Newspaper Article Regarding UK Amateur Golf Decline

[standrew]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...rs-turn-their-backs-on-the-sport-9687900.html


Concerning decline in numbers. What are your thoughts on the article/subject.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

It all started going downhill when they allowed jeans in the clubhouse

 

[JCW]

At my club Parkstone here in Poole Dorset , We are full with a long waiting list of golfers wanting to join . I have spoken a friend of mine at my old Club Knighton Heath , They have lost over 100 members and about 80 to Dudsbury GC . But at the moment many have given up club membership as they may not be earning as much as before and have taken to play and pay till things improved , times are hard

 

[guest100718]

less and less clubs with joining fees make it easy to move around. More clubs need to realise that a large number arent interested in the club and just want to play golf. Forcing bar levys and ties etc is nonsense in this day and age.

 

[timd77]

I can only justify spending £40 a month on golf, which is roughly 2 rounds. I'd absolutely love to join the course but couldn't afford the £70 a month membership. If I could I'd play once a week at least.

So I'll just have to stick to pay and play for the foreseeable future.

 

[Foxholer]

less and less clubs with joining fees make it easy to move around. More clubs need to realise that a large number arent interested in the club and just want to play golf. Forcing bar levys and ties etc is nonsense in this day and age.

I'm certain there's more to it than that. Sure, more casual dress makes things more attractive, but if folk move around, there will still be the same number overall - and that's not the case. Perhaps the lack of joining fees means that they are more likely to leave as there is not the same 'tie' of lost value, but I think more 'part time' golfers are simply reverting to Green Fee ones.

A £50 Bar Levy is trivial compared to membership, so has no bearing imo. That's less than a really cheap Pint a fortnight!

Btw. it's 'fewer and fewer', but no biggy...

 

[hovis]

less and less clubs with joining fees make it easy to move around. More clubs need to realise that a large number arent interested in the club and just want to play golf. Forcing bar levys and ties etc is nonsense in this day and age.

I'd say thats pretty much spot on

 

[guest100718]

I'm certain there's more to it than that. Sure, more casual dress makes things more attractive, but if folk move around, there will still be the same number overall - and that's not the case. Perhaps the lack of joining fees means that they are more likely to leave as there is not the same 'tie' of lost value, but I think more 'part time' golfers are simply reverting to Green Fee ones.

A £50 Bar Levy is trivial compared to membership, so has no bearing imo. That's less than a really cheap Pint a fortnight!

Btw. it's 'fewer and fewer', but no biggy...

You really need to get a life.

 

[nemicu]

From the article...
so the future of golf lies in the hands of women?

 

[Deleted member 18588]

less and less clubs with joining fees make it easy to move around. More clubs need to realise that a large number arent interested in the club and just want to play golf. Forcing bar levys and ties etc is nonsense in this day and age.

None of that has anything to do with it.

The facts are there in the quoted article, not enough people are interested in playing the game and that is not down to dress codes or bar levies.

All sports are suffering a decline in participation due to financial constraints and greater opportunities for those people to spend their leisure time.

By all means relax dress codes and do away with levies but do not expect those changes to reverse the decline in participation.

 

[palindromicbob]

Better timing of the season would probably be useful. All the clubs in my area have the intro to golf stuff in April/May to try and get people into the game. They have a season starting in March and don't reduce membership for anyone joining in June/July because they already get the advantage of the reduced novice rate. Plus why would you join in the wetter March/April months if you could hold out until summer and pay less.

I think they'd get more interest by having the memberships run from mid summer instead when the weather is more acceptable to play and they should target the introductory stuff for around the Open when interest is peaked thanks to blanket terrestrial TV coverage. Our local tennis club goes crazy after Wimbleton.

I've questioned renewing my membership and considered going nomad when the letter arrives. This is usually because it's been weeks since I've been to a course and the weather is cold and wet. Would be much quicker to renew without thinking about it if they arrived when the sun was shining and I had a few months of golf under my belt already.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Clubs have to do a lot more to entice members and keep them. Dress codes, bar levy's, joining fees are all factors but are they really the problem or symptomatic of the issues

 

[nemicu]

Clubs have to do a lot more to entice members and keep them. Dress codes, bar levy's, joining fees are all factors but are they really the problem or symptomatic of the issues

I think you've hit the nail on the head.
Lots of clubs still struggle despite introducing measures like relaxed dress codes or similar ideas. Similarly, some clubs with decidedly dated values seem to be doing very nicely. So clearly, the decline is somewhat area specific rather than the whole "this day and age" specific. Dumbing down to appeal to the masses is a formula that hasn't really worked on any social activity - golf included.
Price and cost are the biggest stumbling blocks - to those not doing so well.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I would like to throw something into the mix here and this is NOT intended to be racist in any way......................

The demographic of the UK population is changing with a greater percentage of black, asian and eastern european people now making up the total population. Golf has traditionally been a white sport in this country. I don't know if the white population is decreasing overall but if it is, could this account for the falling golf population? I don't really understand why there are so few minority golfers in this country, I hope they don't feel they are being excluded from joining clubs or taking up the sport.

 

[6inchcup]

it all boils down to cost for a lot of people paying out a £1k in one hit is not on the radar same as paying a monthly d.d and then the cost of actually paying for a comp or a drink food etc when at the club,
Some just wish to hit a ball around a track on a regular basis some now and again when the mood takes them,some get the ethos of being a member ( i hope i fall into this bracket ) of a club,the friendships and comradeship made,the atmosphere in the club house and on the course being more refined,i go to my club 4 times a week but only play once,i can use the practice facilities,take my family for a meal have a chat and a drink with friends or just have a quit drink watching the sports on tv in the lounge.
I come from the era when the clubs expected a gentleman to have manners.dress codes were laid down and we stuck to them i admit in this day and age they can be seen to be old fashioned and archaic but what is wrong in that,should we turn the golf club house into a WITHERSPOONS or FRANKY & BENYS just to cater for those that fancy a knock then a few jars in their jeans and t shirts,or having hourds of shouting loud mouth lads getting drunk and using industrial language .
Like a lot of sports that had a surge of people wishing to play when it became cheaper and was on tv more,companys built courses and a boom time flourished into what we have today,courses closing because it is no viable,others letting any one join thus losing some of the older and more afluent members to other clubs that still upheld the traditions,there will always be clubs and course for those that get the ethos of the traditions and these will survive they others will have members and some will go against the wall,its a tough world and in my opinion if you join the dance dont ask for the record to be changed half way through.

 

[Hobbit]

I would like to throw something into the mix here and this is NOT intended to be racist in any way......................

The demographic of the UK population is changing with a greater percentage of black, asian and eastern european people now making up the total population. Golf has traditionally been a white sport in this country. I don't know if the white population is decreasing overall but if it is, could this account for the falling golf population? I don't really understand why there are so few minority golfers in this country, I hope they don't feel they are being excluded from joining clubs or taking up the sport.

Not sure your maths is correct. Just picking figures out of the air; if there were 50 mill anglo saxon whites in the country, of which 1% play golf, surely the addition of 5 mill immigrants would actually see the golf population increase as a % of them took up the sport...

 

[palindromicbob]

One of the things that I could see being a real barrier to people starting is the stock response.

GO GET FITTED!

Not that it's a bad idea to get fitted but really isn't something that should be shoved down the the throat of someone starting the game. The fitting can come later when they are hooked.

We should be saying go pick up a cheap set and get swinging.

 

[daymond]

There is no natural law that says golf should be a mass participation pastime. At any given time it will be what it is; increasing,decreasing or standing still.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

I blame Tiger

 

[gdc]

I think it is because it is too hard to get to a competitive standard. People don't have the same work ethic required anymore to persevere and improve.
my boys aged 11 and 12 have been playing on and off for 3 years and in the last month have both improved so that they can nearly play to their 45 and 36 handicaps. Now they want to play every second of the day (happy days) because they can see themselves improving.