Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2016 - 5

EDITOR'S
LE T T ER
Golf's Next-Gen Challenge
Striking a work-life-golf and gender balance.
U
Avid golfers
experience
home
and work
conflicts that
negatively
impact their
time spent
playing golf.
nless you've had your head in a
bunker, the largest golf event of
our lifetime is coming to Chaska,
Five Fun Facts to Know This Summer
+
WATER HAZARDS
*Minnesota is the
Land of 10,000 Lakes,
yet there are actually
15,291 of these water
hazards that are 10
acres in size or larger.
www.mngolf.org
RYDER CUP
Ryder Cup organizers
say 500 million
households worldwide
will tune in to
the 41st Ryder Cup
match.
Minn., on Sept. 30. Two-hundred-and-fifty
thousand spectators, or about 10 times the
population of Chaska, will converge on Hazeltine
National to watch three days of match
play contested by 24 players representing the
U.S. and Europe. Millions of television viewers
will tune in, and if the weather cooperates
with sun-splashed fairways and greens, and
temperatures around 70 degrees with gentle
breezes out of the south, it will amount to a
weeklong commercial, hyping tourism and
golf in the land of 15,291 " water hazards. " *
In the end, Hazeltine's youthful pedigree
(founded in 1961, HNGC is decades younger
than Minikahda and Interlachen, sites of the
1916 and 1930 U.S. Opens) will be enriched
and its reputation further burnished. The
Robert Trent Jones layout, largely redesigned
in the years after Dave Hill's caustic critique
during the 1970 U.S. Open, consistently gets
high marks from visiting players, and will undoubtedly
garner similar positive reactions
this fall. While the Ryder Cup outcome will
reverberate among the PGA of America and
fans of both the U.S. and European teams,
Hazeltine will come out the winner regardless
of which side celebrates with Sam Ryder's
gold trophy.
In a recent golfer survey- " Work, Home
and Golf " by Dan Sachau of Minnesota
State University, Mankato-it was discovered
that avid golfers experience home and work
conflicts that negatively impact their time
spent playing golf. About 82 percent of golfers
said they dedicate less time to golf than
they would like (on average, eight hours less).
Interestingly, for golfers whose spouses and
work supervisors were supportive of their
interest in playing the game, their home and
work-golf conflicts were lower.
While avid golfers aren't lacking in motivation,
they do need the opportunity to play
more within the limitations of their lifestyle,
the study's authors concluded. This finding
validates the USGA's Play 9 campaign (see
p. 4). Further, since women are underrepresented
(women made up 13 percent of avid
golfers in the study, and 20 percent of the total
U.S. golfer population), the golf industry
would do well to concentrate on getting more
women involved in golf. Not only would this
initiative directly impact rounds and revenues,
it would indirectly improve the home
and work-golf conflicts for avid golfers with
spouses or female supervisors, they add.
See you on the tee.
W.P. Ryan, Editor-in-Chief
CHASKA
The Cup host city,
incorporated in 1871,
has a population of
24,444. It's the birthplace
of Nordic Track
and Softsoap.
CARVER COUNTY
There are 99 holes of
golf in Carver County,
home to the City of
Chaska and Hazeltine
National Golf Club.
MGA MEMBERS
MGA members posted
276,478 nine-hole
rounds, approximately
20 percent of all
rounds posted, in
2015.
Summer 2016 MINNESOTAGOLFER
3
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2016

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