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Why Is Golf On The Decline?

Oh jeez....I was just looking on Google for ugly golf outfits......there is more choice than I thought.
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Slightly tangential to the OP, but I'm hoping (ever the optimist) that post lockdown all forms of exercise enjoy an uptick in participation.
All the numbers suggest that the healthier you are, the less likely you are to encounter problems with covid. Obesity is the single largest risk factor for mortality in the last numbers I saw. If be surprised if it was different for most existing health challenges we face.
I'd really like to see public health in its broadest sense actively encouraged by the powers that be, and given that golf provides a way for the older citizen to achieve this, I would hope it is in the forefront of such a campaign.
 
£20 for 18 holes, perfect for beginners wanting to try the game ?
And 22 holes available for those wanting a quick knock.

£650 for and adult and child family membership. So encouraging youngsters to play.

Seems like a perfect way to encourage people to join and play.
 
Is it a trend to dislike things you are part of?? Especially dear old Crazy, who always gets a little down on golf like this.

I think, despite what the Press like to promote, golf is a very varied sport in terms of poshness, accessibility and cost.

Just taking Newport as an example. Quite a few courses, all reasonably decent and they range from low cost like Caerleon, the Parc, Peterson and Llanwern. There there is also Newport , more old school, and Celtic Manor‘s 3 courses and St Pierre all a grand a year or more.

On the positive side too, lots of kids at our place for Junior Academy (before lockdown) they seem to be enjoying it . Average of our club has tumbled in the past 5 years...joining fee (which I am against) retained but can be paid off over five years. Hardly in decline....

Of course there are golf clubs which are dead snotty, but there are plenty of others which are anything but. Same as most walks of life.

Heck, my annual golf subs are less than top flight footy season tickets!
 
I've never seen so many people out running and walking as I have the last few weeks.
same here, i Bike along the local canal with my dog most days, and you are lucky if you used to see more than one or two people to the end and back, which is about a 5 mile trip since lockdown its rammed unless you get on early. same with the Great Glen way, never a sole on that most days, its packed unless you get up there before 10AM
 
Definitely agree with this. But on the flip side, you can't wear grey socks with your shorts but you can wear this.....
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In fact....it's even consider cool.

Would they actually let you get out on the course dressed like that at Troon/Panmure/Sunningdale (insert whatever more upmarket/traditional club you like) etc?
I’ve got a feeling they wouldn’t.
 
No I really mean I don't want to be in a clubhouse full of ripped jeans, T shirts & baseball caps on back to front, know what I mean, innit. :rolleyes:
My club (a 'commercial concern') deliberately has no dress code - so that anyone can (well, could) pop in, either to the bar or course, on the way home from work dressed in their work clothes. I've never seen any of the above 'dress-standard-smashers' on the course or in the bar. The closest to 'scruffy' I've seen is the owner in jeans sporting almost uncontrollable hair!

As for possible 'snobbery' at Panmure. I experienced none when I had the pleasure of playing there many years (almost 20) ago. The separate formal/informal dining/post round areas work perfectly, as they do in many 'traditional' clubs.
 
Good comments from Paul Lawrie and Catriona Mathews this week re..getting youngsters into golf. I will try to find the link.

Three stood out.
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/golf...f-clubs-do-better-encouraging-juniors-2610257
I don't want to change my clothes to play golf.
Lots of old guys shouting at you instead of encouraging you.
Some older members seem determined to live in the past.

Scottish Golf would do a lot worse than having Paul Lawrie run them or at least employ him in an advisory role!!!

Man talks so much sense, has done wonders for the junior game with his foundation and seems switched on in business too.
 
As some else has had said you would not be looking at somewhere like that to start playing.

I have been playing or over 40 years and even I would not look to play at courses with an £80 green fee.

On the flip side if someone who is looking to take up golf sees that they might not even realise that that is the far side of the spectrum.

Luckily we do not have a problem in the main with people wanting to give it a try as our 9 hole course is open to pay and play and we get a lot of such people at the weekends.

I suspect that the biggest reason that golf may in decline is how long it takes to play a round these days. When I first started to play we used to tee off at 8, have a drive back to the snooker club and to wait for it to open to at 11.

Some of the guys I played snooker with, who could only play golf at weekends, used to complain about the three and half hour rounds on a Saturday.
 
I've never seen so many people out running and walking as I have the last few weeks.
Yep. It's a great thing.
I know we like to mock the dark arts of behavioural science and nudge theory, but there must be something in it that can be used for the general good.
Maybe they should say that you can only go and play golf once a day as part of your exercise regime. The courses would be full in no time...
 
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