"Nobody's making a living"

The slumping economy continues to pummel the golf industry, as this Associated Press story documents. Greenview Golf Course in Centralia, Ill., which is owned by former Champions Tour player Tom Wargo, has cut its green fees by more than a third. "Nobody's making a living," Wargo said.

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a tax on golf that opponents say will diminish the number of golfers and by extension the number of jobs, according to this Los Angeles Times story.

"There are 160,000 golf-related jobs in the state," Bob Bouchier, executive director of the California Alliance for Golf, told the Times. "Just add an expense and soon there are fewer players and fewer jobs."

Now for a bit of good news: Dick's Sporting Goods, sponsor of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open on the Champions Tour, seems to be healthy. Its fourth quarter guidance said that it expects profits to exceed Wall Street estimates. Its stock price rose nearly 17 percent on Friday, closing at $13.15.

-- John Strege