A True Stimulus for Golf – 2016 Olympics…                                                November10, 2009

This is exactly what Golf needed… a sport that has been plagued with the economy…. Over the past several decades Golf has been overbuilt in the United States.  The supply of golf courses has more than surpassed the demand for the number of rounds that are annually played throughout the US.  Yes, even basic macro economics applies to the golf business.  Currently the United States has approximately 15% too many golf courses based on the current round demand.  This over supply will eventually weed out all the facilities that do not have their roots deep enough to withstand the current economic recession.  Is this a bad thing?  I really don’t think so… for several reasons… One, the golf courses that do go under were not exactly creating wealth for anyone involved – suppliers, staff, owners, or members.  Second, golf courses throughout the country are drastically lowering their greens fee rate just to maintain a level of play…not a bad thing; however, the rounds must increase to make up the lost revenue.  Third, since the overall demand is spread among more facilities then all facilities suffer… because they are forced to dumb down the golf experience for example:  golf maintenance doesn’t buy the best fertilizer to insure premium playing surface, additionally they hire less workers to maintain the facility, the golf shop staff is forced to work numerous jobs pulling themselves away from the customer… the list goes on and on. 

In come the Olympics… finally the global push into third world countries.  After centuries and centuries this fantastic game is going to be recognized by Central and South America, most of Africa, Indonesia, India as well as the rest of the world.  India is a country that has the second largest population very close behind China and only 180 golf courses most of which are upper private facilities.  These growth markets for golf begin with golf course construction, - real shovel ready America jobs.  Design firms should be sending RFP’s to all head’s of tourisms throughout the third world.  Second, it feeds over into the golf clubs, golf apparel, golf equipment companies.  All of these golf courses and additional players will need to be outfitted with equipment.  This is where the golf companies MUST TALK with each other…no one in India is going spend $400 on the latest driver…when they make $600 for the month. They must figure out a way to make the equipment to the masses so that they can afford it and thus become a lifelong customer. 

New players equals opportunity for all American Based Companies as well as the PGA of America to get it right the first go around…In addition to saying “Play Golf America” we might be saying “Play Golf India”, “Play Golf Peru”, “Play Golf Indonesia” which will translate into “Golf Jobs in America” .

This is Sean Taylor and I’m the Easterngolftv.com Director of Golf.