The golf business measured by numbers of players, rounds played, and equipment sold could be generously described as flat. Why the slowdown in the game’s growth and where is it headed? First of all, the good news… “Baby Boomers” and junior golf programs. Just ask the Social Security System if you want to know how many people are turning 62 years of age (the first opportunity to collect benefits) and you will find that it is happening next year, and there are a lot of them and plenty more coming. That means retirement and more leisure time for golf for ...

Isn’t golf a captivating enigma? It is a puzzle, a seductive siren, a fickle mistress. One has golfing moments when the spirit is riding on Mt. Everest, only to be followed by moments in the depths of Death Valley. There are fleeting spells when it seems so simple, so easy, then periods when you are sure it is next to impossible. Have you noticed some unusual phenomena associated with the game? The hole size seems to change depending upon the importance of the putt. The presence of a pro while one is teeing off can turn fluid muscles into stone. ...

Why is golf such a fickle mistress? I mean, how in the world can you be so good one day and so bad the next? Where does it go? How does seeming competency at one moment turn into “I don’t have a clue” in the next? Remember the time you were on the practice tee on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. working on your swing, trying to find something that would save you in tomorrow’s tournament? And then it happened…a little move, maybe just adjusting your left wrist at the top of the swing. You took some cup out and ...

Do golf’s governing bodies really know where the game appears to be going? Is it stumbling in the same direction that tennis did some twenty-thirty years ago when it fell off the earth in popularity? I hope not, but if it is, the reasons are different. The major culprit that is driving golf from a thriving sport to one that is struggling to hold its own in participation is the building of longer and tougher courses in order to keep up with today’s equipment improvements…the reason…to protect scoring. I am one of those who also believes that a par ...

Golf started out as a walking game…for that matter, it still is in most of the world outside of this country. If you haven’t experienced golf beyond the continental limits of the USA you may not fathom the reality that exists elsewhere…that is, pulling a “trolley,” (a cart to us) or packing your bag and doing it in less than four hours. Doesn’t there seem to be a connection between the fact that we live in the fattest country in the world, where obesity is epidemic, yet choose to eliminate the most important exercise element that is built into the ...

As a teacher of golf I have a pretty good understanding of what it takes to become a good player…by good, I mean with a five to six handicap or better. But only a very few golfers seem to get it, that is, to honestly understand the amount of effort it takes to achieve that level. Once they find out, fewer still will do it. Now I am not trying to discourage anyone from seeking improvement or from setting an ambitious goal, but know that it takes a lot of time, practice, and a better than reasonable amount of athletic skill ...

There are few things I don’t like when playing a round of golf. Obviously I am not fond of the “ugly threes"…, those three putts and triple bogeys. But beyond them, even when the score is not great, I truly enjoy simply being on the links…except when I am playing with a ‘yakker.’ You know the guy I’m talking about. The one who insists on giving a detailed description of every shot that didn’t “come off” like he had envisioned. Usually he tries to find an excuse, like saying for the fourth time, “I just got these clubs re-shafted and I’ve ...