The Week That Was, january 17, 2016

     Will footgolf soon wear out its welcome at U.S. golf properties? It’s only a small sample size, but the Sacramento, California area -- “arguably the FootGolf capital of America,” according to the Sacramento Bee -- has lost one of its seven footgolf facilities, and another has registered a noteworthy decline in play. “The sport has plateaued locally,” the newspaper has concluded. The footgolf operation at Cherry Island Golf Course in Elverta has shut down, thanks in part to what the course’s management company, Empire Golf, called “negativity from traditional golfers,” and last year the one at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento rang up 10 percent fewer rounds than it did in 2014. What’s worse, it doesn’t appear that the area’s footgolfers could be persuaded to give traditional golf a try. “We didn’t see any crossover,” a representative of Empire Golf told the Bee. “That’s what we were hoping for.” We have yet to hear how the nation’s nearly 450 other footgolf facilities are doing, but Sacramento’s experience suggests that they aren’t likely to grow our game in any significant way.

     Once again, the American Society of Golf Course Architects has honored a journalist with its top prize. Michael Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, will receive this year’s Donald Ross Award, in recognition for his contributions to golf and golf course architecture. Steve Smyers, the ASGCA’s president, said that his group chose Bamberger because it “respects his knowledge and perspective and appreciates how his efforts benefit the game of golf.” Last year, the ASGCA gave the Ross award to Bradley S. Klein of Golfweek. In previous years, it’s honored Herbert Warren Wind, Ron Whitten, and several other writers.

     Tim Finchem has been appointed to serve as the chairman of our industry’s most exclusive policy-making group. The PGA’s Tour commissioner, one of golf’s most powerful people, will this year lead the World Golf Foundation, the collective that creates and promotes initiatives that it hopes will grow the game. In a sleepy press release, Finchem said that 2016, a year that marks golf’s return to the Olympics, will be “an exciting time for the industry” and give the WGF an opportunity to “take the game to new heights.” The WGF’s board consists of representatives from all of golf’s institutional powers: The R&A, the PGA of America, the United States Golf Association, the PGA Tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, the European Tour, and the Masters Tournament Foundation. The job won’t be new to Finchem, as he helped to create the WGF and served as its first chairman.

     Golf’s power elites are hoping that this year’s Olympics will spark more world-wide interest in our sport, but as of right now the golf business in Asia isn’t cooperating. It’s a “pity,” says Asian Golf, but “Asia just does not care.” In their January issue, the magazine’s editors contend that “there is hardly any activity that points to Asian nations getting their game face ready” for the competition in Rio de Janeiro, and they aren’t convinced that the local industry “really cares about golf being re-admitted into the Olympics.” Of course, the nations most excited about the upcoming competitions are those with the best chances of winning. Outside of South Korea, which will undoubtedly contend on the women’s side, Asia doesn’t figure to win anything more than a participation prize.