How To Improve Golf Interest for Non-Golfers and Beginners: It’s Simple!
Each year, the PGA, LPGA, and others involved with golf spend a great amount of time and resources researching the number of individuals interested in learning to golf. Each year, the results are similar:
The numbers continue to increase.
Golf leaders and content creators grapple with the idea of how to get individuals who want to learn how to golf to pursue their interests and maintain their new habits once they begin to golf.
For years, I’ve noticed that those charged with solving the problems of beginning to golf don’t have a clue what those problems are.
So, they fabricate reasons for low participation and retention. This, in my opinion, is wrong and leads to little change in participation.
Since its beginning, golf in the United States has been viewed as a game for the elite. All of the rules and regulations established have been used to support the golf industry and its partners. Those who already participate in golf.
So, in the modern day, most of those rules make it difficult to grow participation in the game. This problem will not improve until there are major rule changes in the game.
Most beginners have no interest in becoming professional golfers or participating in competitive golf. They have no desire to follow many of the antiquated rules designed into golf that have very little to do with the game itself.
Most golf courses in the United States are par 72, which is the average score for professional players. Simply put, the scoring is designed so that all golfers are competing with professional players’ score results.
Most non-golfers, and especially beginning golfers, are only interested in straightforward, successful golf game outcomes. They would love to drive the golf ball off the tee, use a middle or long iron to hit it near the green, and then hit it with a short iron onto the green and complete an up-and-down putt.
However, most of the training equipment developed today puts emphasis on shot-making, hooks, draws, spins, etc., all of which take away from simply playing the game of golf. This causes the game to become complicated for many beginners.
Change needs to happen to get many non-golfers and beginners actively involved with golf, and it must begin with the PGA.
What needs to happen?
- Separate golf rules and scoring based on a competitive level and a player’s golf experience.
- Allow professional/competitive golf play to operate under existing rules and scoring guidelines as scoring relates to par 72 rules.
- Establish a set of regulations and scoring guidelines for non-golfers and beginners based on bogey golf scoring as it relates to par-72 courses. Example below:
Example:
Par-72 course.
Par golf par golf birdie golf bogey golf double bogey
# holes # shots # shots # shots # shots
Par 3 3 ea. 2 ea. 4 ea. 5 ea.
Par 4 4 ea. 3 ea. 5 ea. 6 ea.
Par 5 5 ea. 4 ea. 6 ea. 7 ea.
Par-72 course
Bogey score double bogey score
1-rd. 18 holes 1.5 rd. 27 holes
72 + 18 72 + 27
90 99
With bogey golf scoring (playing against the course) you can shoot a bogey on 1.5 rd. and still break 100, something that only 20% of all golfers can accomplish, including professional.
Average golfers have fun!
An unnamed writer placed a post in “Golf Talk-the sand trap.com” posted April 25, 2006
“On Sundays, I work as the morning starter at a local course, so I get to see firsthand the game of the average weekend golfer. I would speculate that less than 10% of the people I send off the first tee can break 100. Really and truly, it’s pretty ugly. Only about half of them even get it airborne. The great thing, though, is that 100% of them are still having fun”.
The PGA of America and others have been responsible for implementing several initiatives to increase golf participation.
However, the PGA and its golf industry partners don’t know what many of the problems are with golf for beginners, even though they themselves may be responsible for most of them.
What are some of the problems with golf as they relate to growing the game?
- Conflict of interest throughout the industry. To include the PGA, industry partners, trainers, manufacturers, etc.
- Passing wrong information to both beginners and amateur players.
- Too much misinformation and confusion are being passed forward from many golf leaders and content creators who try to motivate interest and maintain retention among golf beginners.
- Mixed information is offered to non-golfers and beginners with an interest in selling products and services more than to get them involved with learning to golf.
The idea for growing golf has little to do with swinging a golf club or going to the golf course and more to do with the 5c’s when learning to golf.
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Golf For Sure 5c’s: Critical to learning to golf successfully.
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