Thursday, May 26, 2016

End of golf?

From a Bloomberg Magazine article "How Golf Got Stuck in the Rough":

"Today companies are relying less on glad-handing on the links, and many young people are cool to a pursuit viewed as time-intensive and elitist.  The result: Golf is suffering from an exodus of players, and courses are closing. The number of U.S. golfers has dropped 24 percent from its peak in 2002, to about 23 million players last year, according to Pellucid."

Golf is an unsustainable sport unless the golf course is in the tropics.  A cultural shift has occurred as well.

"Those sticking with the sport are playing fewer rounds.  U.S. golfers played a total of 462 million rounds last year, according to researcher Golf Datatech.  That was the fewest since 1995.  Says Morelli: "All the people under 35 are leaving the game.""

I believe golf is a sport that will significantly decrease in the next 10 to 15 years unless it rediscovers itself like Cricket has through shorter and faster games.

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