More than 20 years ago, when I was managing editor of what now is known as SCOREGolf Magazine, I hired a young fellow named Bob Weeks to be my associate editor. When I moved on to start Golf Canada magazine for the RCGA, I recommended Bob move into my position.
In the years since, I've often jokingly said that if Weeks is my legacy to Canadian golf, then I roundly apologize. We remain great friends. Bob knows I respect the way he has grown into the role I bequeathed him, and beyond it, into his online and broadcast personas. Even though he has handed over the day-to-day publishing responsibilities to the capable Jason Logan, he still oversees each issue.
I just received my Spring issue of SCOREGolf, with the cover story, "Can Golf Survive?" It's a well-conceived and well-executed look at just about every aspect of the effect the economy is having on golf.
Separate sections cover everything from equipment, courses, tournaments, conditioning, travel and more. The thousands of well-researched words contain some interesting quotes and fascinating anecdotes and are all well worth reading.
The one stunning insight that caught my eye was from an industry analyst who declared, "People want value for their money." The SCORE editors thought this so exciting that they highlighted it as a "pulled quote," in a larger, bolder font.
This stunner followed the revelation that Richard Zokol is unable to sell memberships to his new and, by all accounts, superb Sagebrush course in B.C. at the price he had envisioned prior to the recession. "That idea of charging $200,000 is out the window," Zokol tells SCORE.
Weeks's column is, as is his style, light-hearted in tone, but with a depth of message. In it, he mentions that a B.C. study showed that "the golf industry had an annual economic impact on that province of $1.6 billion and employed more people than the pulp and paper industry."
Just about every newspaper and golf magazine has surveyed the economic havoc , real or perceived, wreaked on the golf business. On balance, SCORE has done a better job than anyone. For that, they deserve kudos.
Will we see a return to the Great Depression, when terrific courses were plowed under? No.
Will we see a return to the days when $200,000 club memberships were even contemplated? Hopefully not.
Will the message that people want value for their money finally filter throughout the industry? I hope so, but it's a faint hope.
This is not to say that every course has to have a $30 green fee or a $1,000 annual membership fee, any more than every car has to look and cost the same. To put it in automotive terms, there should be vehicles for those on a budget and for those with more disposable income, some for beginners and others for seniors. But they should all represent solid value.
The golf industry should take this time to re-evaluate itself, before it ends up in the same shape as those car companies. It should not, as Weeks suggests, light-hearted or not, be looking for a federal handout as they are.