Word: golfed
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...Golf is trying to create a similar online marketplace at playgolfamerica.com The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA), which is organizing the Play Golf America website and advertising campaign, is selling speed rather than price, given that the cost of a round has been declining anyway amid the surplus of courses. "The complaint we hear more than any other is that golf takes too much time," says PGA of America president M.G. Orender, who claims that more than 17 million adults have expressed interest in playing golf. "We're asking our Play Golf America members to get back...
...sport's country-club partner, golf, is also on the downswing. Participation is flat: annual rounds played have fallen 4.5%, to 494 million, since 2000. In the five-year period from 1997 to 2002, according to the NSGA, spending on golf clubs, balls and apparel shrank from $5.33 billion to $4.6 billion, a 14% drop. Equipment sales fell again last year. Golf has even taken down a Wall Street firm. Gotham Partners, a hedge fund with $300 million in assets, shut down last year because of losses on golf-course investments: too many new courses have been built...
...more interest in the game. It's all taking shape on two new websites: tenniswelcomecenter.com and playgolfamerica.com Both enable players, novice or experienced, to type in a zip code and search for local facilities that offer lessons, leagues and other programs. For the first time, the alphabet fiefdoms of golf and tennis (the PGA, USGA, ATP Tour, USTA and others) and major manufacturers such as Nike, Wilson, Prince and Callaway seem united under a single cause: to persuade more people to put down the remote and spend money on sports. "You've got to appreciate the spirit of this campaign...
...plan has doubters too. "It's a stab in the dark," says Casey Alexander, a research analyst who covers the golf industry for Gilford Securities in New York City. "Even if the p.r. does reach a new audience, Play Golf America doesn't change any of the problems that crop up once you get to the golf course." These include matters of etiquette--How many practice swings can I take?--that can intimidate new players. Alexander says the course owners, not the golf pros, must run the reforms. Ron Drapeau, CEO of Callaway Golf, the $814 million Big Bertha manufacturer...
Some experts contend that no amount of marketing can boost golf and tennis. Like basketball in the late 1970s, they say, the sports need a rivalry like Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson to capture fans' imagination. After all, tennis peaked in the 1970s, when John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg played epic matches. That's why tennis recently revamped the pro tour to create the U.S. Open Series, which will try to build rivalries by forging a six-week summer "season" that links tournaments. Golf sales hit a 15-year high in 1997, when Tiger Woods arrived...