The Future Of Golf? The Rich Still Getting Richer - Dog Leg News

About the author

Tom Edrington

Tom Edrington spent the first 10 years of his misguided youth as a sports writer for the Tampa Tribune. His career brought him face to face with many of sports greatest stars -- Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Muhammad Ali, Don Shula, countless Hall of Fame NFL stars, more PGA Tour players than he can count. In 1980 he was honored by the Golf Writers Association of America for writing the best news story that year, his coverage of Jack Nicklaus' U.S. Open victory at Baltusrol. Today, 36 years later, golf is still a great part of his life, thanks to competitive playing days and the wonderful people he has met on this fabulous journey.

Related Articles

12 Comments

  1. 1

    baxter cepeda

    As a First Tee coach, I can tell you with certainty the organization is bringing recreational golfers and creating some of the best competitors and pros for the future.

    My oldest is going to Augusta in January for dcp, an amazing motivator, but really for experienced competitors more than anything. For most kids the DCp experience lasts about 5 minutes annually. Still its always cute and reassuring seeing beginners crying after round 1; passion for golf gives me chills.

    But First Tee is there week after week for families at less than 10$ a class. Our program, which had gone away a couple of years, is growing like crazy. The golf course I work at is quite affordable and they are allowing kids to play free with a parent.

    Recently the municipals started allowing kids to play free. Of course many kids are not ready for the golf course, but in time they will be. Still, we are seeing more and more dads out there with their little ones.

    Free golf for kids who are ready for the course is something that should be standard, second nature, in golf when possible. And not just with a paying adult.

    People need to know they can take their kids to a course and it will be free. Its one thing for Dad to pay for himself, its a whole other thing paying for two, three, four keiki day after day. But in time those kids will be able to pay for themselves.

    Golf needs time to sell itself to the next generation. This cannot be done costing blue collar families so much.

    Happy Holidays Tom

    1. 1.1

      Tom Edrington

      Baxter, thanks for all your good work. OBW, I didn’t know Augusta National was open in January. The problem I see is that the next generation will have some tough economic times in front of them. Golf needs to become more available, as you have stated. Merry Christmas to you and yours and best wishes to all the juniors you help at the First Tee!

  2. 2

    snowman0157

    Yep.. the PGA tour as a non-profit is a joke; they should be paying taxes. Junior golf remains a sport overwhelming for the well-to-do… it’s become so competitive now at earlier ages with the AJGA and local events that only the eel-off can really afford to have their kids seriously involved. The First-tee seems like a PR thing to me; I see kids on saturdays at my local munis chipping to cones, etc; never see any younger kids actually playing golf.. it’s a shame. When I was a kid in row 60s-70s, there were dozens of kids that hung out and played golf at my local muni. Now, mostly old men like me and 30-40 somethings squeezing in a quick 5 hour round whenever they can.

    1. 2.1

      Tom Edrington

      Snowman, you are spot-on…..it was estimated that Tiger Woods’ junior/amateur schedule cost about $100,000 and Earl Woods certainly didn’t have that kind of money, whispers were that IMG helped fund it, hence he signed immediately with that firm when he turned pro and Earl was given a cushy job with the firm that didn’t require him to do anything but collect a paycheck…..yes, our game is in jeopardy, for sure.

  3. 3

    larry260

    Article is 100% correct, public golf (in California) for sure is on its last legs…. Courses are being closed every month because the land is worth more then any profit you can make running a golf course. Even private clubs are under super pressure because younger people just do not have the fees to join them.. Yes there is a good group of players over 50 that keep some courses doing a day or two worth of good business during the week…but the need for full courses on higher green fee weekends is starting to suffer. And amen to the words on First tee type programs….you can count on at least 75% or more of the kids at public courses giving it up the first time they have to pay their own green fees or a bucket of balls for that matter.

    1. 3.1

      Tom Edrington

      Larry: Great to hear from you, glad someone else recognizes the crisis out there, not sure what the landscape will look like 10 years from now…..obw, they are trying to purchase and plow under a course up the way from me, they want to build more houses….

  4. 4

    RM

    Good insights. The truth is that golf has probably the steepest (and likely the most frustrating) learning curve of any sport. I’ve played many, many sports and golf is by far the most difficult to even get to the point where you are capable of playing and thinking strategically – playing some form of golf, as opposed to hacking and trying to survive.

    I feel like there has to somehow be a business model that incorporates the Top Golf experience with an actual, non-intimidating course that would encourage folks to actually move off the nets and the party experience, and get out on a course and bang a ball around

    The sport needs an infusion of young people to embrace it. But these are busy folks with a gazillion other recreation options and little inclination to deal with quaint traditions and a steep learning curve. Couple this with the high cost of access and equipment, and the fact that instead of being more accessible and less rigorous, new courses are getting longer. Hey, can’t everyone stripe 275-300 yard drives in the fairway? I mean, Rory and DJ do it, why shouldn’t typical golfers?

    Throw in for good measure a prevailing attitude (an undercurrent, but it’s still there with some) that unless you are a single digit handicap, you kinda basically suck. .

    What could go wrong? Why aren’t people and women coming out in droves to be part of that?

    Oh well… just some random thoughts. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Tom. And thanks for this site!

    1. 4.1

      Tom Edrington

      RM: Thanks for checking in, I’ve long been a believer in short courses, love par three courses, there is a great one in Jupiter I used to play often, I could play 18 in two hours and really sharpens wedge and short game plus some longer holes, up to five and six irons….I believe the time factor works against the game, too many tough courses and TOO MANY PEOPLE PLAY FROM THE WRONG TEES…..love when high handicappers think they should play the blue tees and are guaranteed a five-plus hour round. Our game is in trouble, for sure. Many of my friends who are PGA professionals have whispered to me that the First Tee is primarily an after-school baby-sitting service…

      1. 4.1.1

        RM

        Amen to playing from the wrong tees. IMHO, unless you are hitting most of the greens in regulation from where you are playing, you really shouldn’t be moving further back (unless the course is uncrowded and the extra time you will take isn’t a concern).

        I also enjoy short courses and par threes for the reasons you stated. But I find a number of folks disdain them, seemingly feeling they aren’t a test of “real golf”, and that if they carve out the time, they simply want to be on a full size course. Oh, well.

        1. 4.1.1.1

          Tom Edrington

          Amen RM, Amen.

      2. 4.1.2

        baxter cepeda

        Ill add one thing:
        Look at all the free basketball and tennis courts, baseball and football fields, which go neglected year round in this country.
        Golf seems to get more participation from adults than almost any sport, and they pay for it. The biggest problem for golf is the same problem all sports suffer from:
        Laziness.
        America needs to get outside again. Thats the losing battle.

        1. 4.1.2.1

          Tom Edrington

          Baxter: That is what I really loved about Scotland……everyone walks over there, when we played North Berwick on the weekend, entire families were out walking, including elderly grandparents…..golf is a walking sport over there….love that.

Leave a Reply

Copyright Dog Leg News 2015 | Terms | Privacy