talking points What's Good for Golf

In a recent interview with GolfersGuide.com, Tom Doak shared some thoughts about Pete Dye (“he brought interest and controversy back to golf”), Tiger Woods (“his business model will have to change if he wants to stay busy at design”), signature holes (“pretty cheesy”), China (“one thing that worries me . . . are the gigantic clubhouses”), and other topics.

When the interviewer, Brandon Underwood, asked Doak to spell out the “most effective strategy the golf industry could adopt to grow the game in the next 10-15 years,” here's what Doak had to say:

In America, I think the biggest thing would be if, instead of closing so many courses, we could figure out how to turn derelict courses into low-cost facilities that cater to juniors and people


just learning to play. It's not like we need that land for more condos or shopping malls, in the short term, anyway. The game is too expensive for newcomers, and long term, that's a huge problem.

Worldwide, the most important thing is to introduce golf to China in a more sustainable form, so they don't make all the same mistakes we did. To be honest, though, the “golf industry” has been part of the problem instead of the solution. Every segment of the industry has driven up the cost of the game as they found ways to profit from golf, to the point where it wasn't sustainable anymore.

By contrast, golf is as healthy as it ever was in Scotland, because they don't make any decisions there about what's good for the “golf industry.” They run the game based on what's good for the golfers.

Here's a link to the interview.