If you care at all about how your sport is being treated by Washington these days, John Paul Newport’s weekend piece in the Wall Street Journal about the new “We Are Golf” lobbying initiative, announced at the PGA Merchandise Show is worth a read. Big program, big deal.
But there’s another initiative, less political, less sexy, and a hell of a lot cheaper, that got no attention in Florida and deserves just as much applause. It’s “Get Golf Ready,” the program that, for $99, introduces beginner adults to the game -- five sessions that include lessons, etiquette, on-course play, the whole thing. For the millions of potential golfers who are mystified or intimidated by our clubby ways, it’s a protective cordon that escorts them into middle of the sport. In Orlando, we got the first year update on GGR. Bottom line, it works.
Still in its pilot stage, the program signed up 1,200 facilities last year and “graduated” 17,000 new golfers. Participants reported an incredible 96 per cent satisfaction rate. More than nine of 10 will recommend it to a friend and those nine will continue playing golf. Three of four have played since finishing the program, four of five have visited a range.
This is a big, big deal. There’s a lot of talk these days about whether we can raise enough money to promote our game sufficiently in Washington and elsewhere. But golf’s problem isn’t insufficient funds. It’s insufficient fun. Our game is run by good players -- not only the Tour but teaching pros, amateurs who lead its associations -- and they focus on the sport as competition. (Include Golf Digest here). What do they spend most of their time on? Scores, handicaps, rules., stats. They have created an avid golfer often obsessed with score, frequently intolerant of beginners, and, because they live to break some personal best, study every shot and play as if they have all the time in the world. Our competitions take five and six hours and we talk until our audiences are nodding off about golf’s sacred integrity. To young adults who just want to play the sport, it must be like that Woody Allen quote: “If my film makes one more person miserable, I’ve done my job.”
Listen, our obsession with competition is right -- for OUR half of the sport. But the game’s growth, its sense of inclusion, it’s “We Are Golf” soul, depends upon making way for new players who just want to have fun -- the hitters and gigglers who don’t know Jack Nicklaus form Jack Nicholson, couldn’t identify a square groove if you comped their green fee, and live to hit a drive into the range picker’s cart. Their bible is not Mark Frost’s The Match, but "Happy Gilmore", if they know that much, and golf may be just an excuse to meet a neighbor, play a few holes, spend time with their spouse, walk for a couple of hours, or drink a Corona. They wear shirts with no collars and cargo shorts (OMG!)
Point is, They Are Golf, Too. Can the two groups coexist? They can if “Get Golf Ready” runs interference for the newbies and if the sport- -- serious and casual -- does something about pace of play. If everybody plays quickly, who cares whether the group in front of you is keeping count or not?
-- Bob Carney
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