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Ideas or ways to get new participants into the game of golf

Put lights on the course. Most folks get off work at 5:00pm and for most of the year it gets dark too soon. Best part, it won't be so hott! I played every night after work when I lived near a par 3 that had lights 10 years ago. They were always packed.
 
no doubt clam, that would be so cool to play night golf. never got to play there yet but theres a course somewhere in St. Pete that does it a few times a year with lights and glow in the dark golfballs!
 
Think about it. I drive by the city park during the day and it's empty. Night time and people are out there playing tennis, frisbee golf, basketball............
 
I agree a 1000% clam that would be so cool and would prolly be great for familes too!
 
man id be yelling FORE all night long on one of those courses... hahaha
 
StLCardsFan said:
...The one thing I don't think anyone has mentioned is that it is a hard game to play, even harder to be good at. If it wasn't so hard, more people would play...
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This is precisely why I love golf - because it's a hard game.

Look at it this way, would you rather have the title "Checkers Master" or "Chess Master"? I don't understand why everything has to be easy today; what's wrong with a challenge?

There's a commercial on TV where some kid cranks up his "Guitar Hero" rig and starts wailing away and the narrator says something about the kid wanting to "practice his talent".

What talent is there in "Guitar Hero"?

If that's what passes for talent these days, no wonder no one's interested in playing golf.


-JP
 
clam fist said:
Put lights on the course. Most folks get off work at 5:00pm and for most of the year it gets dark too soon. Best part, it won't be so hott! I played every night after work when I lived near a par 3 that had lights 10 years ago. They were always packed.
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This is something that I thought would take off with the advent of dual income families. I also see that I pass by courses on the way home and can't play because it'll turn into nightfall. I don't think a full course would take off but an executive course could pull it off. I actually prefer to go at night to this driving range that has lights because they are 1) open and 2) have few folks hitting. Except for...

Sunday_Hacker said:
no doubt clam, that would be so cool to play night golf. never got to play there yet but theres a course somewhere in St. Pete that does it a few times a year with lights and glow in the dark golfballs!
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...the biggest issue (at least here in FL) is nighttime is when all the little nasties come out. It's hard enough for me to avoid them during the day let alone at night.

bogey_russ said:
man id be yelling FORE all night long on one of those courses... hahaha
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You don't have to because who knows what's ahead of you? :D
 
hawk308 said:
3. Our culture loves instant results. Golf is the exact opposite.
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All of the above are great reasons, but I would have to vote for this as the #1 reason the game is on the decline. If you have the patience, or you use this game as an excercise in patience, the other reasons really aren't going to be that big of a factor for you.

COST. This isn't a game you can buy greatness at. I've often used the quote "you don't buy a Ferrari if you can't drive a stickshift". Don't spend $1000 on clubs until you know for sure this is a game you'll stick with. A complete set of clubs with bag can be had for under $150. I started off with a set I found on Amazon for $80 ($106 with shipping). The upside, however, is the guy who will spend $1000 right out of the box for top-of-the-line equipment. Once those people give up is how you find great deals on eBay on last year's stuff slightly used.

TIME. True, most don't have 4-6 hours to kill regularly on the game. But if you're dedicated, the time you do have will dictate where and how you'll spend it on golf. Only 2 hours? Play 9 holes. 1.5 hours? 9 holes on a Par 3. An hour or less to kill; hit a bucket somewhere or putt/chip a little bit at home.

ELITISM. Probably the worst thing you'll have to deal with, but still not that bad. You'll eventually figure out where and where not to play as the "golf snobs" tend to travel in packs. If you don't need to play a "pretty" course, go to a cheap "cow pasture" track. Some of the best people I've played around have been on the crappy courses; they're where bad golfers go to get worse so there's less chance of running into the "snobs" (just watch more closely for stray balls).
 
Another thing I just thought of...burnout.

Don't do too much too soon as a beginner or you'll likely find yourself burned out and quitting completely in a few years time.

In my early 20s I was a recreational bowler. I enjoyed it, was decent at it, and I played on my own terms. If I had the time, the money, and I wanted to play I did. If I didn't have one or all of those things, I didn't play. I was just that simple. Then I got talked into joining a league. I clearly wasn't ready for that. Not only did the elitism thing come into play (having to deal with the egos of the 200 avg guys while you're throwing 140s), but it became almost like a second job. Whether I wanted to or not, I had to be there and had to pay for it every week. I have a job for that reason and in the end THEY pay ME.

Learning my lesson from bowling, I have no desire to join any golf leagues right now. I'm having fun right now and I don't want my clubs ending up in the closet right next to the bowling bag that only gets pulled out 2-3 times a year.
 
Actually, as golf's popularity increases in China (which is experiencing a far better economy than the US), many of their new courses have lights placed for night-time play. Because there's so little time for their middle class to play during the day, demand for night-time play has skyrocketed and course builders are responding to that demand. I can't remember the name of the guy, but there's some entrepreneur there who specializes in offering night-time golf.
 
I think cost is the really big factor. A lot of people have mentioned cost of equipment, which I think is somewhat less of an issue than cost of the game itself. You can find adequate starter sets at sears or walmart, but of course then elitism plays are role here too since the beginners often feel pressure to but the premium priced brands. I think golf (in my area anyway) would benefit greatly from more 'starter' courses. Some place you can go for 9 hole, $15 game. My friends have always got hand-me-down clubs from family or friends for free, but it is just impossible to drag them out for a $40-$60 game more than once a summer, especially the ones who are unemployed or not so ambitious. Green fees are a huge barrier to entry.

Time is another huge matter. A full game takes 4 hour, and probably a total of 6 when you factor in travel, warm up, dinner, etc. More 'starter' courses would also help here. But the other concern with time is the huge investment in time and patience it takes to practice, practice and practice enough to not feel like a total dufus out there on the links. We live in an era of instant gratification, and kids are much less patient now than even a few years ago (hell, even I'm less patient). This hits golf particularly hard. We have phones, email, computers, video games, etc, all in a hand held device in our back pocket. Kids can play Tiger Woods PGA 2011 with half a dozen friends without any of them leaving their own homes. That is stiff competition to 4 hours in the summer heat missing putts and shanking ball in the woods all day. I think it would be great to see more golf leagues in the high schools. Lure some of the active kids away from minor league baseball or soccer. Get them hooked early and they'll be green fee-ers for life.
 
Well, if a golf video game represents competition to the real thing, then we as a nation have much bigger issues to deal with than can be sorted out here.


-JP
 
First thanks for not hammerin’ me too much on my long post and thanks for your contributions.

Clam, lighted courses for night golf is a great idea. Sort of makes you wonder why none of those 3,000 course adds were built to accommodate night golf.

Great comment about Sweden, its commitment to family golf and the number of better players that have resulted from that effort.

I have complete sympathy for those that have posted about how much pressure they feel on the course either from course management or other players. In my case I won’t even go to the course unless I am hitting the ball pretty consistently. I will go to the range if I am having a problem and work it out before going back to the course. To be honest I just don’t want to deal with the bull**** nor do I want to hit somebody with an errant shot. However I am an adult. We put kids through the same grinder and I don’t see how that makes sense.

I posted in another thread my experience going out with two kids that I just hooked up with at the course. Those two kids were trying to get a round in on a weekday morning (9:00am) before tryouts for their high school club. In a perfect world one or both of their dads would have been available that day to take them out and if he had he probably would have ended up wrapping a 5 iron around somebody’s throat. My post was only about one issue they and by association I faced that day. However the whole day they were something of a lightning rod around the course and they could hit the ball better than half of the knuckleheads out there. Nobody even cared to notice how good they could hit the ball or how much respect they had for the game. To the players in general that day they were just a couple of kids and kids are a pain in the ass, aren’t they? And this course is not Pebble Beach or Augusta National. It is a hokey pokey little middle of nowhere course already on its second reshuffling of the management deck.

I don’t wonder that it is the cost weighed against one bad experience that does so many people in. Someone commented that the guys he went with one day have never been back to the course since then. I don’t wonder that as hard as the game is too play if we would all realize that none of us are Tiger or Phil, if we would just have some patience with people that are not quite as advanced yet as we might be then we might be better off. It is almost like we want to drive people from the course and the more I think about it the more I think in some cases people do try to drive others from the course because like kids, they are a pain in the ass, aren’t they? In fact everybody that is not exactly like me is a pain in the ass, aren’t they?
 
jnug said:
I don’t wonder that it is the cost weighed against one bad experience that does so many people in. Someone commented that the guys he went with one day have never been back to the course since then. I don’t wonder that as hard as the game is too play if we would all realize that none of us are Tiger or Phil, if we would just have some patience with people that are not quite as advanced yet as we might be then we might be better off. It is almost like we want to drive people from the course and the more I think about it the more I think in some cases people do try to drive others from the course because like kids, they are a pain in the ass, aren’t they? In fact everybody that is not exactly like me is a pain in the ass, aren’t they?
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Well, yes, they are!

I guess I just don't get the vehemently negative attitude of some of the more advanced players. I mean, I'm out there to relax, enjoy myself, and spend some time with friends. Aren't they, too?

Sure, you want there to be some challenges and chances to better your game. But the problem, as I see it, is that so many people lessen themselves as they better their games. And that's too bad.
 
where i am living currently cost is relative... there are some really inexpensive courses here and most of the "cheaper" courses are geared towards beginners... most of the guys i know stay away from them cuz they consider them 'hackers' courses and rounds on them usually last 5-6 hrs with lots of ppl yelling fore everywhere... they are usually around 30 bucks with cart for 18
ebay is a great place to get equipment on the cheap... or you can get full sets at walmart... they may not be top end but they will get you out an playing

its a relatively simple game to learn... hit a ball towards a hole in as few swipes as possible
but it takes a lifetime to master

elitism... now this is kinda tricky... ive actually seen it at goat track courses from the staff that believe its their personal playground that only their buddies are allowed to enjoy... ive actually had marshals on this course yell about pace of play with 2 groups on the fw in front of us... i guess they wanted us to bomb balls into the group 150yrds in front of us
ive also seen the kids are all punks attitude even if these kids are scratch golfers

i think elitism is the killer the others you can actually work around
 
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