Glenmore Jones
RICHMOND — Lately, with the downturn in the economy and old Mother Nature baring her teeth, the game of golf has taken a beating. I have always heard that, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
Such a man is Bill Bales, C.E.O. of About Golf.
He has written a series of articles and one that he wrote recently was on how to improve golf by improving some fundamental elements. The title of the article was “BEASTS”, which is his “acronym for the things in golf that affect its overall relevance.”
Here are the elements:
B — Barriers: The game today places barriers for many participants. We must strive to welcome with open arms all players, regardless of ability, age, sex, race or style. We must think of golf as the business it is and golfers as the customers they are. Instead of bombarding our customers with rules and negativity when they come to the course, we should strive to make every moment they spend an extremely positive experience.
E — Equipment: Most golfers have equipment that is ill-fitting to their swing and physical capabilities. We must strive to deliver to golfers clubs that fit their games. We also need to make this equipment affordable, or to welcome new players without equipment by supplying it at the course — with a selection and reasonable cost comparable to how bowling centers accommodate casual participants.
A — Access: Many golfers perceive impediments to regular play. We must strive to overcome factors that mitigate access including price, availability, pace of play, weather and location. One partial solution involves the growth of indoor golf. While hard to comprehend for golf traditionalists, indoor golf has the ability to overcome virtually all of the access problems golf faces. It also is consistent with a cultural trend to move outdoor sports and activities inside. Consider that more than 80 new indoor water parks are expected to open in the U.S. in the next year. One indoor golf simulator purveyor claims that 2 million rounds per year are played on its simulators alone. GolfTec, an indoor golf instruction business, claims to give 10 percent of all the golf lessons in the U.S.
S — Social: The vast majority of golfers play to relax and have fun in a social environment. Women especially are oriented to the social aspects of play. We must strive to get compatible golfers together in a way that creates an enjoyable social experience. There are many ways for golf facilities to create a more social environment for players to meet and play together. But, the biggest impact can be made, very easily, by simply getting club pros out from behind their desks and pro shop counters out onto the course to get folks together, play holes with the patrons, and act as the course social director.
T — Time: The most diabolical disease in golf today is slow play. We absolutely must take measures immediately to enforce a reasonable pace of play, and to educate golfers on how to speed up play and why it is essential to the health of golf. It dawned on me while playing the other day, waiting on every shot the entire round, that most players really have no idea how to get around the course efficiently. Instead of having marshals patrolling the course pretending to keep things moving, send out friendly instructors to help players learn good habits in efficient play.
S — Satisfaction: In golf, as it is with anything in life, if one doesn’t find their performance satisfying they’ll be less encouraged to do it more. We must strive to improve our methods and systems for teaching the game, we must help golfers realize and find pleasure in meeting realistic expectations, and we must provide courses and play from tees that fit our games. We must strive with all our power to guarantee that our customers have a very predictable, positive experience every time they come to the course.
Footnote
These are great suggestions for helping the game of golf. One other big factor that will help the game big time is the inclusion of golf in the 2016 Olympics.
Wow!
Funny bone
After two days in the hospital, I took a turn for the nurse.
Final thought
“The nations will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” — Elmer Davis.
Until next time … live, love, laugh and learn, Glenmore.
