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The location of Canada and the weather severely works against the economic side of the industry. With a very short season of only six months of golf in Canada, that leaves very little time to make economic gain. Golf in Canada is played from April to September, with only two and a half months of near perfect weather. Contrary to the United States which in certain states, people can play golf in very comfortable weather twelve months of the year. This greatly affects my fathers business, as he has to make sure everyone is putting in a great amount of effort to maximize profit for that year.
When Kawartha Golf & Country Club shuts down in late September, there is a major job in making sure the greens are properly covered to make sure they are ready for the season. If a green is not properly covered and maintained during the winter months, the green will be subjected to frost and disease.
While some people may see this as a quick fix, it can be an on going issue for several months in the season.
This can have a great financial impact as many golfers are turned away as they do not want to play golf and pay money to play the game they love on low-grade greens. Unfortunately many golf courses don't have the budget to maintain the property in the winter, winterkill is an issue they face every single year. The main issue golf courses face, especially my fathers business, is the lack of people willing to pay to play golf.
As my hometown is not known to be an overly wealthy area, having a prestigious golf course that costs upwards of one hundred dollars to play is hard for some people to wrap their head around. In main areas of Canada like Toronto, and certain areas in British Columbia, where there is profusion of wealth and money, people have no problem paying one, two, and even three hundred dollars to play golf courses just like Kawartha.
Golf saw a spike in popularity around the early 2000's and due to the rising price of the game, the number of players is decreasing. Another underlying issue that relates directly to the cost is how long one round of golf costs to play. An average round of golf today takes minimum four hours top play, five hours being very average. This means people are paying their green fee, food and drink and gas money, which approximately would cost two hundred dollars to spend a long slow day on the golf course. Saying this many people do not mind being on the golf course for that long, but pace of play has become one of the major issues in the golf industry.
The final and most prominent issue in the golf industry and particularly my fathers business, is the culture of golf. Golf has always been knows as "the gentleman's sport", meaning that is has always mainly been a sport for men. While this has drastically changed over time, there are many golf courses with amazing junior programs and many clubs with an abundance of female participants. Unfortunately many of the more prestigious courses in the world have strict rules on how many ladies and juniors can play or even join the club. For example Augusta National, the most esteemed golf course in the world has only two female members and not one junior member. This has always been the culture of golf, this at some point, has to change for the game of golf to continue to grow and prosper economically. Also due to the expensive nature of the game many juniors and even middle-aged people are unable to participate in golf due to strictly money.
Also in Canada and specifically Peterborough, my hometown, golf is definitely a secondary sport. Hockey and lacrosse continue to grow and thrive. My hometown has been known around Canada to produce specialized and high level lacrosse and hockey players. Unfortunately there yet to be known of anywhere in Canada that produces skilled golfers, this all comes back to the geography of Canada, the economic factors of how expensive golf is, and the culture of Canada and how subordinate golf is compared to other sports. In terms of changes in the golf industry, it has not been experiencing its optimum times in the past ten years.
The sport annually picks up around 3 million newcomers a year but loses at least that annually as well. We see major golf retailers such as Golf Town in Canada, and Golf Smith in America, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy which all comes back to the cost of golf. Not only is a round of golf expensive but also a full set of clubs including balls and all the miscellaneous costs upwards of three thousand dollars. In an article written by the Washington Post, Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer to ever play states, "I'd like to play a game that can take place in three hours," Nicklaus told CNN in January. "I'd quite like to play a game that I can get some reasonable gratification out of very quickly -- and something that is not going to cost me an arm and a leg." This is substantial evidence that even golf's greats, have a very strong opinion on the decline and down falls of the game. Personally I have very high expectations that the game of golf will turn around in Canada, and that people will realize the morals and lessons you learn from the game. It has always been a game that has taught only great things, even with the crisis of climate in Canada, slow play, and the steep cost of the game, there will always be ups and downs, but the game will turn around and people will see the advantages of playing such an amazing game.
A Research on the Golf Industry in Canada. (2022, Dec 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/a-research-on-the-golf-industry-in-canada-essay
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