Growth of sports through family time
Is golf is declining because men are no longer willing to spend all day apart from their families, (“More Americans Are Giving Up Golf,” New York Times, February 21″) and if so, what implications might this have for snow sports?
First, the numbers:
The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.
More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third.
The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.
Says Walter Hurney, a real estate developer, “There just isn’t enough time. Men won’t spend a whole day away from their family anymore.”
Mr. Rocchio, a regional director of the National Golf Course Owners Association, adds to the “family first” theme:
“Years ago, men thought nothing of spending the whole day playing golf — maybe Saturday and Sunday both. Today, he is driving his kids to their soccer games. Maybe he’s playing a round early in the morning. But he has to get back home in time for lunch.”
So what to make of these claims?
Like snowboarding, golf is a male-dominated sport. Only 25% of golfers are women, which is similar to (but lower than) the percentage of snowboarders who are female.
Perhaps we’re becoming a nation of couch potatoes and desk jockeys? Says the Times:
The disappearance of golfers over the past several years is part of a broader decline in outdoor activities — including tennis, swimming, hiking, biking and downhill skiing — according to a number of academic and recreation industry studies.
It attributes a decline in tennis to an increased interest in skateboarding. That’s plausible, given that both are (largely) warm-weather pursuits.
The Times digs up a quote from Rodney B. Warnick, a professor of recreation studies, who says that the younger generation “is not just as active” in all sports. That is a jarring conclusion, though, given the media template of Gen Xers and Millenials being more concerned about work-life balance than boomers.
Jim Kass, research director of the National Golf Foundation, blames economics, specifically the cost of golf and cutbacks in corporate memberships to country clubs. The idea that structural changes in the economy are in part responsible is intriguing. We’ve come a long ways since the days of Organization Man. I have yet to see hard data on corporate support for golf participation. But given the “flattening” of the economy (think “The World is Flat”), there may in fact be some softness in Fortune 500 support for the sport.
Where does snowboarding fit in? I like to play golf, but snowboarding may be more of a family-friendly activity than golf is. It’s not as intimidating to children as golf is. And with golf, once your children have started a round, they’re in it for the duration–at least that’s the spirit of golf. By contrast, snowboarding is open to more frequent breaks for hot chocolate or just warming up in the lodge.