Grays On Trays

The development of snowboarding has become a metaphor for many things off the slopes, including golf equipment. In an article on golf clubs, Mike Stachura writes, “the evolution of the hybrid [club] is similar to that of snowboards: an offbeat, intriguing, even necessary idea with early shortcomings that eventually changed the sport.”

A couple weeks ago, Tom Watson did the unthinkable–contend for a major sports championship–and came up a few inches short.

Here’s the short story of the 2009 British Open: The Open Championship consists of 72 holes of golf spread over 4 days. Watson led after 71 holes, even though he was 59 years old, an age at which the competitive days of athletes have long since disappeared.

Even in golf, aging brings difficulties. You’re not as strong. (Is strength important in golf? Try hitting a golf ball out of thick grass and you’ll find out.) You’re more prone to back problems. (Freddie Couples, a mere 50, is one golfer whose career has been plagued by back problems.) Even putting, a task that you’d think anyone can do, becomes more challenging. (There’s a name for those problems–”the yips.”

Yet Watson was in contention throughout the tournament, always leading or being not far from the lead. Yet his fate was sealed when he missed an eight-foot putt on the 18th hole on the final day. That forced him into a four-hole playoff–four holes too many. In the playoff, Stewart Cink (age 36) made 2 birdies and Watson made four bogies, losing by 6.

There’s been a lot of words typed and spoken about how spectacular a Watson win would have been. There were several themes: Was it the greatest sports story of the year? The greatest golf story ever? What was keeping Watson in contention and, as he put it, serene? Where did he find that fountain of youth, and weren’t his exploits going to inspire millions of people, golfers and non-golfers alike?

Here’s the good news for mature adults: Age didn’t do in Tom Watson. He made 278 strokes during regulation, which means that a single birdie here or an averted bogie there, any time during the four days of regulation, would have made the difference. There are plenty of opportunities to say “what if?” What if the putt that missed the whole by 2 inches had gone in? What if the fairway shot that landed in the rough had been just another foot to the right? What if the approach shot had landed in a slightly different location on the green and thus rolled closer to the hole? What if the wind had not blown the ball off course at a critical time?

In other words, if just one thing had gone differently–one thing that statisticians would call a random act, and which the rest of us might call luck or the bounce of the ball–Watson would have had a stroke to spare when he came to that final putt he couldn’t sink.

Tom Watson’s performance shows that aging isn’t necessarily as strong as we think it is. He performed at the highest level for four days, and beat 99.999% of the world’s best golfers. He failed to beat only one, though that was enough to change the story. (By the way, Stewart Cink won the tournament as much as Watson lost it, if not more.)

So what’s the connection to snowboarding? The closest analogue might be if Shaun White was in contention for X-games gold at age 59. That won’t happen. Snowboarding is more physically demanding than golf, and competitive snowboarding places a far greater premium on youth than competitive golf.

Still, the world might be surprised at what an old man can do.

Is golf is declining because men are no longer willing to spend all day apart from their families, (“More Americans Are Giving Up Golf,” New York Times, February 21″) and if so, what implications might this have for snow sports?

First, the numbers:

The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third.

The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Says Walter Hurney, a real estate developer, “There just isn’t enough time. Men won’t spend a whole day away from their family anymore.”

Mr. Rocchio, a regional director of the National Golf Course Owners Association, adds to the “family first” theme:

“Years ago, men thought nothing of spending the whole day playing golf — maybe Saturday and Sunday both. Today, he is driving his kids to their soccer games. Maybe he’s playing a round early in the morning. But he has to get back home in time for lunch.”

So what to make of these claims?

Like snowboarding, golf is a male-dominated sport. Only 25% of golfers are women, which is similar to (but lower than) the percentage of snowboarders who are female.

Perhaps we’re becoming a nation of couch potatoes and desk jockeys? Says the Times:

The disappearance of golfers over the past several years is part of a broader decline in outdoor activities — including tennis, swimming, hiking, biking and downhill skiing — according to a number of academic and recreation industry studies.

It attributes a decline in tennis to an increased interest in skateboarding. That’s plausible, given that both are (largely) warm-weather pursuits.

The Times digs up a quote from Rodney B. Warnick, a professor of recreation studies, who says that the younger generation “is not just as active” in all sports. That is a jarring conclusion, though, given the media template of Gen Xers and Millenials being more concerned about work-life balance than boomers.

Jim Kass, research director of the National Golf Foundation, blames economics, specifically the cost of golf and cutbacks in corporate memberships to country clubs. The idea that structural changes in the economy are in part responsible is intriguing. We’ve come a long ways since the days of Organization Man. I have yet to see hard data on corporate support for golf participation. But given the “flattening” of the economy (think “The World is Flat”), there may in fact be some softness in Fortune 500 support for the sport.

Where does snowboarding fit in? I like to play golf, but snowboarding may be more of a family-friendly activity than golf is. It’s not as intimidating to children as golf is. And with golf, once your children have started a round, they’re in it for the duration–at least that’s the spirit of golf. By contrast, snowboarding is open to more frequent breaks for hot chocolate or just warming up in the lodge.

Do companies that neglect market niches leave money on the table? It all depends on the niche, the market, and the company. But I suspect that when it comes to snowboarding, the answer is yes: Snowboarding-related companies aren’t doing enough to talk to the adult market.

I see an analogy with the market for women golfers.

The Golf Blogger reports that the magazine Golf for Women is ceasing publication. He blames it on a lack of advertisers, and in turn, companies missing an opportunity to tap 40 million women baby boomers who could be golfers.

The golf company that takes these women as seriously as they take the men can really position itself. And that doesn’t mean taking a man’s club, making it a little lighter and coloring it powder blue or pink. It means starting from scratch, and putting the same effort into research and development as they do with the men. Then they need to market that equipment—clubs, balls, bags, pull carts, and so on—with the same aggressive stance that they do with the men.

To their credit, some snowsports companies are coming out with gear designed for women, gear that takes into account the fact that women are not small men, but have (for example) calf muscles that are differently shaped than those found on a man.

What alterations would be useful for adult riders? Flows, K2 Cinch bindings, and other bindings help, by reducing or eliminating the need to bend over or stand up, heelside, after having sat down to adjust bindings. Other than that, I’m not sure what other adjustments to gear are necessary. But there are plenty of adjustments that can be made to marketing materials. In brief, offer some grown-up graphics and text.

This year I didn’t get the chance to snowboard and golf in the same day. But one ski area in Pennsylvania offered customers the chance to do both.

Larry Walsh wrote for the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette on April 4:

Hidden Valley and Seven Springs are offering snow sports and golf at reduced rates today and tomorrow. Guests can hit the slopes in the morning and the links in the afternoon. [snip]

A round of golf at Seven Springs 18 hole, par 71 public course will cost $32 this weekend, including cart. Skiers and snowboarders who present their lift ticket or season pass will receive a $10 discount for the 6,560 yard course.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to experience great skiing, snowboarding and golf on the same day or the same weekend,” said Dick Barron, the resort’s director of ski and snowboard operations.

Sounds good to me!

This snowboarding season I’ve had a season pass at an area that also has “mountain” biking and golf in the summer. As with lift tickets, you can pay for your biking or golfing on a per-day basis or for the whole season, with a season pass.

In a promotion called “Snowballs to golf balls,” winter season pass holders get a substantial discount on a season pass at the golf course. Substantial, as in 65 percent or so. Sounds interesting. I think I’ll bite. It’s not the best course around, and it’s a bit quirky. Don’t hit that chair overhead with your approach shot! But it may, for someone of my limited abilities, a good value.

But for today, it’s all about snowboarding. I’ll be paying a visit to a local area where I used to have a pass, and get some photos for a review.

Don’t expect any blog updates tomorrow. I’ll be taking the day off to observe Easter Sunday.

As a cultural artifact, snowboarding gets credited, or blamed, for many things that it isn’t, including the game of golf.

Since I plan to play a round this weekend (far from the Midwest!), an article in The Independent (UK) entitled The Decline of Golf caught my attention.

The article discusses the extent of the decline, offers some reasons for it, and mentions what a few people are trying to do about it.

The golf industry does have reasons to be concerned: the number of golfers in the U.S. has declined from 30 million a decade ago to 26 million today. But why has this happened? You might blame the fact that some golfers find it hard to ever improve (count me in with this one), making it difficult to justify ongoing expenses.

But some folks blame snowboarding

Mike May of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, which tracks US citizens’ participation in sports and leisure activities, has another theory for golf’s decline over the course of this decade. “We now track 114 sporting activities in the US,” he says. “A few decades ago, golf would have been one of say 20 major activities, but there is more going on today to capture people’s time and attention, and there are still only seven days in the week and 24 hours in the day.

“Americans are choosing snowboarding, skateboarding and other things on top of traditional sports such as tennis and basketball and, of course, there has also been a surge in the numbers going to gyms and health clubs to work out.

In sheer numbers, of course, golf holds the upper hand. Golfers outnumber riders by a ratio of 5 to 1, and even if you add in skiers, golfing still dominates. One reason may be that even though it’s harder to become an expert golfer than an expert snowboarder, the perception of danger (attracting some people, repelling far more) just isn’t there in golf. If you can walk, you can golf.

To finish on a note of the obvious: there are very few days in the year in which a person must choose between golf and snow sports on a given day.

But for one of those days, see this photo from the Grays on Trays discussion board.

UPDATE: Welcome, readers of the Golf Blogger. I’m a much worse golfer than I am a snowboarder, but I enjoy writing about both. I’m working on another post that covers similar ground to this one. See also this tag of golf-related posts.

How about this for mixing up the seasons? On Saturday I spent a few hours talking boards and boots with a new shop. The next day, I played a round of golf. Note that the are ski areas within driving distance that are open. I had other plans for Saturday though, which means that the opening of the snowboarding season will have to wait for a few more days.

In “I Give Up! A Sport People Love to Quit,” the Wall Street Journal notes that the golf industry is looking for ways to attract and retain golfers. John Paul Newport, writing in the August 12, 2006 edition, comments on 6-hole courses, structured programs, and so forth.

The reason for this activity, of course, is money: if players quit, so do the cash registers. Each year, roughly 3 million people take up golf; and roughly 3 million leave golf.

Still, says Newport, golf has it pretty good compared with some other sports. (Yes, this is where the snowboarding connection comes in.)

One can easily get the impression, listening to the industry’s hand-wringing about the game’s lack of net growth, that retaining golfers is an urgent problem, almost of crisis proportion. But in fact golf’s retention rate for beginners — 50% overall after one year — is much better than that for tennis (20%) or skiing (15%).

The article doesn’t say whether that 15 percent number includes children and adults, or adults only. It also doesn’t mention whether “skiers” means only downhill skiers, or whether it includes snowboarders.

I suspect–and have no hard numbers on this–that more adults are more likely to start skiing than snowboarding, but that the retention rate is higher for snowboarding. More adults may be able to imagine themselves skiing than riding.

If golf is the sport to take up in retirement, what do golfers do when they leave the scene?

Ride snowboards.

Well, perhaps not, but David Duval, the guy who was the #1 in the world before Tiger, is a snowboarder. I’ve known this for a while, and came across it again in the Whittier Daily News. (It’s a reprint from the Denver Post, which notes that Duval lives in the Denver metro.)

According to the article “Patient Duval Ready to Rise Again,” the 34-year old Duval, just might be making a comeback on the golf circuit.

The article’s mention of his snowboarding ventures is short, fluffy, and without much substance:

To truly appreciate how high golfer David Duval sits these days on life’s leaderboard, it may be helpful to turn away from his chosen profession and instead focus on one of his passions, snowboarding. More precisely, in the moment when he hits a jump on a ski run and bounds from the earth into the sky.

“It’s just wonderful,” he said. “Because that’s when it just goes completely quiet. There’s no sound. You’re right in the air and it’s quiet.”

Catching air? He’s more daring that most old guys on board. Then again the part about bounding “into the sky” is merely literary license.

Some may say that taking up the snowboard caused Duval’s career to tank. I hope not. Even so, it sounds like he thinks it may be satisfied with it all the same.