Get Golf Ready (In Five Days): A New Adult Initiative and How it Can Succeed

When the precipitous economic freefall began with rising travel costs and a disappearing real estate market this spring and summer, everyone operating within the golf industry wondered whether a "recession" would impact the sport or if a pursuit if not exclusively enjoyed by, but more readily accessible to the affluent, would be immune to such a frugal consumer climate.

That, of course, was before bailout packages were handed out to fledgling companies like PGA Tour championship trophies to Tiger Woods. After watching giants of the financial, insurance and auto industries fall to their knees, it was clear that no sector of the American economy would be spared by our growing financial mess. 

“We’ll have to work harder for that dollar in 2009,” said Joe Steranka, CEO of the PGA of America and Chairman of the Golf 20/20 Executive Committee at the recent Golf 20/20 Forum held at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla.

Executive Director of the United States Golf Association David Fay told assembled industry leaders it was time to “think and work collaboratively to keep our game strong.”

The newest program to keep the game strong announced by the distinguished leaders of Golf 20/20, the World Golf Foundation’s initiative focused on the development and support of programs to grow interest and participation in the game of golf, is targeted to the millions of U.S. adults who have never played golf, or who have minimal previous connection to the game.

Click Here to read the entire article detailing the Get Golf Ready adult player development program 

The name of the program is Get Golf Ready and it hopes to bring adults into the game in a comfortable, enjoyable manner through a series of five introductory lessons in a small group environment.

According to Roy Spence, Chairman and CEO of GSD&M Idea City, whose national branding, marketing and advertising firm developed the programs name, logo, graphics and creative execution, transforming the way people see golf is a key component of this initiative. Spence said he wants to see the game of golf transformed into a sport and taken from passive to active. He also spoke about replacing the connotation of golf as a finesse activity with a more exhilarating fitness undertone.

Cindy Davis, chair of the Golf 20/20 Player Development Committee and president of Nike Golf, laid out a set of numerical goals associated with the Get Golf Ready program that include registering more than 5,000 facilities as Get Golf Ready locations, adding 700,000 new golfers, creating an additional 5.7 million rounds of golf played and bringing an extra $700 million worth of spending into the marketplace; an estimated revenue of $1,200 per golfer. These goals would be an aggregate total of the economic impact to the golf industry from 2009 – 2013.

The pillars of the program are delivering brand promise and consistently offering the same experience nationwide. That experience will consist of the two elements of the program: Learn and Play. Learn being the $99 five-lesson package, and play being structured yet casual on-course exercises to get rookie golfers comfortable with hitting shots on the actual course.

Once a player graduates from the five day program, Get Golf Ready intends to offer graduation options including league play or group outings.

The program will especially target demographics with pent up demand such as women, African Americans and Hispanics.

Launching an effort to bring new adults to the game, or even bring back adults that play infrequently or are intimidated when they do, is an outstanding if not obvious way to grow the game. Instead of promoting a program designed to for example, bring more children into the game, this initiative would certainly have a trickledown effect if successful. Imagine a middle aged man with a family of four who works at a mid-sized company. If you bring him into the game, he is more apt to relay his positive experience to his co-workers and pass on the game to his children, as opposed to his children teaching him the game. In that sense, I think it works.

A similar effort was launched at the 2003 Golf 20/20 Conference, when Play Golf America began and was rolled out in the spring of 2004. Play Golf America’s initial focus was toward getting occasional golfers playing more often and former golfers back into the game.

According to recent statistics released by the PGA of America, more than 3.4 million people have participated in group instruction at the grass-root level, for an average of 678,000 students per year over Play Golf America’s five-year history. Branded Play Golf America programs have reached 1.28 million consumers since 2004 through programs such as PGA Free Lesson Month and Family Golf Month.

Click Here to read the entire article celebrating Play Golf America's Five Year Anniversary, with more statistics and analysis 

It is projected that programs like those previously mentioned have accounted for a $20.7 million impact in 2008 and a $16.8 million impact in 2007 to the golf economy.

The 250 golf industry leaders present at the Golf 20/20 forum were quick to point out barriers to success of the program and barriers that must be broken through in order for Get Golf Ready to meet its goals.

The obvious problems confronting the program are time and money. Making the program attractive to the cost-conscious consumer was at the forefront of the discussion and included a broad acceptance of the $99 fee for the program, incentives for graduates of the program, such as discounted greens fees and use of rental clubs at no charge.

One way around the time sensitive nature of the game was a call to action that would change the feeling that golf took too long into a feeling that the hours spent on the course were quality time. This could be done by bringing families together to enjoy something outdoors, and getting away from more enclosed spaces.

Perhaps the most significant hurdle to overcome is peeling away the layers of intimidation for “non-golfers” or those returning to the game. I think removing what one participant in the forum called “the inbred hostility to new golfers in the game” is the most daunting challenge. This means minorities, players who may be embarrassed by their abilities or players so new to golf that they don’t know the difference between the pro shop and the cart barn.

As someone who played a decent amount of golf in high school but played little to no golf while in college, I know that sounds hard to believe, returning to the game has been intimidating.

Sure being a golf writer creates a certain pressure to play better and impress upon people that you are adroit at the subject you specialize in, but I haven’t always felt comfortable around players much more familiar to the game than I am. For instance, one colleague asked my boss, “This guy is gonna write about golf?"

This negative attitude toward new golfers is the biggest barrier to bringing in new adults. So I would urge seasoned players to mentor new players, be patient with them and most of all, be encouraging. Golf is a great game and there will always be fresh faces eager to participate, but only if we accept them with open arms, no matter who they are or what walk of life they come from.

So the onus and the burden of this initiative falls on the existing golfers, the impassioned weekend warriors who would wait hours upon hours in the parking lots of Torrey Pines and Bethpage just to get on the course. Take this opportunity to be a steward of the game instead of a hindrance to its growth.

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