We started this podcast in April, not long after the country went into quarantine. And on April 18, we dropped episode two, a roundtable with industry leaders who provided perspective on the state of the game in the midst of a global pandemic. I was joined by the Presidents of Pinehurst and Kemper Sports, the owner of Forest Dunes, the manager of Goat Hill Park, and the CEO of an Irish-based travel company that customizes buddies trips.
If you go back and listen to it, it’s somber. It’s as if the group is in shock, and fair to say, they were scared for their business and had concerns for the future of the game.
But if there was one common denominator, it’s that they all said that if they could get open, they had a chance. They knew that as long as they could get a set of sensible regulations, the game could ride a safe and responsible wave of opportunity all the way to the beach.
And by June, or shortly thereafter, they were all open. And it’s as if golf is our only option for a safe outdoor activity. Mike Stachura of Golf Digest recently tweeted that Golf Data Tech reports rounds played in July were up 20-percent over last year. U.S. golf equipment sales reached the all-time greatest single month in retail sales since the company started tracking data in 1997, the year Tiger won his first Masters. As Stachura said in his tweet: “If it’s not nailed down, it’s selling.”
And so I got the buddies-trip of roundtables back together again to check in on the game and their business.
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