Not your father’s game

Some say golf is a dying sport.

As a fan of the game, I tend to agree with them.

As part of this summer’s Vindicator Greatest Golfer of the Valley Junior Tournament, 319 rounds of golf were played by 100 different kids.

Those numbers aren’t bad when you consider the tournament is designed to test the best junior golfers in the area against one another. However, that’s drawing from a pool of kids that stretches across five counties.

One would think the interest would be greater than 100 kids. That problem reaches far greater than just locally and includes more than just junior golfers.

The National Golf Foundation estimates that about 400,000 people left the game last year. Its senior vice president, Greg Nathan, insists that overall numbers have stayed around 25 million the past three years, despite last year’s drop-off.

Last week, Dick’s Sporting Goods laid off more than 400 golf professionals due to lack of sales nationally. There is a real problem with interest in golf and it’ll take people a lot smarter than myself to figure out if it can be fixed.

Over the past few months, I’ve been able to spend some time at a variety of golf courses in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania with our Greatest Golfer of the Valley Junior Tournament.

Some public. Some private. Some are pristine facilities. Some are suffering from the declining numbers. But all of them are trying to figure out one thing: how to attract more players.

After talking with a few area professionals and other golf lovers, two topics came up the most often.

Cut costs

Golf’s an expensive hobby. Much more so than, say, basketball. Or soccer.

Not everyone can afford the equipment necessary to take up golf. Combine that with the desired professional golfer attire most kids want when they’re playing, and the $10 bucket of golf balls a few days a week, and you’ve priced out a lot of players.

We’re long removed from the days of $5 rounds of golf. This idea is a bit trickier since, realistically, costs won’t go down for equipment. And if the courses cut the price to play and that doesn’t help attendance, they’re now facing an even bigger financial burden.

Embrace technology

This is not a recommendation. This is a requirement.

It’s hard enough to get young people away from their phones to eat food, let alone play a four-hour round of golf.

The Creekside Golf Dome in Girard offers virtual golf that’s fun and gets a club in kids’ hands.

TopGolf complexes are being built in major cities around the county. TopGolf describes itself as “premier golf entertainment where the competition of sport meets your favorite local hangout.”

It’s like an elevated driving range that has microchipped balls you hit at targets on the ground to score points. The best part about it is that you don’t have to block off an entire afternoon to enjoy it.

The majority of the game’s biggest supporters are on the back nine, but I’ll argue golf’s still a game that can be attractive to newcomers. It just needs to adapt.

Kevin Connelly is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at kconnelly@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Connelly_Vindy.