In a recent article on the BBC Sport, world number one Rory McIlroy states that he thinks the best way to attract more young players would be to speed up the pace of the game.

In the article they say “Sport England figures show that the number of 16-25-year-olds playing the game regularly almost halved between 2009-10 and 2012-13”.  McIlroy says that “Everything’s so instant now and everyone doesn’t have as much time as they used to,” and “So you maybe try some way of speeding the game up.” He also “The viewership in golf is up but the participation is down” and “People enjoy watching the game but gone are the days that you could spend five or six hours on a golf course.”

I think these are all good points, until Rory finally said that he would be all for it, as long as they don’t change “…tournament-play formats, I think that works very well. It’s the grass roots… definitely not at our level.”

So Rory is saying that golf takes to long and there should be changes to the game to speed it up, so long as it doesn’t change for him and the other pros.

What are some ways that golf could be improved in order include more young golfers?

• Cost. Playing golf is expensive.  It is rare to play a course where the green fees are less than $50.  That’s a lot of dough.  And then there is cart fees, golf balls, food, gas…that’s close to $100 per person for the joy of a 6 hour round (and that’s at the cheaper courses).  A membership would be at least a couple of thousand dollars. And then there is equipment.  After a half decent set of irons, driver, fairway wood, sand wedge, putter, bag and shoes, you’re pushing several hundred dollars before you even hit a ball.
• Speed up play.  This would be great. 5 hours on the course, plus an hour or so of travel to and from the course, that makes for a long day.  However it only takes one group playing slow to slow down the course for the entire day.  Maybe golf needs a shot clock.
• Another way to speed up play, move up to the shorter tees.  For most courses I play the playing from tips is usually too much for me, as it is for most people.  I often see golfers way overmatched by the course.  How fun is it to struggle to break 90 or 100 from the tips, rather than trying to break 80 from the tees that are appropriate for your skill level? Play would speed up if they just stopped allowing people to play from the back tees, or if all players in the group played from the tees that are appropriate for the weakest player in the group instead of making the poor guy play from the back. Put your egos in check guys, and you might actually enjoy yourself, and you’ll get around the course faster too.

Which one of these things chases away young people the most?  Definitely the cost. If the golf courses and industry were really serious about growing the game for younger players, cutting the cost would have the biggest impact.  I know I would love to be a member at a club, but for the amount of time I would have to play, I can’t justify the money. And I am not sure if I were just starting out in the game today that I would be willing to make the necessary equipment investment.