How the Pandemic Redefined Golf and Golfing

The golf industry can’t share this news often or enthusiastically enough: Golf isn’t dead. Roughly 37 million people played golf in 2020, or 8% more than in 2019, according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF). But that isn’t all foursomes heading out to the course to shoot 18 holes. While the number of on-course golfers grew 2% to 24.8 million, that’s about the same number that were hacking up courses in 2014. Golf’s biggest growth is coming from off-course activity like driving ranges and simulators. “We are introducing more people to the game of golf, as the majority of those who visit Topgolf do not consider themselves golfers,” said Geoff Cottrill, CMO of the restaurant-meets-club-meets-driving range Topgolf. In 2014, fewer than 15 million golfers told the NGF that they played off-course. By 2020, that number swelled to 24.3 million. While those totals include players who also play on-course rounds, the 12.1 million range and simulator players who never walked a fairway in 2020 are becoming a market all their own. Instead of destroying golf as the world knows it, however, these facilities are creating a bridge between novices and the broader game. Topgolf Tees Up New Leadership Trio Amid Rapid Growth Going off-course Abby Liebenthal founded Fore the Ladies in 2019 to introduce young professional women to golf. Liebenthal said interest in the group’s introductory clinics has steadily increased from 2020 through today. So has use of the group’s directories for finding other golfers for either course or range outing. During that time, Liebenthal has found that the idea of going to a golf course to play nine or 18 for two to four hours can still be intimidating for newer golfers. “Ranges, simulators and other new recreational golf facilities allow for a different form of golf that you can play after work, or you can get a group larger than four together to play,” Liebenthal said. “I think it allows for flexibility in a game that has otherwise been more traditional in its offerings.” Nearly 1 in 10 golfers in 2020 were beginners who’d never been to a golf course, driving range or simulator before. Those 3 million players represented a 20% increase in novice golfers from 2019, with the NGF saying that “a healthy proportion” were women and children. More than a half million women took up the game in some form last year, putting the number of women in golf at more than 6 million for the first time since 2007. Kids, meanwhile, increased their golf participation 24% to 3.1 million golfers under 17. Newcomers across all categories are being greeted by a rapidly expanding field of off-course options. Topgolf led to other range-and-entertainment companies including Drive Shack, Golfsuites (formerly Flying Tee), 4ORE! Golf and Big Shots. Big-screen golf simulators are even more ubiquitous, with Topgolf’s Swingsuite product getting competition from Xgolf, Five Iron Golf, Golf Lounge 18, GolfCave, Play-a-Round Golf and SmartGolf. Even the Tiger Woods-owned PopStroke putting green and restaurant chain is looking for a bit of the action. None of it has dented interest in more traditional golf, however. Nine- and 18-hole golf rounds increased by roughly 14% in 2020 despite half of the nation’s 16,000 courses closing amid Covid-19 in March and April. Through July of this year, the number of rounds played is up 16% from 2019. “Some people in the industry, when Topgolf first came on the scene, were afraid that Topgolf was cannibalizing existing golfers or keeping people from being interested in golf by giving them an alternative that didn't include playing on course,” said Joe Beditz, president and CEO of the NGF. “Off-course participation is accretive to on-course participation. It's not cannibalizing and, in fact, it heightens interest in traditional golf even amongst existing golfers.” Everything’s Coming Up Mums for William Murray Golf Getting on the green It’s a big reason why golf courses are increasingly employing range and simulator technology at their facilities. Among those 36.9 million golfers who played in 2020, 12.2 million played both at golf courses and off-course sites. Some of those players who’ve spent time at Topgolf might appreciate it when they see the company’s Toptracer shot-tracking technology at their local course. However, off-course play and technology alone haven’t prepared the new wave of golfers for a tough day on the greens. The pandemic golf boom was accompanied by a whopping 5.7 million people who walked away from the game entirely. That’s almost 20% more people quitting golf than in 2019. Granted, golfers in previous years didn’t have pandemic-related joblessness, child-care shortages and contagion fears to consider. However, the pandemic also took away one-off charity golf events for amateurs and the financial ability to keep working at a difficult sport. Chris Kuebrich, svp of marketing at golf-instruction chain GolfTec, notes that novices now see a bit of themselves in the struggling golfers in online videos and on sites like Barstool Sports. They don’t always like what they see. Increases in both new golfers and rounds means an uptick in business for golf instructors. “In any way that that frustration manifests itself on a golf course, we then see that at our facilities,” Kuebrich said. “If it’s psychological frustration, or if it's physical frustration, and everything else in between, we see people come to us looking for help.” To their credit, places like GolfTec and their agencies are going right after the newbies. Colorado-based indie agency TDA Boulder recently launched a campaign for GolfTec focusing on the more stressful elements of the game that can make it far less fun, said Jonathan Schoenberg, executive creative director and partner at TDA Boulder. Schoenberg admits he wasn’t all that excited by golf when he was a kid in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But seeing surf legend Kelly Slater playing the game, watching musicians like Jay-Z and Pharrell Williams open nine-hole golf courses and design golf clothes, and watching former world No. 1 amateur golfer Rickie Fowler play turned him into a person who played 45 rounds of nine-hole golf in the first 60 days of the pandemic. “There's a reason that all rock stars that are addicts play it, from Alice Cooper to Neil Young,” Schoenberg said. “If somebody goes to Topgolf, they will get curious, if somebody goes to a little par-three course, they will get curious—and now you don't have to play for four hours.” How Charles Schwab Used Data to Discover Golf Fans Love Muscle Cars

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How the Pandemic Redefined Golf and Golfing

Participation is up, but marketers should consider who newcomers are and what they're playing

Jason Notte

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Jason Notte