A cautionary note

As I start to have a more definite plan for this blog, I've been learning as much as I can. I thus found myself experimenting with Google Insight for Search.

Below is the "interest over time" chart for golf.

The sine-wave like pattern's no surprise - interest peaks around Major championships and the Ryder Cup. Despite the year-long schedule of the main tours, golf remains a seasonal game for most of us.

The really chilling aspect is the consistently downward trend. Each time a Major rolls around, fewer and fewer people are searching the world's number 1 search engine for "Golf". This cannot be a good thing.

Google is the world's largest search engine. It's 1st port of call when we seek information - a sudden increase in searches for "flu treatment" informs Google there's influenza afoot. In the US Google knows there's an outbreak before the Center for Disease Control does. It's therefore not unreasonable to use search trends to gauge public interest.

Don't get me wrong - golf will always exist. Even the Lost island had a course. If the pro tours were wiped out overnight and the major manufacturers spontaneously combusted, someone somewhere would be making clubs. There will always be a market- as long as I have breath in my lungs, at the very least.

The size of that market is what's concerning. If the decline continues there will be a lot fewer courses, clubs and coaches out there. It's not enough to say "something needs to be done" and then wait for someone else to do it.

We have to be the ones to do it.

Golf must do all that it can to maintain the level of participation. Golfers must support their clubs. Clubs must entice & retain members. Professionals must look at maximising their client's return on investment.

We must arrest the decline or face a very different golfing landscape.

Take some time. Work out what you can do to improve the situation. Buy another beverage after your round. Seek out the nervous new members at your club and do everything in your power to make them feel at ease. Cajole your "that's me finished with that stupid game" buddy back onto the tee box.

Above all, treat junior golfers as you would adult members. Make it clear they are every bit as welcome on the course as you are. If they're better than you acknowledge it; let them play through if you're having a bad day. Junior golfers are tomorrow's full members and as such they hold the key to golf's future. We simply cannot afford to drive them away.