Saint Peter's University the Modernization of Golf Stanley
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Garrant 1 Saint Peter’s University The Modernization of Golf Stanley Garrant Honors Thesis Dr. Joseph Gilkey Garrant 2 Introduction Over the past two decades golf has changed more than it ever has in its 600-year history. The two biggest influences of this change are Tiger Woods and Topgolf. Twenty-five years ago, if someone who did not play golf was asked to describe the sport they would say it was a game for people with a lot of money and even more time. Back then, they may have been right. For many years golf was a dying sport too old to keep up with the new fast paced lifestyle that younger generations have adopted. The big challenge in golf was to make it more exciting to watch on TV and make it more interesting to a younger generation who thought it was an old, boring sport. The sport of golf to its core is a slow, methodical thought-out game. Every shot takes thought and planning, and not to mention it can take hours to walk around the course without even hitting a shot. Without the younger generation, the game can not grow, and golf simply cannot wait until people get old for them to start playing and watching golf. When Tiger Woods made his PGA Tour Debut in 1996, he saved golf. Tiger Woods was a young star who captivated the media’s attention because of his domination throughout his amateur golf career. Tiger is also of mixed race. His father was predominantly African American and his mother is Thai. His immense talent and the fact that he looked different than everyone else in golf caused a media storm. The next year in 1997, Tiger won his first major championship, breaking the scoring and age record at the Master’s and setting the Garrant 3 stage for his immaculate career. Tiger has gone on to become arguably the greatest golfer that has ever lived. His effect on golf can be seen in television ratings, purse size, crowd size, participation in golf, college golf, strength and conditioning and many other facets of the game. Topgolf, a golf entertainment company is having a similar effect on golf. Topgolf has taken golf and turned it into an easy game that can be enjoyed by all, no matter what skill level they are. Topgolf serves golfers food and drinks as they hit golf balls to targets and play different game modes. Starting in 2000, the company has really exploded over the past decade. Today, Topgolf has 58 locations around the world and it has had a large impact on the golf industry. Off-course golf activities have seen a large increase and Topgolf helps bring the game to all different demographics. Tiger changed the game and showed people that being an athlete first and foremost is what makes a professional golfer great. He pushed all his peers to get better, causing innovations in strength and conditioning as well as in golf equipment while also captivating audiences all over the world and bringing professional golf to the forefront of the sports world and facilitating its growth. Topgolf changed the way that people perceived golf. Intertwining cutting edge technology, entertainment and golf while making it fun is what separated Topgolf from its competitors. Topgolf helped bring golf to a new audience that never really had much interest in the game. Topgolf’s ability to reach a younger and more diverse audience is great for the advancement of golf. The game is in a great spot, and over the next decade will absolutely see continued growth. Garrant 4 History Origins of Golf Golf originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland. This game was played on sand dunes as players would try to hit a small rock over the s dunes and around tracks th carved into the sand. The game became extremely popular during the 15 century, so much so that the Scottish parliament banned the sport in 1457 because Scottish men were skipping military training to go play . The ban only lasted 45 years, and in 1502 King James IV gave the game the royal seal of approval and became the world’s first “golfing” monarch. During the 16th century the game expanded across Europe when King Charles I brought it to England, and Mary Queen of Scots brought it to France1. The game had evolved from one played with sticks and pebbles on dunes to a game played on courses made of fescue, clubs made of hickory and balls made of leather stuffed with feathers. The game of golf didn’t officially become a sport until the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith formed the first club in 1744. The club also hosted an annual competition with silverware as prizes. The Old Course at Saint Andrews is considered to be the oldest golf course in the world. Today it is known as the home of golf. The course was established in 1552 but in 1764 it was redesigned to an 18-hole golf course which is standard for golf today. Originally the old course had 22 holes, but in 1764 William St. Clair of Rosslyn and the Captain and Gentleman Golfers decided that the first and last four holes of the course were not 1https://www.igfgolf.org/about-golf/history/ Garrant 5 long enough. They combined these holes and turned it into the world’s first 18-hole golf course, which is still the standard today. In 1863, Tom Morris separated the first and seventeenth greens of the golf course, creating the course layout that we still see today at Saint Andrew’s2. How Golf is Played The game of golf in concept is very simple, but being good at the game takes incredible dedication and practice. Golf is very strategic, and unlike other sports where being the strongest, fastest, and most skilled player almost always guarantees victory, golf relies more on strategy and mental fortitude. The reason that golf is so strategic is because each golf course is different. Almost all other sports have regulation size fields, which golf lacks. A course can be whatever the designer chooses it to be. The modern game of golf is played with 14 clubs. A regulation round of golf is 18 holes and the goal of the game is to get your golf ball into the hole in as few strokes as possible. A stroke is every time you hit your ball with the club. In golf there is a concept called “par”, and it is the number of shots that it should take to get your ball in the hole. On a regulation golf course there are three potential pars, and it mostly depends on the length of the hole. A par 3 is the shortest, a par 4 is medium length, and a par 5 is the longest. If you hit the ball in the hole in one stroke below par, it is called a “birdie”, and if you hit the ball in the hole one stroke above par, it is called a “bogey”. Generally, on a golf course there are around four par 3s, four par 5s, and ten par 4s, though this does vary from course to course. The par for the course generally ranges from 73-70, though there are courses that have varying pars for the course. 2 https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-History-of-Golf/ Garrant 6 Modern Golf There are many reasons that the game of golf has a hard time attracting younger people. One of the biggest factors is time. Many young people with a job, a family, or school do not have a free 4 hours of daylight to spend on the golf course. Slow play has been an issue in golf for decades. Today, the world is faster-paced than ever before, and it shows no sign of slowing down. A slow deliberate game like golf must change in order to keep up with the pace of society. In 2013, the United States Golf Association (USGA) launched a campaign with the slogan “While We’re Young”. The goal of this campaign was to fix the problem of slow golf. A common misconception is that golfers watch the professionals who have meticulous routines and try to determine every factor that may affect their ball before each shot and try to copy them when they go out and play. This is not true. The USGA has determined four key factors to slow play: player behavior, course design, course setup and player/group management3. As golf has evolved and equipment has improved, people have also started scoring better. Professionals were making some of the most difficult courses in the world look like child’s play. Many courses had been built long ago and the golf course designers did not foresee these changes to the game so there were no safeguards against players averaging over 300 yards a drive. They could just hit the ball past all the obstacles and hit their next shot right next to the hole and tap in their putt for an easy birdie. Golf course designers saw this and started making 3 https://www.golfdigest.com/story/usga-introduces-while-were-young-initiative Garrant 7 courses more difficult. When courses are more difficult, it takes longer to play, especially for the average golfer. Player and group management is also a big factor in speed of play. It is important to make sure that golfers know the rules of golf before playing and to be conscientious of the other golfers on the course.