Dear Industry Colleague,

Occasionally, I think it is useful to have a good long, hard look at how we came to be where we are. The evolution of mankind is fascinating and the way the game of golf has evolved is changing fast; we will keep some traditions and also embrace new ways. The editorial below does not take into account how equipment shaped the game, which is a separate topic and one we will return to. It is more to do with changing trends in society, which have spread into golf.

A Brief History of Golf - Part One

The point of writing a brief history of golf is to explain in more detail how the current profile of our sport has been shaped. Having spent nearly fifty years playing golf and 38 years as a golf professional, it is easy to assume that those who have come to the game more recently know how we came to be in the current position. I hope this helps give some a clearer idea of the how things used to be.

The history of the game itself can trace its roots directly back to Scottish fisherman who used to compete with each other to beat a stone with a stick across the dunes on the way to and from work. Many would argue that the best form of golf is still played on the dunes, where golfers battle the elements in a very natural environment - often in quite uncomfortable weather.

This phase may have lasted for several hundred years or more, but it was not until about 200 years ago that clubs became the normal way for people to enjoy golf.  Clubs were populated by gentlemen, very rarely by ladies, and never by the working class. Eventually, clubs realised that they could get additional work done on the cheap by allowing an ‘artisan’ membership. This allowed a heavily reduced annual fee to be paid by working class golfers who then had to spend a considerable amount of time repairing divots and doing other manual graft on the course. Naturally these golfers were only allowed to play at the scrag end of the day and were not allowed into the main clubhouse. It would be fair to say that I do indeed resent many of these historic injustices, but these are far less serious than some of the monuments to slavery and other disgraces of yesteryear. Either way, I do not wish to destroy such traditional institutions, but I do think that they should be more open with their membership policies and embrace social change. I also don’t think that exclusive golf clubs deserve any tax breaks and should not be able to hide behind charitable status and claim that they are not for profit. In fact many are being quite disingenuous on this point, as they distribute a very low cost set of fees to their members instead of a dividend, but many of these traditional clubs still prevent a reasonable rate for a visiting golfer, unless they are a member’s guest. The privilege continues.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews was formed in the 1750’s and the R&A is still the body that controls the worldwide rules of the game with the US Golf Association (USGA).Itwas good to see that Muirfield has been readmitted to the Open rota of courses selected to hold the R&A’s finest showpiece. It was encouraging that the R&A forced the snottier members of Muirfield to allow women to join before they were once again considered for the highest honour available - hosting the Open.

Golf moved on and became a very grand past time and well removed from those early fisherman enjoying the Scottish coastline. The gentrification of golf meant that to join a club, you had to be proposed by an existing member. You had to wear silly costumes (formal wear was, and still is, very important to some people at golf clubs), you had to have a position in society and, although it was never mentioned, you had to have pots of old money. Two hundred years ago golf embraced all of the worst aspects of the class system - and even today some of these elements remain with membership denied to those whose face does not fit: another way of keeping golf clubs for an upper class elite. The ethnic mix of members of the best golf clubs in the UK still shows an alarming lack of racial diversity. Women now account for about 15% of club members. The R&A are doing an excellent job with their Women in Golf Charter and are trying hard to address some of the issues that have caused so many problems in the past.

About 60 years ago this all started to change, which was rather good news for the masses. Colour television, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tony Jacklin, Mark McCormack and more recently Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods, all joined together to create a beautiful visual spectacle that could penetrate deep into our homes. Mark McCormack, the late founder of the International Management Group otherwise known as IMG, was the first to realise that golf could be commercialised on a great scale. He was a lawyer and befriended Arnold Palmer very early in his career, correctly assessing that his exciting golf and everyman (and woman) appeal was indeed a sound commercial proposition. McCormack represented the most famous golfers of the day, with Jack Nicklaus and many other famous players. Televised golf was a gift to advertising and his clients had many gilt-edged sponsors happy to pay millions of pounds for the new game of celebrity sporting endorsement. These golfing greats encouraged people to take up golf around the world. 

In the British Isles, golf ranges and municipal courses started to flourish in the ‘60s and ‘70s and hundreds of thousands of new golfers started to play. Some queued in the darkness for several hours to get a round in. There was a massive surge in the interest in golf and many new courses were built. 

The R&A obviously recognised this trend and commissioned a study on the growth of golf. This study – The Demand for Golf - was written by a very well-meaning and charming gentleman called Graham Hurst, a long time member of the R&A. Painstakingly, Graham and his team assessed the local market for golf and asked every available golf facility many questions, including the number of people on membership waiting lists.  This gave a misleading impression, as in an average town the same golfer may have added his name to the waiting list of all the golf clubs. So the number of people thought to be wanting to join a golf club was overestimated by a factor as high as six. The R&A conclusion was that there was a huge pent-up demand to have more golf clubs built. The broad thrust of the report was correct, but, as with so many reports, it was only the headlines that people focused on. 

Hurst had specifically said that there should be more basic golf courses built, as Sir Henry Cotton had championed ‘rough courses’ many decades before. Hundreds more courses were built, many with poor courses and over grand clubhouses and often in secondary locations. Farmers diversified and entrepreneurs invested and many lost their shirts. Today there are about 35,000 golf courses in the world, with around 3000 in Britain. Add another 600 golf ranges and a few hundred adventure golf courses and there are plenty of places for golf to be enjoyed. The new type of facilities are far more likely to embrace families, as the collective spend of a family socialising together at a weekend is just perfect for a modern leisure business. A far cry from the 1800’s when women were not allowed to play golf at almost all facilities in the UK.

Locker rooms are another throwback to the golf clubs built over a hundred years ago. No longer do people need to store their golf clubs at the course and change several times in the course of a normal day. The locks on cars today are far more secure and most people are quite happy to transport their valuable golf equipment with them. In this manner they can manage their own security and convenience and the need for large locker rooms, which produce no profit is greatly diminished.  Some of the original and traditional golf clubs still insist on a change of clothes before any food could be consumed or drinks purchased. Occasionally visiting such a backward facility is quite enjoyable, especially as many of them have gorgeous courses happily and luckily trading on the natural nature of superb sand dunes. As a visitor, I fully accept that I must comply with the rules of the host club - but I don’t have to like them. For the main part, golfers today, just want to play and relax informally afterwards. Rarely does golf produce a sweat, so showers are not really needed either. There are thousands of existing golfers who will disagree with me and they love following the traditions of a formal lunch, a full change of clothes, communal showering, etc. Most of these will have a boarding school background and most will be well into middle age or beyond.

There are very few restaurants that insist on jackets and ties anymore. It is completely ridiculous for clubs to continue to do this in the 21st-century. But it is not just dress sense that is changing - there is a huge revolution in the food being offered at golf facilities. Golfers are always in a hurry and they wish to have a snack, often a bacon sandwich or a sausage roll prior to playing. Sometimes they want to eat mid round - again speed is of the essence and some form of 'grab and go' food is becoming the norm for modern golf facilities. After the round, more and more golf facilities are offering fast food to service their clients. Why have your catering staff out of the way in a kitchen waiting to prepare meals for every impatient client. Pizza ovens and Merrychefs, together with hot and cold display cabinets can provide a range of appealing, profitable and delicious fast food for golfers to enjoy quickly and without fuss before, during, and after play. Clubs and golf centres are increasingly moving towards a 'food bar’ for their every day catering delivery, with the traditional kitchen being used to accommodate society meals and create food, which can be quickly ‘finished' with a modern appliance in front of the customer. This is a society trend and can be clearly seen by the increasing sophistication of garage forecourts and coffee shops, such as Costa and Starbucks. A modern, family-friendly golf facility will not have scores of framed photos of long dead club captains staring bleakly down on today’s informal golfers, but many quieter traditional clubs still like the mausoleum feel. 

Today, bright open-plan clubhouses, spilling on to large patios and overlooking putting green and the course, are far more popular. Even with the UK’s unreliable climate, it is still likely to produce over 200 days of reasonable weather each year and people like being outside. Music is a joy and providing it has some melody and a reasonable volume, few will find it offensive in a modern golf course setting. Music on golf buggies is becoming very popular in the USA, a trend we are likely to follow. Another blow to the traditionalists.

The revolution at golf ranges with the advent of digital technology that greatly increases the enjoyment of those using golf ranges has been quite dramatic. In the past, golf ranges were the preserve of the golf addict, determined to improve his or her goals prior to an important event. Also, some teaching was done there, but a few casual golfers attended the golf range purely for recreation. This has all changed now. In the future more and more will be made of this technology, which will allow increasing numbers of golfers of varying abilities to be able to enjoy using their local golf range. The range owners will be very happy to broaden their customer base to encourage these new customers. 
 
Twenty years ago, there was not a single golf range that had a proper adventure golf putting course. Today, there are hundreds of these magnificent, attractive and inclusive golf themed leisure business attached to golf centres. The reason for this is simple. Everyone can play adventure golf, and so it broadens the appeal of a golf centre offering such a facility. More customers equals more profit. Simple. The trend has been so strong that many adventure golf courses have been set up completely independent of any other type of facility and the new growth seems to involve more enclosed adventure golf operations, which may not be quite as exciting, but can be played in all weathers and, critically, in the dark winter evenings as part of the social options available in normal times. Golf is a relatively complex game to learn initially and one has to reach a level of reasonable competence before it is satisfying for the individual, and an even higher level before that same golfer feels confident enough to share his or her golfing efforts with established golfers. BUT - everyone can putt and so the instant ability to play opens adventure golf up to the entire population, regardless of age or ability. Best of all, many of those who try adventure golf can also feel a pull towards the main game. It is golf’s nursery slope and vital to the continued growth of golf.

Golf retail and the role of the golf professional is also changing in a dramatic way. Traditionally golf professionals were also the makers of clubs and very much a servant of the club where they worked. Fifty years ago it was almost impossible to acquire any golf equipment unless you visited a golf professional at a golf course. Today there are very few golf courses where the professional stocks golf clubs at all. The selling of retail equipment is left to those specialising in custom fit equipment, large retail operations such as American Golf and the wonderful, yet dreaded Internet. The golf pro can now focus on other things and are increasingly sought as managers of golf facilities where their broad experience and logic has a good part to play in the future of the game. 

The late and greatly missed John Jacobs OBE, showed so many golf professionals an easy way to teach and explain golf to the masses, with a clear headedness, which still endures. His ball flight laws and skill in articulating the best way for a club to be swung by a golfer are a fantastic opportunity for all PGA members today. Highly technical coaches using doppler radar may be able to prove that some ball flights are achievable in contradiction of these ball flight rules, but it is a basic set of principles which allow a PGA professional to find the cause of a problem and using tried and tested methods help to improve the golfers enjoyment and competence. There will always be a role for people who can pass on better golfing skills and these skills cannot be replaced with computers and Internet searches. Coaching is interactive and the best coaches have great knowledge and understanding, but also strong communication skills. 

These new trends are quite a problem for the PGA and their Chief Executive, Robert Maxfield, who has spent a considerable amount of time on how to ensure his members are well prepared for a changing future. As a young assistant professional, I can remember the strike at Rye Golf Club, which was called when the club would not allow golf professionals to enter the clubhouse - this was unusual in the 1980’s, but very much the norm in previous decades. Thank goodness golf has changed and the PGA has managed to ensure that their name is the most recognised brand in golf.

With the growth of more proprietary golf businesses over the last fifty years, it is not surprising that the guidance offered to the industry comes from different sources. This guidance is dependent on the way the one views the future. Traditionalists still see the key to growing the game as trying to increase golf club membership. Membership of all types of clubs and associations has been falling for years and it is no surprise to see that golf club membership has been heavily affected by these trends. In essence, golfers far prefer - at a rate of over 3 to 1 - to pay and play, rather than join a club. This is the figure for regular golfers; if you add in all of the occasional and informal golfers and those just starting, then the number of independent golfers totals over five times the number of affiliated club members. This gap is widening.

The UK Golf Federation is bucking this trend and growing in numbers at a phenomenal rate. Just over 18 months ago, the UK Golf Federation had just 180 members. In the last year and a half the number of facilities joining the Federation has increased by more than four times and very soon the Federation will have 900 members sites.  There are several reasons for this exceptional growth. First of all, the UK Golf Federation stands for open access to golf and is determined to help all facilities that provide open access to golf. The Federation has continued to oppose any green fee levy or tax that certain authorities may wish to impose on independent golfers and the facilities that encourage them. The home unions have clearly discussed this as a form of revenue in the past and will probably continue to do so in the future. One of the many reasons that they have had no luck whatsoever in introducing such a ridiculous tax, is the implacable opposition from the UK Golf Federation.

The future is looking very bright for the Federation and also for independent golfers. With the impending introduction of the Worldwide Handicap System (WHS), once again the independent golfer has been left behind.  The home unions who are charged with operating the current handicap system and the new Worldwide Handicap System fear that if a golfer can get a handicap without having to join a golf club, then the numbers of members at golf clubs would fall alarmingly. This is clearly nonsense. Members of golf clubs join for two primary reasons: namely to play golf, and to socialise with friends. An additional benefit is that they can get and hold a handicap.

The collective thinking of the golfing establishment has been wrong on this for over a decade. The way to increase overall participation - and affiliated club members in particular - is to work on making golf more popular and easier to enjoy.  By denying independent golfers the opportunity to hold a proper handicap, the growth of the game has been stunted. It is not until a golfer gets a handicap that he or she gains the full enjoyment of the sport and develops into a stronger and more committed player. Life has changed for many of us in society and the truth is clear that many people do not have the time, money or inclination to commit themselves just to one golf club. These people retain a significant interest in the sport and their interest could be further developed if they were allowed to hold a handicap as an independent player, rather than being forced to join a golf club that they may be unable or unwilling to do. What is far worse is that millions of pounds of resources have been wasted in trying to identify the best way to grow the game. One of the best things they could have done is to allow independent golfers to hold an official handicap. Instead over the last decade or so hundreds of thousands of affiliated golfers have been lost. 

Obviously a proper independent golfer handicap is needed, and it goes without saying that the UK Golf Federation is giving serious consideration to this very important topic. 

When it comes to golf club membership, times are changing fast and golfers are increasingly unwilling to give up a large portion of their time and income to visit just one golf facility. Many can afford to do so, but do not wish to waste their resources. Pay and play is here to stay and these independent golfers deserve a voice. The UK Golf Federation is proud to champion the rights of the independent golfer. These independent golfers will be a great benefit to the game and they need to be able to secure a proper handicap.

During the Coronavirus crisis, golf has been one of the only sporting options for individuals and has thus experienced a surge in growth. Many people have visited courses for the first time and some have returned to the fairways after an absence of many years. Let us hope that the enthusiasm for golf continues when the options in normal life return as the Coronavirus threat recedes in the coming months and years.

Having a healthy view of the past is useful, as it does allow us to understand how we have come to our current position. However, it should not colour how we run the game in the future and it is time to do things with a different focus in several areas. Some of these are occurring naturally, with a gentle evolution to more modern ways, whilst other aspects require more of a struggle to find a better way. Golf will doubtless find the best route, but the next few years may throw up a little turmoil as some of the more pointless traditions are swept aside for better - and more inclusive - ways.

Best wishes, Colin Jenkins