The International Golf Community Is Here To Stay

So, if a young player was to play 6 days a week on a public course which is priced at the cheaper end of the spectrum, his or her family is looking at a fee of $1,200 per month—and that is not even considering the cost of clubs, golf balls, golf cloths, lessons, etc.

In America, we are in a recession.  But the American economy has historically run in cycles and we are currently in one of those down cycles that we have seen time after time over the past fifty years—that is nothing new and is not the major problem.

The major problem is the virtual disappearance of the middle class, an entire class of Americans that used to be able to afford golf.

Over the past two years the combined US inflation rate has been nearly 8%. As a whole, American worker’s wages have increased by a rate of 2% over the same time period.  That means on average, we as a country have gotten roughly 6% poorer in the past two years. 

Now, this stat does not affect the day to day lives of the wealthy and the ultra-wealthy as much as it does the middle class. 

After all, a household with an income of $500,000 or more will not have to put away the golf clubs because of a 7% decrease in their wealth, whereas a household with an income of $125,000 might very well have to store away the clubs for a brighter day—due to their decrease in wealth and spending power.

For a middle class family in America, modern day necessities such as filling the car with gas, paying the mortgage, paying for health insurance and figuring out a way to send the kids to a college that costs upwards of $40,000 per year have taken priority over joining a country club—or simply playing golf in general.

In America, we also do not have the same government sponsored sports programs that are available to children in other countries.

For example, in Australia there is a program called High Performance, overseen by the government’s Sports Commission. This program provides talented young golfers with the financial support required to play golf. This support covers coaching, equipment and awards talented young golfers a genuine opportunity to make a run at being a professional golfer.

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