Why it’s Time to be Bullish on Golf Again

Want a hot tip? Are you looking for an industry that’s poised for a major rebound? Well then it’s time to take a look at the game of Golf.

Listen to the cavalcade of news about this industry lately and images of old Wall Street come to mind, complete with brokers in the pit shouting, “Sell!, Sell!, Sell!”, but buying too much into the negative coverage some in the press seem only too eager to heap on this industry would be a mistake. Remember the age old investment adage, “Buy on the rumor, sell on the news”, and with the disproportionately un-flattering and inaccurate analysis being printed by many of the pundits there, predictably, has been a lot of selling going on. And so while it seems particularly in vogue to report on the industry’s challenges; the aftermath of the Great Recession, an aging Baby Boomer population, an ailing flagship attraction (Tiger Woods), and the short attention span of Millenials, that is in truth like so much yesterday’s news. So let me be the first to break from the herd and provide you with a few new rumors, or why it’s time to be bullish on golf again.

1. Globalization – In case you haven’t noticed, golf is going global. Golf is played in 118 different countries now and in many parts of the world they are experiencing a golf boom similar to what the U.S. saw in the 60’s and again in the 90’s. The 25 million players in this country account for less than 40% of the people who play worldwide. And while 90+ million Americans claim an interest in playing, that percentage is still likely to drop due to its huge increase in popularity globally. In 2016 golf will be included in the Olympics for the first time ever, an inclusion that is expected to increase the game’s international popularity exponentially. When Se Ri Pak won the Women’s U.S. Open in 1998, it sparked a golf boom in South Korea, a former golf wasteland that now boasts having over 50 women on the LPGA Tour alone. And South Korea’s population is only about 50 million. Can you imagine what will happen in China, a country experiencing rapid golf development with over 2 billion people, if young Chinese phenom Tianlang Guan wins a match in the Olympics against say, the aforementioned Tiger Woods before a worldwide audience?

2. Business – It’s no state secret that the typically squeaky-clean images of golf’s brightest stars have made them the darlings of corporate America since the days of Arnold Palmer, but that only scratches the surface of the almost mutually dependent relationship golf and business have in this country. No other sport is as closely tied with business in the U.S. and more essential to how business is done. Politicians and business leaders from around the globe play the game. The last 4 U.S. Presidents have been avid golfers and if you listed the business tycoons afflicted with the golf bug it reads like a veritable who’s who, including Donald Trump, Richard Branson, and Jack Welch to name a few. And it’s no small wonder these leaders are occasionally slammed for taking part in some ill-advised corporate golf junket. There are literally thousands of them going on in every part of the world every week. And while there are those who love to slam us lazy Americans for golfing in carts, the cold reality is that you can’t overvalue the opportunity to sit next to a prospective client for 4-5 hours, something you just don’t get from 60 feet away on the other side of a net, or by going to a local park and kicking around a soccer ball. More business deals are done on the golf course than in any other sporting environment and though it may have become cliché to claim what a great business tool golf is, there remains a very good reason for that. It is.

3. Accessibility – Many champion the accessibility of sports like tennis, soccer and, basketball due to their perceived low initial barrier for participation, but this is a bit illusory if you look at the bigger picture. Sure there are people around the world who might initially be exposed to those sports before golf due to either their location or certain economic realities, but to call those sports more accessible than golf completely turns a blind eye to their inherently physical nature. There is a reason golf is known as the game of a lifetime. Millions of people who are either of advanced age, or possessing of certain disabilities enjoy playing golf. And there are billions more around the world like them who will never be able to participate in sports like tennis, soccer, and basketball in any meaningful way other than as a spectator. And let’s not forget the after-effects of the aforementioned Great Recession. Over-development has left the supply of golf, at least in this country, slightly exceeding the current demand and as a result there are more places to play than ever and greens fees have never been more affordable. Combine this with the availability of quality inexpensive 2^nd hand equipment through the internet and you find that the financial bar for participation in the U.S. has never been lower.

4. Women – The game’s historical lack of retention of women players in this country looks to be changing. For over 30 years women have accounted for close to half the people that take up the game each year, yet in this country they still only account for 20% of its participants. The downturn in overall participation these past five years, however, has caused the games largest organizations like the P.G.A. of America and the National Golf Foundation to launch renewed efforts to tap into what women want and need to get past their initial excitement about playing and develop a long-term relationship with the game. And studying programs in other countries that retain women golfers at a much higher rate has helped to identify what can be done differently here at home to make long-term participation the norm. Early adopters of these best practices and those of successful clubs both at home and abroad, such as on-site daycare, relaxed dress codes, a focus on fitness, and the employment of more women in front-line positions (like golf professionals and golf shop assistants) are seeing it pay huge dividends and provide a blueprint going forward. The game has long embraced women, but now that its leaders are finally starting to identify the formula to keep them at the course the impact is likely to change the face of the game we play for good.

5. Charity- The game of golf is engaged daily in the largest example of pay-it-forward that this planet has likely ever seen. Golf may be a bit more of an investment in time and money to play than some sports, but it simultaneously has the distinction of paying far greater dividends than most every sport. Golf not only donates more money to charity than sports like baseball, basketball, soccer or football, but more money to charity than all other sports combined. There are millions of people who don’t even play the game (yet) who benefit from that fact that millions of others do and in many cases it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say their very lives depend upon the fact that people play golf. Ask St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The Boys & Girls Club, The Folds of Honor Foundation, and thousands of others charities worldwide which sport is most important to their continued existence and the conversation begins and ends with golf. From children with cancer, to the surviving family of our servicemen and women, to handicapped men, women, and children around the globe who aren’t able to afford a wheelchair, the game gives at a rate that consistently inspires its beneficiaries to get involved and find their owns ways to give back to the game.

No, golf is not going the way of the Dodo Bird or even the Record Industry. It wouldn’t be intellectually honest to not recognize it has a few challenges at the moment, but most of them are not dissimilar to any industry dependent upon leisure time and disposable income during a difficult economy. Golf has been around for close to 500 years, survived revolutions, world wars, and Great Depressions and it will adapt and survive the impact of the Great Recession, the passing of the Baby Boomers, the aging of Tiger Woods, and all the many whims of the Instant Gratification Generation. Not just because it always has and not just because the game’s leaders understand the need to adapt to certain cultural and economic realities. The game of golf will ultimately survive and thrive because of us, the people who play it, the people who are emotionally invested in it, the people who have been raised by it, and the people for whom it would not be too big of an exaggeration to say owe just about everything we have to it. So while there are plenty of reasons to be bullish on golf again, if you are looking for the biggest reason it is because those of us who have been raised on the values the game so inherently teaches understand exactly this. You always leave something better than you found it.

See you on the links.

(Cover Photo Credit)