The state of Golf down worldwide

[Heels1989]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

Completely agree with you, and hitting into a group to get them going is a lost art.

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/...fr=iphone&tt=b

[GPK]

I miss playing. I love playing. I realize my situation is different, but there was 8 year stretch or so, that I played 5 days a week, easily. There was never a problem finding a game, especially cash games. Like most, priorities are different now. I have said it before, if I never play another round of golf in my life, I will still have played a ton of golf.

You tampa reunion boys need to take heed. I already told Heels I'm gonna be hitting balls everyday at work between now and then. I will be primed and ready to wear you f*ckers out. especially the bowling shirt wearing, Chitown transplant still swinging the 1973 MacGregor Eye-O-Matic persimmon driver.

[knickslions2]

Originally Posted by GPK

I miss playing. I love playing. I realize my situation is different, but there was 8 year stretch or so, that I played 5 days a week, easily. There was never a problem finding a game, especially cash games. Like most, priorities are different now. I have said it before, if I never play another round of golf in my life, I will still have played a ton of golf.

You tampa reunion boys need to take heed. I already told Heels I'm gonna be hitting balls everyday at work between now and then. I will be primed and ready to wear you f*ckers out. especially the bowling shirt wearing, Chitown transplant still swinging the 1973 MacGregor Eye-O-Matic persimmon driver.

Looking forward to seeing your skills in tampa!!

[Crown@club]

I'm actually enjoying the fact the 3 hour 4 man walking round is making its comeback. Its been long overdue. It leaves the possibility of playing 36 these days.

[MinnSkinny]

Originally Posted by GPK

Condensed version:

#1 Too many, high end, daily fee golf courses. Very few private clubs closing and not too many lower end public courses closing either.
#2 Golf club market is beyond saturated, thanks to 2 companies in particular. I could rant forever about one of them, but I will refrain. Assholes...
#3 Too costly. A great deal of that reverts back to #1. All these high end daily fee courses trying to maintain lush playing conditions have to pass on that cost to the consumer. Hopefully the movement that ClubCorp and Pinehurst resorts started this year during the US Opens will take hold. Less grass, less water, less fertilzer=LESS COST If courses can do that, and cut $75-$100k in expenses, that's a good size nut not being passed on.

I refuse to buy the excuse "the game is too hard." What a crock of sh*t. The game is as easy to play as it has ever been. I would have hated to see some of these people take up the game back when the game was really hard.

I think (and hope) that golf makes a comeback. Some of the things that aren't working and haven't been working will be weeded out. Not sure if the game will return to the heights that it once enjoyed, but I'm convinced that's probably a good thing.

Kev-
Interesting comment regarding equipment. My guess is Swoosh and TM make your "hole" list. I find TM to be a company who has successfully pulled the wool over a lot of golfers eyes. Swoosh presence in amateur golf is almost nonexistent. But their apparel is crap.
TM uses paint and glitter to force feed the market with latest and greatest and almost prides itself in doing so. And it's hard to imagine what their PGA Tour spend must be. I feel like their products are average at best, and the technology at this time must be at the upper reach of compliance anyhow. Any surviving manufacturer today makes a decent product, so TM's days of milking the public cow are coming to an end. Just my view.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by MinnSkinny

TM's days of milking the public cow are coming to an end. Just my view.

I've been saying that since the Firesole days

They are wholly-owned by Adidas, and have more than enough cash to over-market their wares.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by MinnSkinny

Kev-
Interesting comment regarding equipment. My guess is Swoosh and TM make your "hole" list. I find TM to be a company who has successfully pulled the wool over a lot of golfers eyes. Swoosh presence in amateur golf is almost nonexistent. But their apparel is crap.
TM uses paint and glitter to force feed the market with latest and greatest and almost prides itself in doing so. And it's hard to imagine what their PGA Tour spend must be. I feel like their products are average at best, and the technology at this time must be at the upper reach of compliance anyhow. Any surviving manufacturer today makes a decent product, so TM's days of milking the public cow are coming to an end. Just my view.

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

I've been saying that since the Firesole days

They are wholly-owned by Adidas, and have more than enough cash to over-market their wares.

T.M. is an amazing marketing company. They remind me of Callaway back in the early-mid 90's, which is when they exploded onto the scene and made a lot of people some serious cash on the market. One thing TM does right is the customer service side of the business. They are second to none. They stand behind their products and there is something to be said for that. That has always been my biggest beef with the swoosh, their customer service sucks. If you are gonna make sh*tty equipment, at least stand by it. Massive fail that turned a lot of people off.
I have never had much luck playing their clubs, but Ping gets it. Slow and steady. Same with Titleist.