Tradition: a behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. Golf is rooted in American history, whether it be due to its competitive aspect, the countless number of business transactions that have occurred on golf courses, or whether it is just going out and playing for fun. This tradition is on the hot seat as younger generations are prioritizing learning other sports or activities over golf. However there is currently a rift in the golf community on if golf truly does have a problem or not. Some believe that action needs to be taken to try and re-grow golf, where others contradictory think that golf is simply going through a lull and will bounce back on its own. Making this even more complicated is those who want to take action cannot agree on ideas to help rejuvenate the sport. The sport is facing a crisis point and the members of the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) need to take a stance before the game of golf dwindles away into oblivion. Golf is more than just a sport, it is heritage, it is learning manners, respect, competiveness, but most importantly it is part of America's tradition. A combination of ideas can and will bring this sport back to the prominence it was once at. 

A majority of golf coverage is aired on the Golf Channel. The Golf Channel is a multi-million dollar business and do not want anything to change in the sport so they continue to make money. This is evident in one of the hosts on Golf Channel's most popular show; Morning Drive, stating "The downturn in golf's is not because of anything other the natural ebb and flow of the sport," (Chamblee). This quote shows one of two things. Either the Golf Channel is ignorant of what is actually going on or even worse they are ignoring it and simply want to keep everything the same so they can continue to make money in the same way they have been for the last five years or so. Another flaw with this logic is how long does golf have to be on the decline before action needs to be taken? Should it be five years, ten years, twenty years? Golf has been on the decline for seven years now. More courses have closed then opened for every year since 2008 (Cook). These are not opinions, but facts, golf is hurting and the Golf Channel continues to ignore the issue, they continue to just pat everyone on the back and feed them lies about how golf will come back just because it did in the past.

The younger generation today has a different mindset then those of the past. With the world at their fingertips and everything available to them in record time, a four hour round of golf is not appealing to them. Kids today enjoy playing fast hard hitting sports such as football. This is also shown by the increase in participation in sports such as lacrosse and less people playing baseball. The slower older sports are getting pushed out of the way because the youth today do not have the attention spans to stay interested in sports such as golf. Jake Turtel references in his article on Fortune how new technology could be the way to bring golf back into the limelight. With new gadgets such as GameGolf; a device you attach to your belt that allows you to track your stats with every club by touching your club to the device before every shot. The device stores all of your shots, how far you hit them, how close to the hole you hit them, and even where you tend to miss with every club. Then by accessing their website you can see all of this information presented to you. New technology such as that could be a way to entice a technology driven generation into a sport that is trying to keep up with the times.

Another bi-product of the increase of technology is the decrease in the attention spans of kids. Golf is notorious for taking a long time. It is a game of patience and thought which is shown by its four hour round time. This doesn't appeal to today's youth who contemplate watching a ten minute YouTube video because it is "too long". In another article Clevenger gives a couple of ideas to combat the four hour round time. He states that by enlarging the holes it would increase the pace of play because it would be much easier to complete each hole. Another option he gives is courses allowing patrons to partake in playing nine holes instead of all eighteen. That in itself is one of the big issues golf has. Many public and especially private courses do not offer nine hole rates. Many people would love to get in a quick nine holes, the difference in time of completion is astounding and golf course sales would surely increase if they allowed people to play just nine holes. On the idea of making the hole larger, this would cause an uproar on the course. A better idea would be to add a separate hole on the opposite side of the green that is larger so that before the round started the players could decide if they would want to play the larger or the regular sized hole. 

Golf is notorious for being a rich man's game. With the economic downturn in 2008, golf was especially hit hard by it. This is shown by the sales decrease Dick's Sporting Goods reported last year. GolfGalaxy stores' sales went down a whopping 10.4 percent last year (Cook). For a local municipal course the green fees (cost to play) usually fall in the forty-five to eighty dollar range depending on the time of year and whether or not you want to use a golf cart. For the average American that's a sizeable amount of money just to partake in an activity trying to put a little white ball into a hole. With the economy taking a hit it makes it harder for the working class golfer to budget money to go out and play on a regular basis. The option to play nine holes or even the creation of more courses that are just nine holes could help this problem. Obviously by lowering the number of holes played it would also lower the green fees and allow people to play more often while still being fiscally responsible. Even though golf is known as rich sport a majority of its players fall into the middle class tax bracket. These subtle changes in price could easily help bring back the average family man back into the sport.

Golf is filled with loads of unwritten rules. It is a gentleman's game, everyone is supposed to be quiet while the player gets ready to hit, not to step in front of someone's line on the putting green, wearing collared shirts, no denim, and always being on the best behavior. Many of the older members at courses harp on young players for dressing too hip or being too loud and rowdy out on the course. These ideals are another reason as to why the millennial generation does not want any part of golf. The sport as a whole needs to get with the times, they cannot afford to be turning away customers, especially those who are the future of the game just because they prefer t-shirts over polos and get a little overexcited on the course. The game needs to create lasting memories and thoughts that make you want to go out and play again. No one remembers what they were wearing or how quiet it was on the course, the memories people never forget and tell all of their friends about are when they nail a sixty foot putt and lose their minds. Or the time they chipped in from the rough and through their club so high in the air they thought it might never come back down. Those are the impressions golf needs to give off in order to entice more people back into the game, by loosening the strictness of the dress code and steering away from some of these preposterous unwritten rules golf could become hip and popular again.

At the end of the day golf is a business, and a struggling one at that currently. Phil Hayward states how the losses clubhouses are taken are due to the simple concept of supply and demand. When golf was booming in the late 80's and early 90's an abundance of golf courses were built to try and keep up with the influx of new players wanting to play the game. However with the number of golfers decreasing the supply is greater than the demand causing the decrease in sales. Hayward's opinion is that as more golf courses continue to close every year the supply and demand will even itself out allowing courses to become profitable once again. He is correct in that regard but his ideas do not offer any solution to the declining participation in the sport, yes the supply and demand will eventually even itself out but golf will still be hurting from a participation standpoint. The issue at hand with golf is more than just economics, it is about the sports prominence and the importance it plays in society and how a part of America is slowing dying and needs help to bring it back to the prominence it was once at.

Golf courses are in the people pleasing business. Courses need to find new ways to please the customer and entice them to come back weekend after weekend. It costs over 100,000 dollars a month to operate an eighteen hole golf course (Madigan). With upkeep like that it is essential that courses are able to entice the weekend warrior to continue coming back to their establishment. About half of the golf courses across the country are private courses that require a membership to play at. These courses have started adding other benefits that members have access too such as restaurants, gym facilities, pools, and even tennis courts. These private clubs are trying to offer more than just golf to entice people. Now people could join the club for other reasons and per chance take up golf since it is included in the membership. With more and more clubs starting to do this it is a step in the right direction to increasing participation in golf. 

The decline in golf's popularity has been going on for years now. Besides the opinions of old traditionalists who will never see the other side of the argument, it is known that actions need to be taken to help try and revitalize the game. Now there has been a huge rift in the golf community on what idea should be the universal one that all courses should then follow. Between increasing the size of the hole, adding a nine-hole option, creating hybrid activities such as foot golf, increase of technology on the course, and even laying back on formality of golf. None of these alone are the answer, they all have benefits and drawbacks; the answer lies with a mixture of all these ideas. No single idea will completely bring back golf, but by slowly implementing them golf can being to see increases. The road back to where prominence will not be a quick one, it will also not be easy, there will be groups of people who are not willing to accept the change, but that needs to be expected. It is apparent something needs to be done and it should start with the dress code. Getting people out to the course, regardless of what they are wearing is what is important. People should not be turned away for wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt, as long as they pay like the rest, then it should not matter what they look like. Getting more money pumped into local courses will be a good first step in repairing the game. After that, implanting more technology into the game will help draw in youth, the addition of gadgets such as GameGolf will be another key into getting golf back. Economically speaking there is not much courses can do especially with the recession America is still feeling but allowing a nine-hole option would make it less financially stressful for players and also help cut down on long round times. 

