By Fred Altvater
Since 2020 the golf industry has experienced a resurgence of popularity and golf course owners are experiencing the highest levels of profitability they have ever seen. Women and juniors are taking up the game in record numbers and tee sheets at golf courses are filled with enthusiastic golfers.
The golf equipment and apparel segments are seeing record sales of golfing paraphernalia. Everything seems to be booming in the golf world, but is it really?
When there is big money to be made, others want a piece of the pie. That is exactly what is happening right now and it will alter the game as we know it.
The LIV and PGA Tour are in a battle to the death to control the professional game. The United States Golf Association (USGA), in their infinite wisdom has decided that the golf ball goes too far and plans to limit it for everyone, not just elite golfers, by 2030. Both of these issues are causing everyday golfers to sit back and wonder about the health of the game.
There are a total of 25 million golfers in the United States that play on over 15,000 courses. One of the arguments raised by the USGA is that golf courses are being shrunk due to the distances the golf ball travels.
Between the Korn Ferry Tour, LPGA Tour and PGA Tour fewer than 150 golf courses host professional golf tournaments. Add in the 15 national championship events and qualifiers that the USGA hosts that brings the total number of courses used for professional and elite amateur events to less than 200, or 1.3% of the 15,000 courses.
There are approximately 2,000 tour professionals which is less than .1% of all golfers. Why is the USGA rolling back the golf ball for everyone, when less than .1% of all golfers are the cause for concern?
Average amateur golfers with swing speeds of 100 mph, or less will not see a big difference in distance lost, but why should a 20 handicapper’s enjoyment of the game be reduced, due to limitations placed on his equipment?
In a game that can be frustrating, why would anyone want to limit the average hacker that pays for tee times, golf equipment and watches golf on their big screen.
That brings me to the next culprits, the PGA Tour and the rival LIV. The LIV is raiding the best talent from the PGA Tour for exorbitant sums of money, which lowers the quality of product the PGA Tour is producing for the golfing public.
When the PGA Tour negotiated their most recent television contracts, CBS, NBC and ESPN pay the tour over $700 million annually to broadcast tournaments on their respective media platforms. In addition, the Discovery Channel pays $177 million every year for international broadcast rights.
Sponsors have been willing to shell out upwards of $20 million for the naming rights to individual tournaments. Between the FedEx St. Jude Classic and the FedEx Cup the huge logistics company shells out over $90 million annually. The winner of the FedEx Cup will receive $25 million in 2024, up from $18 million last year.
How long will sponsors pony up these large amounts of dollars to support the PGA Tour’s lack of star power and lower quality product? If television and sponsor money decreases, or even disappears, what becomes of the PGA Tour. Purses will decrease and tournaments will disappear, which lowers the professional’s ability to earn money.
We hear the phrase, “Grow the Game” repeatedly from the USGA, PGA and the PGA Tour, I’m not sure how the PGA Tour going down the tubes and the USGA rolling back the golf ball will help “Grow the Game.” In fact, I feel that the golf industry is at the precipice of a sharp decline.
