Golf in America: History, Equipment, Rules, and Future

Introduction

Among the many countries of the world, citizens of the United States enjoy a wide range of amateur and professional sports, with golf consistently ranking among the top five sports in terms of participation and spectatorship in national surveys. Since its introduction to the United States in the late 19th century, golf has experienced a number of boosts in popularity, including most recently the superior and unprecedented play of Tiger Woods. The scandal surrounding Woods and his announcement that he was temporarily retiring from the sport have left some observers concerned that golf's best days are behind it. Moreover, golf courses require enormous amounts of prime land, as well as water and pesticides, to keep them in the pristine condition that players prefer. Some critics suggest that these resources could be used better elsewhere.

To determine whether golf's rising popularity in recent years can withstand these challenges, this paper provides a brief history of the sport, an overview of innovations in golf equipment design, a discussion of changes in the rules that have contributed to the sport's popularity, an examination of the sport's mental and physical requirements, and an analysis of the future of golf in the United States. Based on a review of peer-reviewed, scholarly, and reliable online literature, it was determined that golf can survive these challenges, but golf course managers and tournament operators should take certain steps to counter the constraints described below.

Today, professional golf is one of the few sports that functions strictly at the individual level rather than the team or national level. In golf, an individual's success or failure has the potential to attract international media attention, though the golfer is essentially representing himself, herself, or sponsors (Polley, 1999). Prior to Tiger Woods' sex-related scandal, golf had been enjoying an enormous amount of popularity in the United States and abroad (Hardin, 2008). In 2006 alone, almost 30 million amateur golfers played the game on the country's 16,000 golf courses. This level of active participation was responsible for generating more than $76 billion in 2005, with the golf economy including $6 billion invested in equipment and supplies (Hardin, 2008). The multiplier effect that resulted from these expenditures meant that the total economic impact of golf on the U.S. economy in 2005 was at least $195 billion (Hardin, 2008).

Moreover, golf has experienced consistent growth in its television ratings over the past decade, a trend that may continue notwithstanding the Tiger Woods controversy. The television ratings for the Monday playoff round of the 2008 U.S. Open were reported to be the highest ever for golf on cable television (Hardin, 2008). At the time, Tiger Woods was ranked as America's favorite athlete (Hardin, 2008). By contrast, Woods subsequently announced his retirement on national television and on his official website, leaving many observers wondering what impact this event would have on the future of golf in America — a question that is also the focus of this study.

Historical Background of Golf in America

Based on the best available historical evidence, golf was first introduced in Scotland, derived from the traditional game of shinty — a type of field hockey developed by the Celts (McComb, 2004). The early version of the sport resembled the modern version in the manner in which it was played, though the equipment used was vastly different. In the earliest versions of golf, elite Scotsmen employed clubs constructed from thorn trees and small leather balls packed with boiled feathers. Play was nonetheless comparable to the modern version, featuring long, grassy fairways leading to a small hole on a manicured green (McComb, 2004). The goal of the game was essentially the same as today: to sink the ball in the fewest number of strokes possible (McComb, 2004).

While historians differ on the precise origins, the Scottish connection is supported by the fact that the word "golf" is derived from the Scottish word "colf," meaning a stick or club (McComb, 2004). Further support for the Scottish origins can be traced to 1457, when James II of Scotland outlawed golf because he feared it was distracting men from archery practice, which was deemed essential for national defense (McComb, 2004). Things changed in 1603 when James IV of Scotland assumed the English throne as James I, constructed a golf course at Blackheath, and introduced the game to upper-class Englishmen (McComb, 2004).

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club was formed in 1754 at St. Andrews and established the initial rules of play, assuming a governing function for the sport. Many of the rules of modern golf can be traced to those early efforts, including the establishment of 18 holes as the official number for a round (McComb, 2004). Other aspects of modern golf, such as course layout and appearance, can also be traced to these origins. The staff at St. Andrews created their course parallel to the coast, where the landscape had been shaped into a series of sand dunes, grassy patches, and natural depressions. Unlike modern groundskeepers, they used grazing animals to maintain the grass. As McComb (2004) notes, "These open 'links' became an embedded part of the worldwide architecture of golf and so the contemporary fairways, greens, rough sand bunkers, and undulating mounds pay constant tribute to a Scottish heritage" (p. 42).

Given its introduction to the United States only slightly more than 100 years ago, the increasing popularity of golf during the late 20th and early 21st centuries represents a significant trend (Hardin, 2008). There were a few golf clubs established in the United States by the late 18th century, though none has endured to the present day. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a series of events helped to fuel interest in golf in the United States: the establishment of the first permanent golf club — St. Andrews, located north of Yonkers, New York — in 1878; the creation of the first governing authority for golf in 1888 (Hardin, 2008); and the growing number of Scottish immigrants who brought the game with them in the late 1880s (Napton & Laingen, 2008).

Other factors also contributed to the sport's growth. Although women were banned from professional competition at the time, St. Andrews established a section of the course for women around the turn of the century — an arrangement that would have lasting implications. As McComb (2004) notes, this separation of the genders at St. Andrews established a standard that remains firmly in place at many private clubs today. He adds, "Women had to remain in their place and rarely gained any sort of control or voting right in the club even though on weekdays they often outnumbered the men on the premises. But golf with its pleasant surroundings and moderate physical demands quietly spread and attracted middle-aged and middle- to upper-class players" (McComb, 2004, p. 42).

Around 1895, a groundswell of enthusiasm emerged among golfing advocates who wanted to promote the sport for the average person rather than just America's elite, arguing that municipal golf courses would represent a sound investment of scarce public resources (Kirsch, 2007). Before America's entry into World War I, these enthusiasts were joined by golf course architects, newspapers, and golfing publications in calling for the construction of public courses. One writer declared in 1913: "Public interest should now be developed in golf and public links as a national asset, a builder of better and hardier citizens … golf is and ought to be brought within the reach of all — poor or rich, as a mental and physical developer, and in the interest of a better and saner citizenship" (quoted in Kirsch, 2007, p. 371).

In response to this general demand, municipalities across the country began constructing public golf courses that were well attended — often crowded, with aspiring golfers arriving before sunrise on weekdays and weekends alike — a clear indication that golf had generated sufficient interest to justify the investment (Kirsch, 2007). Existing municipal courses were expanded and improved during the 1920s, and a number of entrepreneurs also found success by opening daily-fee courses (Kirsch, 2007). Several major universities incorporated golf into their athletic programs during the early 20th century, including Harvard and Yale (Napton & Laingen, 2008).

Perhaps the most significant event fueling golf's popularity prior to World War I was when a young player from Boston, Francis Ouimet, won the 1913 U.S. Open (Hardin, 2008). As Hardin writes, "Ouimet's accomplishment gave America its first golf hero. The media celebrated Ouimet's feat by portraying the former caddy as a national icon which, in turn, boosted the popularity of golf in the United States" (p. 158). Like a modern Tiger Woods, Ouimet's victory was amplified by the fact that he came from a family of modest means with no particular social connections (Hardin, 2008). He was in his early 20s and had worked as a golf caddy during high school summer vacations before entering the U.S. Open. According to Hardin, "Ouimet fit the ideal of an American hero, that is, a clean-cut boy from the 'wrong side of the tracks' who worked during his summer vacations. He was modest, appreciative, and a gentleman … He was the perfect representative to bring golf to the masses" (p. 158).

By the mid-1910s, golf had become a national pastime enjoyed by the wealthy and less-affluent alike, and community golf clubs assumed a new level of social significance among the affluent living in suburban areas (McComb, 2004). The sport gained further structure when the Professional Golfers' Association was established in 1916 (Moss, 2006). Golf had begun as a sport for the upper classes, with the first courses built near coastal concentrations of population and major financial centers (Napton & Laingen, 2008). The vast majority of original U.S. golf courses were private, a pattern that continued until the 1960s, when public courses first outnumbered private ones (Napton & Laingen, 2008). According to Kirsch (2007), the introduction of public golf courses represents a milestone in the sport's history in America, ultimately making it a more democratic activity.

Today, the golf industry represents one of the largest sectors of recreation in North America (Scott & Jones, 2006). There are approximately 20,000 golf courses throughout North America and about 30 million amateur golfers (Scott & Jones, 2006). In 2000, golf generated $62 billion in goods and services in the United States, with about $20.5 billion of those revenues resulting from expenditures at golf facilities, primarily green fees (Scott & Jones, 2006). The golf industry in the U.S. has been estimated to generate roughly the same economic impact as the motion picture industry (Scott & Jones, 2006).

Because of the large tracts of land required for a typical golf course, the sport is not without its critics. According to Napton and Laingen (2008), few other sports require as much land or impart such a significant impact on the land as golf. Modern golf courses are readily identifiable from the air because of their regular patterns and the vivid green of carefully maintained grounds. Platt (1999) reports that "around the world, golf course developments are disrupting human and ecological communities in ways rarely contemplated in golfing magazines or clubhouse restaurants: they displace people, destroy habitats, pollute surrounding water and air with their heavy concentrations of fertilizers and pesticides, and deplete public water supplies" (p. 27).

Despite these concerns, golf continued to experience significant growth throughout the 1990s, and golf course construction became the fastest-growing type of land development on a global basis (Napton & Laingen, 2008). Around the world, there are approximately 25,000 golf courses that collectively require as much land as the country of Belgium (Platt, 1999). One of the most vocal critics of this restricted land use was the late comedian and social satirist George Carlin, who in his sketch "Golf Courses and the Homeless" proposed: "I know just the place to build housing for the homeless: golf courses. It's perfect. Plenty of good land in nice neighborhoods that is currently being squandered on a mindless activity engaged in by white, well-to-do business criminals who use the game to get together so they can make deals to carve this country up a little finer among themselves" (quoted in Walsh, 2008, para. 3).

Nevertheless, America's golf courses represent a significant investment of public and private capital and land. In many cases, they are focal points of destination resorts and vacation areas, providing incentives for recreational visitors and those seeking a golf-compatible lifestyle in retirement (Napton & Laingen, 2008). It is somewhat ironic, given the increasing attention being focused on the adverse environmental effects of golf courses — including heavy pesticide use and prodigious water consumption — that the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) held its 72nd annual educational conference at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Arizona in 2008, with a primary theme of onsite wastewater management (NEHA, 2008).

Schmidt (2006) emphasizes that golf courses occupy many highly desirable tracts of real estate and require large amounts of pesticides and water for their maintenance. Although golf courses can be created in almost any terrain, the majority of golfers expect bright green fairways and carefully manicured greens regardless of location. As Schmidt notes, "Golf courses thus must be intensively coddled with lots of water and lots of pesticides. Each of the more than 17,000 golf courses in the United States alone can consume hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day" (p. 286).

While no ready cost-effective alternatives exist for some of the chemicals being used, conservation efforts are a high priority for many golf course facilities seeking to reduce costs, minimize environmental impact, and promote goodwill in their communities (Schmidt, 2006). Some progress has been made: a 2001 report by the International Turf Producers Foundation noted that since 1982 the U.S. Golf Association had invested in excess of $18 million to develop more environmentally sound practices, including new grass varieties that require less water and fewer pesticides, improved irrigation techniques, and the use of non-potable water such as treated wastewater or storm runoff collected in storage ponds (Schmidt, 2006).

The Future of Golf in the United States

Recent reports concerning golf's popularity — in terms of both the number of active players and the number of spectators at events, online, and on television — have been mixed. Some observers indicate that golf is growing; others suggest the picture is not so rosy. McComb (2004) ranks the most popular sports in the United States in descending order as football, baseball, basketball, boxing, car racing, tennis, track and field, and golf, while other authorities place its popularity somewhat higher. Even so, major golf tournaments generated approximately $954 million in revenue in 2005. However, based on actual attendance reports and anecdotal accounts from professional golf tournament directors, there may have been a decline in spectator attendance in recent periods (Lambrecht, Kaefer & Ramenofsky, 2009). This decline will be especially challenging to reverse given the scandal involving Tiger Woods, though any sport that cannot endure the loss of a single player probably does not deserve to survive in any case.

Unlike most other sports, golf course managers and tournament directors are unable to control many of the variables in their playing environment — termed the "sportscape" — that avid golfers prize, particularly weather and climate. According to Lambrecht and colleagues (2009), "The sportscape or physical environment factors that are controllable at a golf tournament include concessions, course accessibility, crowd control, merchandise, parking, personnel (staff or volunteers), restrooms, and seating" (p. 165).

Weather is defined by Lambrecht et al. as the atmospheric conditions experienced on a daily basis — sunshine, cloud cover, rain, fog, wind, and humidity. Weather can influence the level of play on a short-term basis; rainstorms can delay or postpone tournament play for hours, and thick fog may require lengthy waits before play can resume. Climate, by contrast, is defined as "the long-term average behavior of weather in a given location" (Lambrecht et al., 2009, p. 165) and typically affects the quality of play over longer periods. A region's climate determines how long golfers are able to play during a season, how much irrigation is required, what types of grasses must be used, and what pests and diseases will be most prevalent (Scott & Jones, 2006).

Beyond natural elements, other factors beyond the control of event organizers include the caliber of golfers who participate in tournaments, prominent players who fail to make the cut, and injuries (Lambrecht et al., 2009). Factors that can be manipulated include crowd management and the opportunities provided for fans to interact with tournament participants — autograph sessions, photo opportunities, and question-and-answer sessions. Because revenues from ticket sales can determine whether a tournament succeeds or fails, it is important to identify methods that keep current golf enthusiasts returning to events and attract a new generation of golfers to ensure the sport's survival.