What Reasons Are Folks Abandoning Playing Golf?

There appears to be no escaping the truth that the total number of folks actively playing golf is trending downward. Statistically that seems to be the case. Inside the United States in 2013 it is estimated that more than 4 million golf players gave up the sport. Even though many golfers have now started enjoying the sport, that's still quite a drop if those numbers are legitimate. Additionally just 14 new golf courses in that time span were built in the United States along with 157 shut down, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The question would be: is this fact a long-term slide, or simply a short-term glitch. It appears the economic recession of a few years back had some effect, because it caused many people to cut back on their discretionary spending. And very recent information give evidence that there has been some pick up in play when the economic climate gets better. Nevertheless the truth is the overall age of the golfing population is older. Perhaps that's always been the case because as we age golf is one of the last areas that folks can participate at, however it will help the sector if more young people took to the game.

Below are a few reasons why individuals may be leaving the game, and some ways that the golf industry can help:

1. Rate to play. There is little doubt the sum total to play a round of golf right now is substantially higher. I think essentially the overall quality of courses has advanced dramatically in the last 40 or 50 years, and also to maintain these golf courses cost more money. That has definitely led to golf green rates rising. But when a person truly wants to play and could bring some flexibility into when they play, we are generally seeing that courses will go after this niche of players. You will find discounts galore and several at the moment are making an effort to bring back their clientele on a repeat basis by giving huge reduced prices for a one time, upfront price of perhaps $100.

2. Slow speed of play. I understand golfers complain about this now, but it has long been a dilemma for as long as I have played, which is certainly a very long time. Regrettably, overall protocol has not improved, as some people will back up play by looking for a ball for a lot longer than the five-minute rule, or use up excessive quantities of time over the putting golf green, seemingly doing everything except for playing golf. Having the ability to report such problems and having a ranger regulating things like this ought to help. Also, if the ordinary golfer would only get their ego out of the way and play from tees that go with their golf game, golf would certainly move more quickly and be so much more pleasurable.

3. Getting in healthy shape. This may be impolite to bring this up, however as Americans become bulkier plus much more out of shape, it will become a greater effort to get going and do a little light exercise for four hours. Of course, the response to that is every one of us ought to work to get into better condition. But as this gets to be a greater concern in our society we could possibly start to find more people using golf as the outstanding exercise it is, particularly as we age.