Anyone for nine holes?

Golf growth going soft ...but get ready for round two! By Debbie Gardner PRIME Editor Has the golf boom of the 1990s finally hit a bogie? Have the eyes finally come off the Tiger and turned to other sports? Is golf going the way of fraternal organizations something that the last generation embraced, but we don't have time for? As Baby Boomers begin moving into what used to be known as the "golf years" that's ages 55 to 75 will they, like their moms and dads, be found hitting the links? Or maybe, just maybe, will they be busy doing something else? Where have all the golfers gone? Back in the nifty 90s just before things like downsizing and outsourcing and the stock market downturn became everyday news items, it seemed everybody was playing golf. There was plenty of business done on the links and both men and women signed up in droves to learn how to chip and putt ... schmoozing your way down the fairway became just another way to network. And the golf industry responded adding plenty of new places to play. "At the high water mark a few years ago you were seeing 300 - 400 new courses a year," said former Longmeadow resident Joel Zuckerman, who now writes about the sport for magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Golf magazine from his home in Hilton Head, South Carolina. "People thought the golf boom was going to go on forever, but what happened was the number of golfers started to stagnate with the end result being less players per course." Zuckerman said he's even heard of a few courses being plowed under to "make room for real estate or malls." " It's just a couple ... maybe three ... but it makes you think the boom is over," he said. Zuckerman's heads-up on that trend seems to follow retirement-planning research conducted with a group of age 55 and up potential homebuyers by Massachusetts-based Pro-Matura Group. According to survey results reported by Sam Ali in the Feb. 28 edition of the New Jersey Star Ledger, only 1.7 percent of the respondents were considering buying a home on a golf course, while a mere five percent wanted a view of a golf course as part of their retirement or second home. And it's interesting to note that both scenarios were traditionally considered among the retirement dreams of the well-heeled of the previous generation. Instead, the soon-to-be-retirees in this survey were looking for homes in active adult communities with access to a variety of activities. That move away from a traditional retirement lifestyle seems to be reflected in the total number of men and women actively playing golf, too. According to figures released by the National Golf Foundation (NGF), the total number of golfers dropped 3.9 percent in 2004, declining from 28.4 million players in 2003 to 27.3 million in 2004. Moreover, the number of "core" golfers defined as men and women who play at least eight rounds per year dipped even more, falling 4.7 percent in the same time period. And this is a serious trend. According to NGF, these core golfers account for 47 percent of the players who also account for 91 percent of the rounds played and 87 percent of the annual dollars spent on golf. Local golf associations, such as the Executive Women's Golf Association of Greater Springfield (EWGA) have seen a similar downturn in the past few years. "Membership has dropped not significantly, but it has dropped," reported Joan Choinere, president of the EWGA for 2006. "We [also] did a survey of our members, and the survey response is that most of the ladies are playing less golf ... [mostly] because of work and family obligations." Is it time, talent or cost? But if people have stopped teeing up almost as quickly as they started, what's behind this push to put down the putter? Zuckerman a self-proclaimed golf aficionado who has been lucky enough to build a career around the sport said he sees three big reasons that golf is waning in popularity. Those reasons, as he sees them, are: #1 difficulty; #2 time; and #3 cost. So, are you a glutton for punishment? "It's a very frustrating game," Zuckerman observed. "You might be able to break 100 for the first time, or break 90 or 80 or par ... but once you stop making those huge mistakes those beginner mistakes improvement is very hard to come by." Even for a person who is reasonably coordinated, golf is difficult from a physical, mental and psychological point of view, Zuckerman continued. "Everywhere on the golf course there's trouble water, wind, sand there are plenty of people who quit golf [because of the frustration] ," he said. There's the time element ... "From first tee to final green is one thing," Zuckerman said. "But most people arrive a half-hour before, stay a half-hour or so after [in the clubhouse] ... all of a sudden its six hours door to door." And it seems even harder to justify that chunk of time today, when there's so many other obligations often including work that need our attention. "There's less business conducted on the golf course [today]," EWGA president Joan Choinere said. "I think its because we have so many work obligations ... to take off for five hours or half a day ... you have to weigh it against what you are going to accomplish as opposed to what you are going to accomplish at the office." For mid-life women like herself, Choinere continued, the pull of family needs, coupled with career issues, can also put a damper on play. "Women will always give up golf for family obligations ... men don't have the same family obligations that cause them to do that," she said. And then there's the cost. "It's like skiing you have to make a commitment," Zuckerman said. "You have to buy the equipment, you have to practice, go to the local club, take that vacation to Hilton Head ... it's expensive." But cost it isn't always the reason people don't play. "Women spend a lot of money on golf," Choinere said. "We have no problem with that ...we buy expensive equipment, the latest clothes ...we have six pairs of golf shoes ... but we don't go out and use our equipment enough!" Anyone for nine holes? "Eons and eons ago, when golf started, 18 hoes wasn't the sacred cow. Some courses were 12 holes ...[courses] put in as many holes as they had land for," said Becky Larson, former LPGA player and teaching pro at the Bob Lake Learning Center at Fenway Golf. "The nine-hole trend would make sense ... one thing about golf is that it's usually time-consuming." But that nine-hole game seems to be more than a trend. It's becoming the norm in today's world of golf. "Everybody's playing nine holes ... time is very precious these days," Choinere said. "The ladies I surveyed [for the EWGA] said they like to play nine holes and have a quick lunch and then they can do something else with the afternoon." In fact, the EWGA, which runs a total of nine leagues a week at various courses in the area and also sponsors a monthly golf event "a scramble or some sort of go out and play golf and have lunch and dinner event" includes at least one nine-hole event in its annual calendar. "Most of the public courses have nine and 18-hole leagues," Larson said. "If you play in the evenings after work, you don't have time for more than nine holes." How about a massage with that game? Zuckerman pointed out another trend in golf this one in relation to golfing vacations. It's something he called golf plus. "At the resort end, you'll find golf and spa packages. The husband and wife will go, get a couple of spa treatments while playing a few rounds of golf," he said. "Then there's golf cruising upscale cruise ships and even sailboats and barges that cruise to golf locations." He's even seen something called a "golf adventure." These vacations, he said combine golf and another sport a round or two of play with something like "rock climbing or hiking." "It's a little bit of an industry trend," he said. He's even seen classes called "yoga for golfers, fitness for golfers ... these growth factors are making golf more of a broad-based appeal," Zuckerman added. Is golf poised for a second round? Will the Boomer generation now actively pursuing more strenuous sports like hiking, tennis, running, skiing possibly rediscover golf as the years go by? Only time and joint flexibility can tell. "With Boomers, it's my thinking that many are going to discover ... as many of the people I teach have ... that knees and bodies don't hold up for competitive sports," Larson said. "My dad's 84 and his knees are shot, but he can still play nine holes." She said that, though the trend in golf may be flat right now, "I think we will see an increase in Boomers as they get older and they're trying to find something active that doesn't tear them up." "I actually had quite a few people on the tee [in the past few years] who were tired of being laid up for a few days after they played tennis," she added. And, she said, golf has other advantages, like giving older couples something to do together. "I hear it all the time [from new students], if I want to see my husband when he retires I need to learn to play golf," Larson said. "The other beautiful thing about golf," Larson continued, "is that people of varying abilities can compete against each other. That's not true in tennis or other sports ... it's pretty hard to handicap somebody in a softball game." And even with today's time constraints, and the game's frustrations, there can be satisfaction in making the time to play a few holes. "We all need to do something for ourselves," said Choinere, who, as president of the EWGA is going to try and get out twice a week this year once with a league and once for herself. "And for me, in the summer, that [something] is a little bit of golf.