The Pellucid Perspective - March 2022 - 4

THE COVID EFFECT
golfer data is telling us some changes are needed so that our pandemic
balloon doesn't burst.
As we have outlined in our last few State of the Industry
presentations; we should be paying more attention to the 25 -
44 year old age groups. The time series chart above highlights
the fact that the greatest " attraction period " is in that age range.
Notice the jump in the number of golfers between the 18 - 24
and 25 - 34 groups - this was true for 1995, 2005 and 2015
(follow the red color to track the 18-34 cohort as they aged
over time and increased in size from 2.4M in '95 to 4.4M in '05
before retreating slightly in '15 to 3.1M but still representing
29% growth during this part of their lifecycle). " The good news
is that our new data shows we made significant progress in attracting
these folks over the last two years. When we revisit this
data for this year's State of the Industry; it will illustrate this
welcome result in the graph above.
We're learning some more about these " new golfers " . For
starters, there has been some progress attracting female participation;
but not nearly as much as has been anecdotally reported.
Racial diversity remains an issue - the #1 player in the world
would be considered demographically " Hispanic " , but his Germanic
surname may be impacting his effect on participation, or
lack thereof. Steph Curry boosted the visibility of the LinksDAO
blockchain golf project and I love watching Aaron Rodgers
throwing to Larry Fitzgerald at the celebrity event in Lake
4 The Pellucid PersPecTive
Tahoe; but the needle isn't moving on improved diversity.
Does that mean we should stop making the effort? NO. But
we would suggest that encouraging the aspirational aspects of
golf has universal appeal regardless of gender or ethnicity. Age, on
the other hand, is something we need to pay attention to if we are
going to retain the new golfers between 25 and 44. They shop differently
and have many more sources of information. They learn
differently, they perceive value differently and they have vastly
different ways of measuring their experiential events.
On the bright side, they appear to be more willing to seek
instruction and get assistance in product selection. The growth of
GolfTec, Club Champion and the proliferation of independent
fitting studios are confirming evidence that this younger cadre
of golfers are just as committed, or even more committed to the
aspirational quest of game improvement than the generations before
them.
As we have outlined in other articles, one of the big factors
in how this age group makes product and service decisions is the
" perception of free " . Google has made billions attracting users
with free gmail and Map Directions. Somebody at Dick's Sporting
Goods must be paying attention - one of their current ads
promotes " free clubfitting " . We assume that Dick's has figured
out how to alternatively compensate their clubfitting professionals.
They have also figured out that these consumers gravitate
to " fintech " installment options by offering staggered payments
March 2022
The Pellucid Perspective - March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - March 2022
