Year-to-date golf rounds played have increased 0.9 percent through March, according to Golf Datatech, which tracks the industry. Still, the golf industry is seeking a way to keep players from leaving the sport. About 1 million golfers have quit the game since 2009, according to the National Golf Foundation. In 2013 alone, about 600,000 (2.4 percent) of the sport’s 25.3 million golfers left the game, according to the NGF.
“You hear these dire predictions about the sport of golf shrinking,” Milstein said. “The part of the golf world that we participate in, which is kind of the higher demographic, is doing nothing but expanding. The people in that demographic are spending more on golf and more time on golf.”