I Don’t have Time for Golf

Opinion: No Time for Golf? –

By Wayne Halm –

Once again I’m seeing articles that quote people saying, “I don’t have time for golf.”

This invariably causes some accomplished golfers, who somehow imagine they are in charge, to start talking about ways of getting beginners to play faster.  They naively assume that faster rounds mean more players.

They are dead wrong of course.  While some vocal experienced golfers might enjoy a 3 ½ hour round, that presses all of the fun out of it for beginners.

And make no mistake about it – golf needs beginners.  The only real growth in rounds played will come from beginning golfers.  The game needs them to come out … and needs them to come back.

Perhaps the surest way to keep beginners from coming back is to rush them and make them uncomfortable.  They will simply do other things.  They do have other options.

What are their other options?  Well there is:

• Sailing, surfing, fishing, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, parasailing, swimming, and lying on the beach.
• Zip lining, ATV driving, horseback riding, hiking, tubing, and motorcycle riding.
• Hot air ballooning, sky diving, and helicopter tours.
• Massages, pedicures, shopping, sightseeing, dining, and shows.
• Mai tai tasting, rum tasting, coffee tasting, and just admiring the views around the pool.

Beginning golfers do have other fun options competing for their time … and it is stiff competition.

So when you hear, “I don’t have time for golf”, what’s really being said is, “I’d rather do something more fun.”

No … the challenge for golf is not how to make rounds faster – it’s how to make them more fun.  How to make golf more fun?  That is the question.

The short answer is “Have people play golf with Wayne, they always seem to have a good time.”  That is true.  I firmly believe that golf should be fun and we do laugh a lot.  Read some of my other posts on this blog, look at the happy faces – we do have fun.  But that is not the answer for everyone.

As much as I would like to, I can’t play golf with everyone … but I am trying.  So far this year I’ve played with 42 people I didn’t know.  Want to be in that number?

Come play golf with me.

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