japan The Shape of Things To Come?

The popularity of golf in Japan, the world’s second-largest golf market (after the United States), reached its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s but has been going downhill steadily ever since. The nation currently has 2,450 golf courses and 10 million golfers, but Jeff Hays, a writer based in Japan, says the number of golfers will fall to 6.7 million by 2015, as older golfers die or give up the game.

Last summer, Hays’ prediction was echoed by Leo Lewis, a business correspondent in Asia for the Times of London.

“The Japanese are losing interest in golf much faster than investors are losing interest in stocks,” Lewis wrote in a story published by the Ottawa Citizen. “Companies no longer see the point in paying membership fees for their executives, and individuals no longer need to play as part of some corporate ritual. The average green fees across Japan remain more than $200 per round, which is driving away many of even those with a genuine passion for the game.”