How were you introduced to the game of golf?

I’ve been asking this same question over the past several months to the attendees of the various golf marketing presentations I’ve been conducting nationally. This would include golf managers, Boards, and players.

The results have been pretty consistent in this informal poll – approximately 80% are saying a family member or friend introduced them to the game of golf.

Are we as an industry overlooking a great opportunity that is sitting right under our noses?

We have some great new initiatives and (finally) a “whole of sport” approach happening in our industry, which will become much more apparent as we head into the end of this year. The nation and the world will be watching our shores with all the great events were holding in November this year.

We all would agree that the national organisations are the ones with the greatest potential to grow the population of golfers through their player development efforts. But what about trying to reach the non-golfer with a personal “invitation” to try golf from a friend, colleague or family member as another strategy? This is something that each and every one of us can do now! As with most grassroots efforts, engaging the “Core” of golfers to invite or refer others into the game can be hugely impactful and efficient.

Many golfers feel they have no vested interest in growing the game (and are naturally most interested in their own games), but there are golf lovers who take pleasure in inviting folks into the game that has added so much to their lives. I can personally vouch for that occurring and I look forward to the days I can play with my son and daughter when they get a little bit older.

Some recent National Golf Foundation (US) research found that 41% of the estimated 14.4 Million Core golfers in the US know at least one non-golfer who is interested in playing golf. The average Core golfer knows three interested non-golfers. This equates to approximately 5.9 million Core Golfers who know 17.7 million interested non-golfers! 85% of these Core golfers said they would be happy to refer a non-golfer to some kind of structured golf program.

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