Where Are All the Golfers Going?

Jeff Fisher
Director of Instruction
Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club
Mesa, AZ
jfisher@obsports.com

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If I were Commissioner of Golf, and I don’t mean Commissioner of the PGA Tour but rather of golf in general, I think I would make a few changes. I would make the courses shorter, the cups bigger, the drinks from the beverage cart free and play music all over the course! Why? Because it would be more fun that way!

Golfers as a group take themselves too seriously and make the game way too hard for themselves. We compare ourselves to the best in the world and lament how bad we are when we fall short of those comparisons. We complain that it takes too long to play, but yet we choose to play from the back tees when our handicaps say we should not. And, a recent study says more than 2 million golfers have left the game in the last 3 years.

So to me, the answer is that golfers need to take it upon themselves to make the game more fun! Don’t force yourselves to play a 7000 yard course when your handicap is more than a 5. Don’t stand over every putt like if you don’t make it the sky will fall. Have fun! Charley Hull is a 17 year old new professional who took down Paula Creamer at the Solheim Cup. And her quote, “I didn’t really feel that nervous to be honest because this is how I always look at golf…I’m not going to die if I miss it. Just hit it, and find it, and hit it again.”

If you have a regular foursome try some things to spice up the game. Make a rule that you have to putt with your wedge on the odd numbered holes or that you can only use odd numbered clubs on the even holes and even numbered clubs on the odd holes! Sound outside the box? That’s because it is! One thing we know about life is that you have to evolve or get passed by. You don’t drive the same kind of car you did 100 years ago and you certainly don’t wear the same type of clothes. But unfortunately, golfers are playing essentially the same game we did 100 years ago.

In the last few years people like Mark King from TaylorMade and Barney Adams from Adams Golf have suggested some sweeping changes in the way the game is played. Bigger cups, shorter courses. But, nobody is really listening. Seems strange since when the same guys tell us to get a new driver we listen to them then.

Listen to them now! Play golf. Have fun!

Jeff Fisher is the Director of Instruction at the OB Sports Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. Jeff can be reached at 480.414.9330 or jfisher@obsports.com.