Younger Generation
Though cold weather and the sluggish economy are providing temporary headwinds, a generational shift may be a bigger cause for concern. The sport is suffering the biggest decline from younger players, according to the National Golf Foundation, with 200,000 players under 35 abandoning the game last year.
“Everybody’s hooked up to their handhelds, so it’s social networking instead of sports,” said Gerald Celente, publisher of the Trends Journal in Kingston, New York. The motivation for wannabe executives to spend hours chasing small balls no longer exists, he said.
“It’s something that’s associated with boom times,” he said. “Most of society’s not moving up, and golf is associated with moving up.”
Woods, 38, helped draw younger players to the game, though his personal challenges may have reduced his influence. He divorced his wife of four years in 2010 after admitting marital infidelity and has suffered a series of injuries.
Fewer Courses
There also are fewer places to play golf these days. Only 14 new courses were built in the U.S. last year, while almost 160 shut down, the National Golf Foundation said. Last year marked the eighth straight year that more courses closed than opened.
The people sticking with the sport are playing fewer rounds than before, often opting for nine holes rather than 18. In total, U.S. golfers played 462 million rounds last year, according to Golf Datatech. That was the fewest number since 1995.
“Golf has been a crummy business for a long time,” said Paul Swinand, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago.
Golf advocates are doing their best to attract younger players, though. Some courses have even added wider holes to make the sport less intimidating, with a Golf.com story last month asking, “Could a 15-inch hole be the answer to golf’s growth problem?”