Discussing race & inclusion in golf in light of Sergio Garcia remarks
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Discussing race & inclusion in golf in light of Sergio Garcia remarks

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The Triumvirate of Golf's Doom -- the three major reasons why people stop playing golf -- is that the game is too expensive, takes too long to play and is too difficult to learn and improve.

With a driver going at the rate of a modest car payment and a set of irons running as high as a rent check, the game is expensive enough just to show up to the course, much less pay to play one.

As the pace of play continues to creep to a crawl, people don't have time to walk 18 holes in five hours. They have lives to live, families to raise and other stuff they can cram into that amount of time.

Meanwhile, the golf infrastructure has not adapted to encourage golfers to get better without having to spend lots of money, time and pride on the links and on new equipment.

Golf hasn't found a way to reinvent itself for the 21st century urban revival. The young and, yes, affluent are moving into cities at a rate akin to the exodus to the suburbs a half-century ago. That exodus was a boon for golf, but now the sport will have to find new ways to present the game for a generation that lives with limited green space and is angling to shed their car in lieu of public transportation.

We'll come back to the game's difficulty later, but all of those problems prevent more people from taking up and sticking with the game of golf. A PGA of America study suggests up to 90 million people have picked up a club in their life and would love to again but don't for whatever reason.

Meanwhile, about 26 million Americans golf, according to the National Golf Foundation. Of that 26 million, 78 percent of them are white. All told, 61 percent of golfers are Caucasian men.

About 8 percent of all golfers are an even split of African-American and Asian-American players, while Hispanic-Americans make up some 12 percent of the golfing public.

To put that into perspective, the U.S. Golf Association said this week that between 2-3 percent of golfers use the soon-to-be banned anchored putting stroke. That's about 650,000 golfers, approximately half the number of African-Americans that play.

Several equipment manufacturers responded to the ban, which will take effect in 2016, by saying it will stifle the game's growth.

“This is not the direction we should be going," said Cobra Golf president Bob Philion on Tuesday. "It will only continue to alienate people from golf. Cobra Puma Golf has been stressing the importance of game enjoyment since we formed in 2010; game enjoyment is how we are going to bring people back to golf."

Ping Golf chairman and CEO John Solheim reflected a similar sentiment, saying, "I believe the rulemaking bodies need to better address how we need to make the game more welcoming. I will continue to focus my efforts on that goal.”

What's more important to golf? Being able to stick a putter in your gut or welcoming all people into the game?

They're not one in the same, and answering the question of how to bring more women, minorities and children into golf cannot be answered with a clunky putter.

About the author

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is a scratch golfer...sometimes.

Ballengee can be reached by email at ryan[at]thegolfnewsnet.com

Ryan occasionally links to merchants of his choosing, and GNN may earn a commission from sales generated by those links. See more in GNN's affiliate disclosure.

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