It’s Time For Action, Says TaylorMade Chief

As I was about to write this blog, I had a big morning chuckle out of a posting from one of my Facebook friends.

“Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist. While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water, I drank it! Sincerely, the Opportunist.”

It’s as if that message dropped into my lap considering the subject of this contribution, that being the state of the golf industry, the general consensus that something has to be done to draw new people to the game and the chatter about what should be done actually resulting in very little being done.

Meanwhile, other pastimes — computers, soccer and other games or whatever — are hydrating themselves quite nicely, not only with their own water rations, but also that of the golf industry, which is still arguing about whether the glass is half-full or half-empty and what to do about it.

With the water going elsewhere, when does the golf landscape become barren?

“That’s my fear,” said flamboyant TaylorMade-adidas president Mark King to a group of Canadian golf journalists at the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.

“A lot of smart people are thinking about what do we do, but I think right now, it’s a bunch of talk and people are afraid to take that step. When they take that step, instead of taking a leap, they take a step and the step doesn’t feel like it’s doing anything,” he said.

Golf 20/20, an initiative to ensure vitality of the game, is a perfect example, according to King.

“Golf 20/20 is years of meetings, talking about the future and they haven’t done anything,” said King.

Golf 20/20 was launched in 2000 at a time when golf was beginning to slow down in terms of growth after a decade of vitality in the 1990s, when golf courses, quite often the high end championship variety, were opening frequently.

As a result, when participation began stagnating, its impact was emphasized with all of the new courses that had opened and there was a supply and demand imbalance that had other factors such as the economy contributing.

So, retaining golfers, but also luring new ones, became critical. Problems have been identified — the time it takes to play, difficult to learn and affordability — but with a few exceptions, how to deal with these challenges is still in the discussion stages.

“Rounds played are down, number of people playing, money spent in the category, it’s all down, so we’ve got to do something different and if that means two sets of rules, make them. Make three sets,” said King.

“For all of us who have grown up in golf and are traditional golfers, we can always play the game we love. The question is how are we going to get new people to come in and have fun and spend their money?” he added.

“We’d better get after it because it’s getting late in the game,” said King.

Getting past hundreds of years of tradition is one stumbling block. One of the common buzz words lately has been bifurcation, or a different set of equipment standards for elite players and a different set of guidelines for recreational players.

However, that idea was shot down recently when Mike Davis, executive director of the United States Golf Association, endorsed one set of equipment rules for everybody, which cemented in some people’s minds the idea that the USGA has become irrelevant for the majority of golfers.

King says he looks at bifurcation differently.

“To me, it’s not equipment. It’s about maybe a golf course should be three holes and maybe the cup should be 15 inches and maybe you should not only play winter rules, but get to use a tee on every shot,” he said.

“To set up a game that allows people to enjoy hitting the ball, being outside, being with their buddies having some type of fun, whatever that means, in a different set of circumstances than the current set of rules, that’s what it means to me,” said King.

So, it goes beyond different sets of equipment rules to different types of games, one for established golfers and one for newcomers.

“If they’re going to be conservative and tied to the traditions of etiquette and all of the stuff that has made golf really great, I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to move forward, especially with the younger generation,” said King.

“That’s one of the dilemmas in golf is people are afraid to push the envelope because it’s so uncomfortable to paint drivers white, to call them RocketBallz,” he said of a couple of TaylorMade products. “It’s just not what golf has been

“I think we’ve got to get out there on the edge if we want to make the game exciting and it still can be the great game that it was — i just needs to be a little edgier, that’s all,” he said.

“For all of us who have grown up in golf and are traditional golfers, we can always go play the game we love,” he said.

“I’m result-oriented. If the model that we have today is working, I love it, but it’s not working,” said King.

Agree or disagree with his ideas, King says golf course operators will do what it takes to survive in their own markets, but he adds that it’s important for golf’s governing bodies to get together and come up with a refreshed look for golf in the eyes of potential players.

“Until these governing bodies want to make the game look and feel different for new people, it’s not going to change and it’s a long road,” said King.

“The ones that need to have the idea are the PGA of America, the PGA Tour, the PGA of Canada. These are the ones who have to say we need to do something to make golf fun and exciting and it’s not just the rules. It’s the way you dress, it’s music on the golf course,” he said.

Whatever they decide to do, the main message is it’s time to stop discussing the water.

It’s time to take the plunge.

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• Industry Needs Agreement/Action To Grow The Game
• CPGA 100: Golf Pros Then And Now