Finding the Silver Lining

THIS IS THE TIME of year when golf administrators from around the country would normally be gathering in a warm-weather climate for the meeting of the International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA). This year’s conference, like so many of our normal business and educational activities, will be conducted virtually. One of the persistent themes of the conference are discussions around strategies to “grow the game.” I have attended the IAGA conference for over 20 years and I have never once heard someone suggest a global pandemic as a strategy to accomplish this goal! And yet, here we are—looking back on the most successful year our industry has experienced since the advent of the ProV1! All of it thanks to a lockdown of business and leisure travel, suspension of sporting activities, concerts and other large public gatherings that created the perfect storm for a sport that has struggled to compete with discretionary time in a world filled with infinite choices.

For the Colorado Golf Association, we experienced this growth in multiple ways. Our membership reached its highest point in over a decade with 62,000 members. Tournaments that previously were lucky to fill suddenly had waiting lists. The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado (JGAC) had a record 1,700 members and Colorado courses saw a record number of junior golfers enjoy the benefits of Youth On Course—a national program administered through the JGAC here in Colorado that provides young golfers with access to golf for $5 at select courses. And CommonGround Golf Course, the home course for the CGA, saw record rounds on its 18-hole championship course and equally impressive growth in rounds on our 9-hole kid’s course. And CommonGround was not unique. Nearly every public and private golf course in Colorado and throughout the country saw similar results.

As I reflect on the 2020 golf season, I have two primary hopes. First, I hope we NEVER experience another pandemic! This year has been a sobering reminder of just how fragile we all are. While there is something to be said for being reminded of our interdependence on one another, the pandemic has devastated lives, dismantled many small businesses and made educating our young people into a video game. The effects of all of this cannot end soon enough.

My second hope, however, is that the impacts of this pandemic on the golf industry will linger. I hope that we will look back on 2020 and see that it was not just a one-year blip, but rather an inflexion point that saw the return of many lapsed golfers and the influx of thousands of new ones. I hope that the many golfers who rediscovered the joy of walking the golf course will continue to do so and thereby experience the superior health benefits and social interaction that walking provides. I hope that those who found their way to, or back to, the game in 2020 will relish the game’s pace—its rhythms and yes, its “slowness” that provides such a welcome relief to the hustle and bustle of daily life.

And finally, I hope that golf continues to be a place where the shared challenges of trying to get that small white (or yellow, or red or purple) golf ball in the hole rises above any differences we may face or feel off the course.

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This article was also featured in the Fall issue of Colorado AvidGolfer.

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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