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Golf today is very different from the game
of the eighties. For most of us of a certain
age, back then, the major players were
household names. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold
Palmer and Greg Norman were instantly
recognisable. Golf made news. But while
we all knew about it, on a sunny afternoon
while channel surfing, many would hit
upon a televised game and would see it as
a sure sign that we were wasting our day.
The tired banter of the commentators, the
camera panning up to follow a minuscule
ball followed by polite clapping from the
obedient crowd, all served as a sign that
there was certainly something better to
do.
Golf is in a tail spin and there are many
in the game who seem blind to the fact
that it may not survive the next couple of
decades as a global sport.
The numbers suggest it is contracting
badly. In the U.S., by far the largest golf
market, it is in peril. The 2014 Masters
tournament received a viewership rating
of 1.5 in America, compared with the 7.3
garnered by a World Cup game played be-
tween USA and Portugal in the same year.
In 2013, 157.5 courses closed, while only
14 opened. In the same year, it was esti-
mated that 25 million Americans played
the game, down 18 percent from 2006. It
is believed that American golf loses one
million players per year.
While the Asian market provides the
only note of optimism in the sport, all of
WHY THE GAME OF GOLF IS
DEVOURING ITSELF
BY TIMOTHY MOTTRAM
26
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TOUCHLINE
ISSUE 21 | AUGUST 2015