I think golf is fading somewhat but not dying anytime soon. Two areas I am familiar with are central Ohio and Myrtle Beach. In central Ohio a decade of so ago, there was a big push to build courses, public and private. The area became over saturated with nice courses. Today, public greens fees are very low, as is the demand for weekday tee times. And most country clubs with the exception of the very high end ones offer memberships for only the monthly minimum expense, and with no initiation fee.
In Myrtle Beach, the spring golf season used to be from February 1st to May 5th or so. It now is pretty much only mid March until the end of April. Fall season has dwindled down to mostly the month of October. One reason for the downfall is two major companies both independantly, then as one controlled thousands of hotel rooms and dozens of golf courses. They increased prices and sacrificed service. Didn't work, now Chinese investors are dominating the market there.
So, I think most if not all reasons given before my post are valid reasons for golf in general being in decline. But there also regional factors other than the economy that affects the golf industry.
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