Skill Development: Golf’s Next Best Hope for Growth?
A couple of recent industry articles and developments among the allied industry associations brought me back to a topic that I first addressed and quantified back in August ‘08. The topic of skill development has only increased in relevancy and potential since that article I wrote leading up to my last invitation to Golf 20/20 (it disbanded shortly thereafter so it turned out to be a short-term snub, ha, ha). Who could have foreseen back then that our participant base would fall from 27M to 20M (’19) and then rebound due to a pandemic to the current level of 23M? While we have less leverage today than when I first suggested it (23M vs. 27M golfers to influence and benefit from increased frequency), skill development still delivers the trifecta of “growth levers”: Increasing rounds, improving retention and attracting new converts to the sport.
In this issue, I’ll outline and (again) quantify the correlation between frequency and economic value of “golfers getting better”. Like any other recreational or entertainment activity, we participate and spend more on things we enjoy; here’s the discussion flight plan:
- Are golfers in general getting any better annually?
- What’s the frequency benefit of a 1 stroke improvement nationally in average score?
- Because there’s more than one path (buy, build or tinker) to improved skill; it could be an “all-of-the-above” approach or solution at national or local level
With ~12M new-to-sport players since COVID, “the fields are ripe for harvest” (quoting the Good Book) if we could figure this out to both improve retention as well as move them up the commitment ladder to Involveds (10+ rds/yr) or above. There’s also an opportunity among the veteran players like me who are stuck at a level that doesn’t “peg out on the fun meter” and would play more frequently if there were birdies and more pars involved… For our subscribers, read on for the full Monty; for our casual observers, you can join the World of Pellucid and start that journey (with this issue) one of three ways:
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