When people think of golf what do you think of? For me, I think of competition, artistry, beautiful architecture and fun with friends. However I have played golf all of my life, so what do people who don’t golf think of golf? My guess is that it is a bunch of rich white dudes playing a game of class and exclusivity. Unfortunately, a lot of that isn’t inaccurate. 75-80% of golfers in America are white, country clubs are members only and even public courses require a lot of money to play. Not to mention the “special clothes” that some places require or the ever growing cost of purchasing equipment. To go even a step further, you can’t even practice half of your golf game for free, you need to buy driving range tokens or baskets.
So with all of these barriers it is not surprising that there is this negative stigma surrounding golf. This post will not dive into the details of these different barriers rather this will be a brief call to action for us current golfers. The tour wants to #LiveUnderPar and wants to GROW the game but I would rather see people LOVE game. What I mean is that I want people to feel the same way I do when I play a really good course, I want them to feel the rush of flushing a 4 iron, and I want them to feel the never ending quest of bettering their golf game. We can offer temporary deals and offer special drink discounts to get people to the course to grow the game but what keeps them coming back? The love, the portions of the game that they enjoy.
There are courses that promote the love of the game. These places foster that feeling through a variety of avenues such as free golf lessons to juniors, free rental sets of clubs, no dress code and a culture that puts the emphasis on the enjoyment of the game rather than the game itself. This is our call as golfers, to support these courses in our local communities and to help spread this mentality to the dark corners of the golf universe. I don’t expect it to be all encompassing (actually I think there is a place for the elite private courses) but I do think it is a possibility for all public courses to be this utopian beacon in their local communities. We as golfers need to not judge new golfers and focus on what they are doing wrong or “tattle” on them to the pro shop for playing to slow. That new golfer is trying their best and by you judging them, you are snuffing out the environment that grows love for the game. Golf is weird, it is almost its own culture and I believe we Golfers need to be more open minded in how that culture can change. To judge new golfers is hypocritical as we were once in their shoes.
We need to grow the love of the game.
A Good Walk Spoiled 