Growth for the common good

A few years ago, Golf Digest surveyed golfers about the reasons they choose to play one course over another. The number one reason cited was the condition of a course’s greens and bunkers, number two was the condition of a course’s tees and fairways, and number three revolved around who they played golf with.

As superintendents, we obviously have a direct impact on those first two reasons. But what about the third reason, the “who we play with” part of the equation? Can we have an impact on that?

For the past several years, GCSAA has talked a lot about a focus on the facility and the overall success of the facility. These mantras basically mean that if the facility is successful, then the game of golf will be successful and all of the businesses that touch the golf world will succeed. But in an era where the number of rounds played has remained flat for the last few years and where course closures continue to outpace new course construction, what does this mean to you?

It means that we all have to work together — the superintendent, the golf professional, the clubhouse manager and the owner — to generate more rounds of golf either from the current pool of players or by trying to get new golfers to play the game. GCSAA has been working with other leading golf associations to create programs that can help each facility encourage new golfers and, hopefully, generate more rounds of golf.

Programs like the Play Golf America campaign, a program created by the PGA of America that has now grown into a collaborative effort among golf’s allied associations. Programs like June’s Women’s Golf Month, a joint effort by the Executive Women’s Golf Association, GCSAA, the PGA and the National Golf Course Owners Association. Programs like this month’s Take Your Daughter to the Course Week (July 7-13). Programs like The First Tee and other junior golf initiatives.

It takes each facility and each member of the senior staff at that facility to activate on these programs or create its own version of one of these. Teams that look at these opportunities to take advantage of national programs on a local level have been successful at producing new golfers and new rounds for their facilities.

We are no longer able to live by a “Field of Dreams” philosophy that if we build it, they will come. We need to be innovative and look to manage our facilities in such a way to produce the kind of conditions that will attract golfers and encourage golfers to bring their friends out for a round.

I love the game of golf and am disappointed when I hear excuses about golf taking too much time or being too expensive or too hard. In my experiences as a father and a youth sports coach watching how families spend their time, I believe that golf is a perfect activity for families to do together. As superintendents, we need to be part of a solution that encourages families and individuals to play golf as their leisure time or business activity.