Growing the Game
Golf's growth case: more formats, plus pathways to the traditional game
A new GOLF piece argues the game should embrace its expanding forms while also building clear pathways into traditional golf.
GOLF has published a piece on shared stewardship and how it can move the game forward. Per the GOLF report, there is more golf around us than ever. The piece makes two points: the game should embrace these additional forms of golf, and it should also create pathways that lead people into more traditional golf. Read the full report
The framing matters. Golf has often treated its formats as competing camps, with the traditional round on one side and everything else on the other. The idea of shared stewardship treats them as parts of one ecosystem. Each form is a point of entry, and each can feed the others. The source description does not spell out which formats it has in mind, so we will not guess. The structure of the argument is clear enough on its own.
More golf means more ways in.
The pathway point is the practical one. Welcoming a new form of golf only helps the wider game if a player who enjoys it can find a next step. That means clear routes from casual play to courses, leagues and events, and it puts some responsibility on the operators, clubs and organizations that run the traditional side of the sport. Participation grows when people stay, not only when they try the game once.
Watch for how the industry responds. Shared stewardship is easy to endorse in principle. The test is whether course operators, governing bodies and the wider golf business coordinate their efforts and build those pathways in practice.