How Golf Will Be Impacted By The Olympics, Part I

This is the first of a four part series on how golf’s acceptance into the 2016 Olympics will affect the financial health of the industry as well as the game itself.

After a 105 year hiatus, golf will be returning to the Olympics.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee approved golf’s bid to be included in the 2016 games which will be held in Rio De Janeiro.

Golf, along with rugby, are the first sports to be added to the summer Olympics since the triathlon and taekwondo were added to the 2000 games in Sydney.

Players such as Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Michelle Wie, Suzanne Petterson, Ernie Els, Jack Nicklaus, British Amateur champion Matteo Manassero all took part in the International Golf Federation’s long and grueling bid to have golf accepted into the 2016 Olympic games.

Over the past five days, we’ve all heard about the tremendous impact the Olympics will have on the  game of golf.

Golf’s popularity will undoubtedly grow by leaps and bounds around the world.

But, at the end of the day, it’s the business that will benefit the most; and there’s one section of the industry in particular that have been seeing nothing but dollars signs since last Friday, and that's the golf course design companies.

Golf’s acceptance into the 2016 Olympic games will serve as the sports’ own little economic stimulus package.

Equipment manufacturers, clothing companies, shoe companies, etc. will all benefit from the dramatic growth the game is likely to see in the coming years.

However, no one in the golf community will benefit more financially from the Olympics than the course design companies.

Just hours after the official announcement that golf would be included in the 2016 games, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo,  Jack Nicklaus and several other prominent course designers expressed their interest in either designing or redesigning a course in Rio De Jinero for the 2016 games.

There’s not a course designer in the world who wouldn’t want his name on the course that will host golf in the 2016 Olympics.  However, that one design job, as prestigious as it may be, is small potatoes compared to the significant spike in demand course designers will see in the coming years from every corner of the world, and particularly from India, China, Eastern Europe and South America.

In case you haven’t realized, golf’s growth in America has been stagnant for years now.

This is not in anyway due to a decrease in the game’s popularity, but can be directly tied to the economy, the shrinking middle class and the ever decreasing number of Americans who can afford to get their children involved in golf.

It should come as no surprise that virtually all of the game’s up-and-coming superstars such as Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa, Ross Fisher, Chris Wood, Danny Lee and Matteo Manassero are coming from outside of the United States.

Why are we seeing so many Australian flags on PGA Tour leaderboards?

Because in Australia, golf is a grass roots game.  Courses are plentiful and inexpensive.

There are very few people in Australia who cannot afford to get their children involved in golf.

In 1998, there were 56 Americans ranked in the top-100 in the World Golf Rankings.  Today there are 31.

15 years ago, you could look at the World Golf Rankings and see ‘USA’ sitting next to virtually all of the top-25 names.  Today there are just 10 Americans in the top-25.

 “America is absolutely dead, and it doesn't look like it's going to come back for quite a while, to tell you the truth; this is in golf course design I'm talking about,” Greg Norman said during the 2009 British Open at Turnberry.

“If golf gets in the Olympics, look out the rest of the world. I think golf will really take off in China. The growth in China right now is like 50 percent a year in the number of players. They estimate by 2020 there will be 26 million golfers in China; that's more than the United States or anywhere else.” Norman said.

“From their standpoint it will help produce some really good players,” Jack Nicklaus said of the potential impact the Olympics will have on golf in Asia.

“There will still be good US players and good British players but there will be more good players from around the world who’ll compete.  Golf is an international game and I couldn’t care less whether players come from America, Britain, Africa or Asia but, with the numbers in China and the way they approach their sport, I would not be surprised to see five of the world’s top 10 are Chinese in the next 20 years.” Nicklaus said.

A study done by KPMG back in late 2007 found that three-quarters of all golf courses planned or under construction were outside of the United States and Britain.

Times certainly are a changing.

It took Tiger Woods 13 years to earn his first $1 billion.  Considering Woods’ newfound interest in course design, it’s not far fetched to believe that Woods next billion will come twice as fast.  

Also, don’t be surprised to see a Rory McIlroy Design Company, or a Camilo Villegas South American Golf Course Design Company popping up in the near future.

Heck, what manager worth his weight wouldn’t advise these talented young stars to take advantage of their names to get involved in what is sure to become the fastest growing field in the golf indurty?    

If you love golf, have aspirations of becoming extremely wealthy but can’t hit your driver more than 200 yards, well, start studying golf course design and learn how to speak as many foreign languages as humanly possible.