The Pellucid Perspective - February 2012 - (Page 9)

POINT-COUNTERPOINT: ALTERNATIVE GOLF PRO CON If your course is overflowing with golfers, ignore this By Pat Gallagher CEO, Alternative Golf Association he most important message the Alternative Golf Association can deliver here is this one: There’s room for all of us. Too much room. With 4.6 million people dropping the game between 2005 and 2010, with country clubs closing or shifting their appeal to foodies and exercise fanatics, with TV executives describing golf as a loser with no youth appeal, there’s too much room on the courses, in the clubs and on the airwaves for fresh, new games. We’d like at least one of them to be a contemporary version of the game that has inspired passion over the centuries, and that game is golf. An estimated 5 million Americans play golf with gusto, many of them with a real reverence for the game’s rules and traditions. Considered the game’s avid players, I call them the Classic Golfers. Another estimated 20 million Americans play what I call recreational golf, with a gimme here, a breakfast ball there, and nary a trip back to the tee when a ball is deemed lost. But they aren’t playing much. Jack Nicklaus recently announced that only one of his 22 grandchildren plays golf regularly -- the rest are busy with other things and do not share the Golden Bear’s passion for the game. What we at the AGA have set out to do is find the key to unlocking passion among this 20 million so that they will keep golf alive for everyone from the likes of Jack Nicklaus to the Classic Golfers to the Nicklaus grandchildren — and for everyone as their skills diminish with age. What, we would like to know, will stop the slump in golf and ultimately reverse its fortunes so that instead of losing another 4.6 million by 2015, it gains 4.6 million and then some? Junior programs? Eventually, maybe. Connecting with women and Hispanics? Maybe. We’re not opposed to any of the growth initiatives, we just didn’t see them moving the needle expeditiously. So, beginning in January 2011, we started Project Flogton, a quest for ways to make the game irresistibly fun. The idea was to formulate a game like golf that could be played on existing properties without marring the avid golfer’s experience. We would deregulate equipment and open our game to new, highperforming innovations. Flogton, “not golf ” spelled backward, caught on with folks who tried some of its unusual rules and had fun with them. One mulligan per hole inspired new strategies. Teeing the ball up in the fairway got worm-burners airborne. A limit of three putts moved them along. One foursome who tried Flogton was scolded by a player (See Gallagher on page 10) www.PellucidcorP.com Golf ’s rules and traditional values are its strengths, not weaknesses By Ed Smilow (Ed Smilow is a Golf Professional and Historian, Professor of Golf at the Professional Golfers Career College, Executive Director of the California Golf Course Owners Association, an Attorney practicing Golf Course Law, and an avid golfer for over 50 years). olf is a game for everyone. People want to play golf because they love the game and derive pleasure from the pursuit. Neither new equipment nor fun-fostering rules will bring “lapsed golfers” permanently back, no matter how much marketing the AGA expects to do. People will play golf for the same reasons they always have — a great challenge, fresh air and exercise, and good, clean fun. Historically, golf in its present form has enjoyed great success. In 1850, there were but 15 courses worldwide and a few thousand players. By 1913, in America alone there were 350,000 golfers. By 1930, the number rose to 1.5 million. By 1950 there were 5 million golfers and today approximately 25 million Americans play golf on some 15,000 golf courses. This rise occurred in spite of only moderate changes in the rules since the original 13 were adopted in 1744. The essence of the Game of Golf has not changed: take the course as you find it, and play the ball as it lies. New rules have been adopted as exceptions to introduce the concept of fairness. But the game remains the same — no one hits the ball as intended every time and the golfer is accountable for wherever his ball goes. Accepting these fundamentals builds character. Changes in equipment and course conditions have dramatically made the game easier. You don’t have to walk or estimate yardages anymore. With more courses and greater access, the number of people playing the game has grown immensely. Despite the changes, the percentage of golfers who break 90 or 100 on a regulation course has not changed over time. This shows that it is not the difficulty of the game that impedes growth. Rather, it is a failure to define the game where the golf industry has fallen short. Manufacturers tease the public into thinking distance and score are everything. They do this with larger clubheads, perimeter weighting, long putters and even larger golf balls, all of which, by the way, are legal under the Rules of Golf. There even have been experiments doubling the size of the hole which show that the average score would only be reduced by 6 shots per round. The real decline in golf has been caused by its cost in time and money, and the appearance that the game is too hard to be fun. What needs to be done in the golf industry is to get back to the basics. The AGA’s proposals seem to cater to those who wish to change the rules to suit themselves. Rather than extol (See Smilow on page 10) The Pellucid PersPecTive T G 9 http://WWW.PELLUCIDCORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - February 2012

The Pellucid Perspective - February 2012
Contents
PGA/GolfNow deal torpedoed by members’, owners’ reactions
More core golfers playing less = trouble
Point-Counterpoint: Alternative Golf
January weather impact: Golf benefits from an inconvenient truth
Pro Kids Golf Academy builds on distinguished legacy
The phantom golf ball market
Tampa, FL
Forest Preserve still seeking golf course developer
Golf ’s Clash of the Titans

The Pellucid Perspective - February 2012