Estates of Play: PART 2

We continue our discussion with Louise Martin – CEO of Estate Living.

JC: We both know that activities, such as recycling grey water and channeling runoff, from rain storms, is de-rigeur at most golf estates, which means that we do not, as some golfers still believe, use tap water for irrigation purposes on the golf course.

With reference to the perception of golf by non-golfers (and you are a non-golfer, so your take on this is particularly appropriate), I have three questions:

Are we communicating golf’s good news stories, often enough and well enough, what activities have impressed you most in terms of products, services, or interventions, not only at golf estates, and what could we learn if anything, as the golf sector, from what is going on in the wider estates’ community?

LM: I’m not sure if you will like this first part of my answer to your questions, but isn’t golf essentially a sport played by a small number of people, within a game where the sport equipment and course upkeep is expensive, and the players are predominantly male? 

JC: So, this proves my point that we are not doing a good enough job, in a communications’ sense, and your view of golf is exactly what we need to adjust going forward.

In terms of a ‘small number’ the most participated sport in the World is soccer, and in the sense of pure mathematics, it is indeed ‘small’, as the estimated 240 million registered soccer players, is a number represents less than 3% of the current (2022) global population, so with soccer, as the reference point, the game of golf, with around 65 million ‘known’ golfers, is not small, unless you consider all sports to be ‘small’. 

It is not even a ‘niche’ sport, which description I would reserve for sports like curling, or bob-sled, both of which are Olympic sports.

The list varies, and the one below, shows golf at number 10, but I would push this back to 11, as angling, which is missing from this list, with over 220 million estimated devotees, is hard on the heels of soccer, and would come in as my number 2.

1 Soccer/Football (UK)

2 Badminton

3 Field Hockey 

4 Volleyball

5 Basketball

6 Tennis

7 Cricket

8 Table Tennis

9 Baseball

10 Golf

As for popularity i.e., the number of ‘fans’, golf also comes in at number 10, with an estimated 450 million followers.

The ‘male’ critique is an actual numbers problem, and golf is still not growing among females, as fast as had been hoped.

With reference to golf courses being expensive to maintain, that is true, but circumstances, and the need to trim budgets, has seen the footprint of many courses reduced considerable to save on the costs of highly maintained areas of turf grass.

Golf equipment being ‘expensive’ is something of a myth too, and just as I pointed out in a recent article in the ongoing series, the Growth Dilemma, while you can fish with a bent pin and a pole, or going cycling on a mountain bike, which costs less than R 5 000.00, I have seen road bikes and fishing rods being advertised for over R 200 000.00 each!

LM: Outside of the golfing community, perception ranges from ‘whatever’, to ‘golf courses are a rich man’s sport, which is environmentally damaging, and are positioned in locations that could be considered valuable land for development of affordable housing.’ 

JC: As for the environmental critique, the game can do more, is becoming much more environmentally conscious (then again – who hasn’t!), but is still way ahead of many other human activities, but it is a golf tenet that you don’t keep pace with a field (of players), by watching the group behind you, so we still need to do more!

This, coupled with the fact that developers of golf estates largely cannot afford to use prime land, makes for interesting case studies. 

There are literally hundreds of these good news stories (mostly not told loud enough so they are not heard!), and one of the most obvious is Eagle Canyon, which was the focus in the previous 2 issues of BG – from a disused sand quarry, full of scuzzy water, dead dogs and supermarket shopping trolleys to the vibrant estate it is today, is a fair summary.

LM: So, what is a ‘good news’ golf story and who is telling it, and when the story is told to, and who is reading it? 

This is why the BG and EL relationship is important, as education around the sport and the business of golf is an important subject, as is lobbying to educate people around the positive environmental aspects, of the game, and introducing the sport to a wider audience, while making the sport more accessible, will be essential.

As you have said, sharing good news stories needs a strategy that builds an audience that in turn drives interest in playing and investing in golf. 

Innovation into course maintenance and sustainability is continuously happening, but implementation costs often stand in the way in smaller clubs, therefore increasing membership numbers has to be key goal.

While travelling back to Cape Town, from the Overberg, at the end of the festive season, we passed several golf courses.

However, it wasn’t until we reached Mowbray, that my daughter commented how insensitive can people be, playing golf next to folks living in poverty. 

She was, of course, unaware that the golf course has been in existence, long before the densification of the area, or what contributions the club made to the upkeep to rivers, animal life, and plant life in the area, not to mention, job creation and the sense of community spirit.  

Whatever else it does, in environmental terms, the golf community needs to keep up a stream of positive messaging about what it is doing, across a range of channels.

These channels would include platforms like BG and Estate Living, but also social media, local news platforms and national media – in other words, wherever the opportunity arises.

Part 3