long, long time.

[Brent Hutto]

I figure I have about 10-15 more years to play golf until there is no longer a course that will allow me to walk when I play. My guess is that well before 2040 there won't be "No more walking only courses" but in fact there will be "No more walking allowed".

Or if it is allowed it will be in a few expensive conclaves set aside for rich people who can pay a huge premium for the throwback walking experience. Which is not me so I'll be out of the game by then.

[Matt MacIver]

No more golf carts. All single person hover crafts, motorized skateboards, Segwees, etc. the good news is pace of play will eventually pick up (along with GPS chips in balls) and rounds will be down to 3 hours.

[Niall C]

Where are these men only courses ? I know a few men only clubs but no men only courses.

As for the suggestion that there will be no more walking courses, I assume you are referring only to the US ?

Niall

[Mark Bourgeois]

Great topic, John. Definitely no more lost balls (although they may not be retrievable).

No more second row of irrigation. No more geese on a course. Fivesomes on public courses during peak times - but round times same or lower. Round times down at all courses.

[Mike_Trenham]

No more score cards, there's an AP for that.
No pin location sheets there's an AP for that (exists today)
No more yardage markers as GPS technology will obsolete them
No courses with more than 6 members on the green crew, courses with large enough budgets will use drone mowers.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Excellent post! Much food for thought.

Sadly, what won't be here in England in 2040 are many species of song birds, red squirrels, dormice, despite much wonderful conservation work being undertaken by course managers and responsible green committees.

[Tim Johnson]

Great topic with some interesting comments.
Although I would love for technology to better the pace of play but I am not sold that it will happen. As another thread mentioned coaching techniques by pros leads to new players mimicking tour pros in their approach to the game from the teachings and also watching the pros on TV. I would be very surprised if we see the average round go back to what is acceptable.

One thing I am dreading is the introduction of the new technology, every time something new comes out, the public rushes to buy it and show it to all their friends. No issues with using GPS but I am getting annoyed with all the guys who have them are constantly offering yardages.....on the same course we have been playing for years like they have new acquired new knowledge that is only available to them.
On the flip side, I do look forward to laughing when the NEW expensive GPS chip ball goes so far left OB that we can pinpoint exactly how far out of reach his NEW ball is

[mike_malone]

No real grass

[Eric Strulowitz]

Interesting food for thought.

The walking thing is really interesting.  My home course is certainly walkable, but there is many a day where there are no walkers.  The remaining walkers are all for the most part very fit and health oriented 60-70 year olds.  When I play,  I prefer to walk, but if the group I am with wants to ride, I ride, because otherwise  it just seems to make the whole rhythm of the group awkward.  Because there are some very long walks between a few holes, my club is a residential course, and it does not make you real popular when the rest are waiting for 5-7 minutes.

There are times when I suggest walking and I see utter horror upon the faces of others.  It is a change in mindset.  When I started the game, riding was the exception.  The clubs had a few carts, but not a whole fleet.  Because most courses were walkable,  they were designed as such, the topography was right and the needs of a residential development did not come first.  Now walking is viewed as the exception, courses have entire fleets of golf carts.  If you are a walker you are viewed as a kind of freak.  I regularly hear comments as "Look at those dumb walkers out there".  I know there are still many clubs out there where there is a culture of walking, I am envious of those clubs and wonder if that culture will exist 25 years from now.

We are becoming increasingly sedentary.  A lot of the young people spend of time doing electronic based pastimes that do not encourage fitness and exertion.  That is a whole different issue, it has been discussed enough.  The golf course of the future, will it have some kind of conveyer system, where you stand on the cart path and it moves.   Sounds silly, but what will the golf course of the future be like?  Makes for some interesting speculation and conversation. 

[Tommy Williamsen]

I just hope that at 92 years old I will still be able to hit a golf ball.  There will still be private courses that you will be able to walk.  I don't see Burning Tree GC ever allowing women members.

[Ryan Coles]

Jack and Arnie.

Player will still be out there though. Didn't do all those sit ups for nothing.

[Brent Hutto]

I just hope that at 92 years old I will still be able to hit a golf ball.  There will still be private courses that you will be able to walk.  I don't see Burning Tree GC ever allowing women members.

Yes, I think there may be enclaves of rich guys indulging the luxury of walking long after it disappears from the larger world of golf.

At least in USA. Although I'm not sure the eventual end game is any different elsewhere. The UK is probably just a generation behind us in turning the game into some sort of cart rodeo interspersed with hitting occasional golf shots.

[John McCarthy]

Caddies replaced by AIs.  Every player carries a device about the size of a ipad that is a combination trackman and networked into other sensors throughout the course.  There may be a tethered balloon over the course with  downward looking radar when combined with speed, spin etc of ball plus weather/wind finds ball within 5 foot radius.  Course will be programmed into pocket caddy, so line of play will be pointed out.  Device notes position on green and suggests line.  Heck, text the halfway house and get beers sent over.  

Hand mowing of greens will be over.  Drones, as stated above.  

AIs are coming very fast.  We better get used to them.  

[John Kavanaugh]

Look back to 1990 and see how little has changed in the last 25 years. I believe most change will be driven by the end of the baby boomer generation of whom I am one of the youngest. In 2040 I will be 80 and while many courses will allow me to walk if I choose, no course will force me.
 
Burning Tree will not survive our second female President as a men's only facility.

[John Kavanaugh]

One thing we could not have predicted in 1990 was the downfall of the cigarette. It is my sincerest hope that by 2040 cameras will be seen for the social scourge that the are quickly becoming.

[Tim Gavrich]

I figure I have about 10-15 more years to play golf until there is no longer a course that will allow me to walk when I play. My guess is that well before 2040 there won't be "No more walking only courses" but in fact there will be "No more walking allowed".

Or if it is allowed it will be in a few expensive conclaves set aside for rich people who can pay a huge premium for the throwback walking experience. Which is not me so I'll be out of the game by then.

Brent--

So there'll be carts all over...

- Bandon Dunes?
- Pinehurst No. 2?
- Barnbougle Dunes?
- Streamsong (year-round)?
- Sand Valley?
- All the public courses that were laid out before golf carts became prevalent?

It seems a greater percentage of the new courses being built thee days are designed with walking in mind than were being built as recent as 10-15 years ago. Have studies been done recently that show courses moving to disallow walking in huge numbers? I've missed them.

Golf will be just fine in 25 years because by that time, the club-buying public will have long since stopped buying the club company marketing BS that continues to insist/pretend club technology has not reached a plateau (it already has).

Average golfers will probably be able to 3D-print tees, balls, grips, etc., so by that time places like Dick's Sporting Goods REALLY won't need bloated golf departments.

[Brent Hutto]

Tim,

Yes, I think any of those courses still extant in 2040 will be played primarily using golf carts. I think the proportion of golf rounds (in USA) played using carts will be 95% or greater within a decade from now. In 25 years it will be near enough to 100% as makes no difference, with the remaining 1% being rich guys using caddies.

[John Kavanaugh]

Brent,

Why don't you think that there will be robotic caddies with a capital and rental cost equal to a cart?  The clubs would get the revenue and you could walk. What would be the downside?

[Brent Hutto]

Here's my bold prediction for January 1, 2040.

GolfNow will by then have an App that most golfers carry along during their round, backed up by a huge pool of online-video-accessible swing coaches/mental game consultants. It'll all be on a subscription basis and available 24x7/365 world-wide.

Before hitting any but the most routine golf shot, the golfer punches up the App and is instantly connected to a coach who directs him through several practice swings, swing drills, breathing exercises, mental rehearsals and gives feedback on his swing using sensors imbedded in whatever gadget the golfer is carrying. Then after 4 minutes of coaching (anything beyond four minutes per shot costs extra) he'll give the go-ahead to make the shot. Then the App will provide feedback on the shot result, showing exactly where the ball went and quantifying the ball flight as well as swing parameters.

This will replace for run-of-the-mill golfers the intensive back and forth they overhear between Phil and "Bones" on television and will also eliminate any boundary between coaching, practice, working on your swing and playing a round of golf. Of course by then rounds will be up to around 5 hours and consist of only nine holes.

[Brent Hutto]

Brent,

Why don't you think that there will be robotic caddies with a capital and rental cost equal to a cart?  The clubs would get the revenue and you could walk. What would be the downside?

The downside would be that by then nobody is going to want to walk. The vast majority of people under 40 years old today (who will be 65 then) know the game only in the form they have always played it with a cart. They will have no more interest or motivation in learning how to play the game afoot than I have in learning to play from a cart.

[jeffwarne]

Tim,

Yes, I think any of those courses still extant in 2040 will be played primarily using golf carts. I think the proportion of golf rounds (in USA) played using carts will be 95% or greater within a decade from now. In 25 years it will be near enough to 100% as makes no difference, with the remaining 1% being rich guys using caddies.

I'm going to go the other way on this.
Everybody is going more health conscious and it's only a matter of time before golf markets that way and people begin to see a 2 or 4 hour walk/push makes more sense than a riding 18 followed by a treadmill workout.
Golf has NEVER been marketed this way and should be, especially at courses that have the capacity for faster rounds
What could work against my theory is the aging of the golfers left playing but I still think the health aspect will catch on and operators will figure out it's cheaper to have a walking clientele due to less course wear and less car expense
Of course the courses that go NLE need to be the RE cartball ones for my theory to fly .

seeing carts as a profit center is simply funny money accounting-people pay for golf, not carts and over time operators will figure that out.
The industry cart people I speak to are braced for this and are looking away from golf for their growth.

Maybe the cartballers opt for Top Golf instead.

and Brent,
Phil should be fined every time he and Bones have an on air conversation---ick-ick-ick

[John Kavanaugh]

Brent,

The robot caddie is too cool to be denied. You don't have to tip and can shut off their bad joke module. Guys love Robots and that isn't going to change as soon as 2040.

The only reason I don't walk more now is that I can't afford to take caddies and play too slow to do all the work myself. If I had a device to do all the work of a caddie at the price of a cart I would walk every round.

[BCowan]

''seeing carts as a profit center is simply funny money accounting-people pay for golf, not carts and over time operators will figure that out.''

May i ask you what board or finance committee you have served on  Knock off the common sense Jeff!  It is all about revenue baby.....   You mean people don't shell out $300+ to play the Bandon Courses for the golf??? I thought it was for the food.  

2040 will be the year of the ''Rake and Runners''.  All Golf carts will have fans on them!  

[John Kavanaugh]

With a small leap in metal technology we won't see a golf bag in 2040. It does seem odd that even today that we carry around a bag of 14 different sticks to play a game with a stationary ball. The only thing stopping us from playing a one club game that is adjusted on the fly is the USGA.