Golf and COVID-19: What we never expected and what to expect going forward
March 11, 2020. I was excited for the start of a new golf season; I had accepted the new position at a club in Maine. My wife had accepted a new position at a great company only 20 minutes from my work. For the first time, we were going to finally have a place to settle down, where we wouldn’t have long commutes, and could purchase a home. Everything seemed great, then the NBA suspended it’s season. The next day, the NCAA suspended all sports. Within a couple days, businesses were being shut down as we dealt with a new virus that was sweeping through our nation. I was actually afraid I wouldn’t be allowed to leave New York on the day we made our final move to Maine. When golf was shut down for the month of April and my wife’s start date was pushed back, we were scared that we had made the worst timed decision of our lives. As it turned out, that was certainly not the case.
When golf courses were allowed to re-open, golf became the most popular activity in the world. A game which had been dying a slow death since the end of the “Tiger Boom”, followed by the worst economic downturn in 70 years, was one of the largest beneficiaries of the global pandemic. According to the National Golf Foundation, total rounds played in the United States were up by more than 60 million rounds versus 2019. This trend has continued into 2021. COVID-19 has been a tremendous and unexpected boost to the golf industry, but can we expect the game’s popularity to remain once the pandemic is behind us? Quite simply, no.
We haven’t actually changed anything...
In the years prior to the pandemic, golf had been trying to solve the riddle of how to get more people into the game. Programs such as The First Tee, PGA Reach, Drive, Chip, & Putt, etc., had spent years and millions of dollars on advertising, and were supported by the biggest organizations in the game. With the exception of PGA Junior League, none of the programs were able to significantly bring new players to the game and keep them involved. Many players left the game after aging out of The First Tee. Golf courses and the leaders of our game had made every effort to reach out to children, women, minorities, and lapsed golfers to get them involved, but with little success. This failure resulted in more golf courses closing than opening in the United States every year since 2006. The last time such a phenomenon occurred was during World War II. Even with the golf boom since last spring, that statistic has still held true according to the National Golf Foundation.
Even with more people becoming interested in the game, the pre-pandemic problems remain.
Golf is expensive.
Golf takes too long to play.
Golf is an incredibly difficult sport to play.
Golf is considered an elitist sport.
None of these problems were solved by COVID, in fact some of them got worse. If you play golf with even some regularity, you no doubt have heard of issues getting equipment over the last couple of years. In early September, I received an email from Callaway Golf’s President & CEO Chip Brewer. Despite receiving emails from Callaway almost daily as a member of their Professional Staff, I had never received from Mr. Brewer, which stood out to me. He explained that the problems in Callaway’s and other companies' supply chains would probably continue for another two years. With only a finite supply of materials for golf clubs, balls, shafts, and anything else necessary to play the game, equipment manufacturers are devoting most of their time and materials to their higher end products. This leaves the cost-friendly options sought out by new golfers off the table, only adding to the problem of golf being too expensive a game to casually pick up. Despite the supply-chain issues, Callaway had its best quarter earnings report ever for the second quarter this year.
The problems every industry is facing are impacting golf too…
Costs are also being driven higher by staffing shortages throughout many sectors of our global economy. This has led to increases in cost of not only golf equipment, but materials needed for the rest of the operation including, but not limited to, food, grounds equipment, and chemicals. This, along with added demand, has forced most golf courses throughout the country to increase their membership, greens, and cart fees. Golf was already too expensive for many people and raising the price isn’t going to help attract more people to the game.
Staffing issues are impacting the golf courses themselves as well. Most courses are struggling to fill positions not only of the part-time or hourly wage variety, but management positions as well. Assistant Golf Professional positions that used to attract around 100 applicants are now only receiving around a dozen. This is placing more of a time burden on existing staff, limiting their ability to attract new people to the game. As an example of this, last year I had a woman call me for a lesson in early September. She was new to the game and was looking to receive instruction before she developed bad habits. Due to staffing shortages, I only had limited availability to teach but was able to give her a list of options over two weeks. I immediately heard a “sigh” over the phone. The woman explained that she had been trying to get a lesson for a month and I was the first Professional of the six she called who at least gave her a few options, even though they weren’t ideal times. This shortage has also meant that Professionals have not been able to conduct as many clinics for beginners or junior instruction, which drives more active golfers to each club. Throughout the golf industry, these issues are expected to continue. Currently, 50% of the PGA of America membership is age 55 or older. The long hours have been the issue in attracting new Professionals or preventing those who are not far along in the industry from dropping out. This issue has plagued Superintendents as well and will continue to do so without wholesale changing the expectations of our industry. My senior year of high school, we had seven kids on our team who became Golf Professionals, most going through the PGA PGM program during college. Today, I am the only one of the seven who is still a Professional. I am also the only one without children. The other six said that the workload was what drove them to another industry. Whereas 70 hour weeks are fine for me, I cannot imagine trying to raise a family with a wife who also has a full-time job. The only way to lessen the amount of hours Professionals must work is to limit offerings at a club or higher a larger staff. Both of which will significantly drive up the price of a round or membership. These are not great options.
Does anyone really have any idea what is going to happen???
Since COVID-19 first began to impact our nation last March, I have spent countless hours trying to anticipate how the golf industry might change because of COVID, both in the short and long term. I have been on more webcasts and zoom calls than I care to remember, trying to learn what other experts in our industry were thinking. Every Professional I have spoken with I have posed the same question to, “what is going to happen to golf when this is all over?” So far, I have had ONE person give a prediction. A sales representative for a club manufacturer has told me that his company is expecting a 10% decrease in sales and rounds played once this pandemic is behind us. He said they just don’t know what year it’s going to be in yet.
For the reasons listed above, I have to believe that Golf is only experiencing a boom similar to the early 2000’s. We haven’t made the changes necessary to not have the same issues when the pandemic is behind us. The profile of our golfers is mostly the same, golf will only continue to get more expensive, and staffing will be an issue for years to come. Although it is tough during times like these, we must continue to innovate and improve our courses. Prior to the pandemic, even clubs which had never had an issue with membership were starting to experience them. A club I’m familiar with was having a terrible time attracting members in early 2020. During the golf boom of the last 18 months, they filled their membership and waitlist. However, with many new members not being able to get tee times, they will likely leave the club when they are able to go somewhere else. This club will likely be right back to square one within a few years. This will be true for most of the golf industry and we must change now in order to stop it.