It’s time for golf to switch on to the kids

By Paul Mahoney

The European Tour and US PGA Tour are becoming unwatchable. Slow play, monotonous layouts, the same every week. It needs to be re-branded, re-invented and re-invigorated. In an age where the attention spans of humans have regressed to those of fish, golf is trundling along on an escalator of 72-hole strokeplay events and, with only a few matchplay diversions, refuses to step off.

Cricket saw its own death coming and did something about it. Now it has T20, one-dayers, the Big Bash, and the five-day Test match has survived. Meanwhile, golf refuses to look at itself in the mirror. It’s in denial.

Giles Morgan, the head of HSBC’s sponsorship division and therefore one of the key investors in golf, is one of the first movers and shakers to recognise that golf must adapt or die. “There are lots of positives about golf but the world, particularly with digital communications and people’s time, has changed in the last 15 years beyond anybody’s wildest dreams,” he said. “I’m not sure that golf has kept up with that change. I think, because it attracts high investment and has famous superstars, its men and women, its old and young, and it’s relatively healthy, there are lots of good reasons it can look at all of the ingredients and then re-bake the cake.”

Golf should be lots of cakes. Keep the Majors and stellar tournaments as 72-holes if that makes traditionalists happy. But there is no tradition in 72-hole tournament golf – it evolved to accommodate, you guessed it, television. Let’s have three-day tournaments with a cut after each round. A weekend shootout. More team matchplay events. Speed golf on the clock. Mixed tournaments for men and women. Nine-hole challenges. Stableford points tournaments. Nike players v TaylorMade players. Matchplay leagues with promotion and relegation.

Fortunately, there are some pioneers, along with Morgan, who are trying to ignite golf’s industrial revolution. “I’ve talked to Keith Pelley about it already,” said Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler of International Sports Management. Pelley is the new chief executive of The European Tour. “I’ve suggested a Friday, Saturday tournament with a celebrity pro-am on Sunday and a rock concert on Saturday night,” Chandler said.

“So that’s one idea. Six-hole strokeplay and six-hole matchplay tournament all over in a day. That’s another idea. And how about a Stableford competition with points for birdies, eagles and pars plus bonus points for a chip in or holing a bunker shot? And get women to play with men, too. Somebody’s got to stage these events. Pelley will do it.”

A report commissioned by the  European Tour claims several shorter formats of golf are encouraging people to engage in the game, many of them juniors. Formats include driving ranges (3.1 million active users); pitch and putt courses (2.3 million); nine-hole courses (2.2 million); putting greens (1.7 million); and par-3 or short courses (1.2 million). “The younger generation has more options to experience our wonderful game,” Pelley said. “That doesn’t mean playing 18 holes should not remain the pinnacle of golf. Indeed, doing so successfully is the goal to which most will continue to aspire. But 18 holes shouldn’t be the sole yardstick we use to measure participation.”

The European Tour grants free entry to children under the age of 16 at all its tournaments as long as an adult accompanies them. The R&A does the same at The Open Championship. So that’s a start.

Tournament host at the British Masters, Ian Poulter, agrees. “It’s all about bringing new kids into the game,” he said. “To know that we’ve got under-16-year-olds that can come here for free to watch golf is great. That’s what we need to do. We need to grow the game of golf and make it fun.”

The professional game has a duty to inspire the next generation. To do so, it must appeal to them. And it is not.

“Golf has got lazy but I don’t think it will be for much longer,” Chandler said. “Pelley has got tons of ideas and energy. The product needs shaking up and to become cool to the kids. Cricket has done it. The world has moved on. The one thing golf has to ensure is that new events count as official prize money. The re-invention of the professional game is essential for the future success of golf.”

The players know it, too, from tour stalwarts to Grand Slam legends. Robert Rock and Gary Player speak for many globetrotting pros.

“I don’t know why kids would want to watch golf on TV; it’s as boring as hell,” said Rock, whose academies teach over 200 children each weekend. “Golf isn’t trying hard enough. We need the top players to buy into change.”

Player says: “ The professional game has young players Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy to inspire. But there’s no doubt that amateur golf needs to attract more younger players. We need to make it more accessible, more understandable, more affordable and faster.

“In addition, we need to build more nine-hole courses and accept this as a viable alternative to the traditional 18 holes approach.”

Golf’s professional players and administrators must be on something  if they don’t think the game needs re-booting for the smart phone generation. It’s time to remind the sport of what American psychologist Timothy Leary urged the alienated youth of the 1960s.

He implored people to embrace cultural changes by detaching themselves from the existing conventions and hierarchies in society. If golf does nothing and simply maintains the cosy status quo, Leary’s famous slogan will become an epitaph for golf fans: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”