Quote:
Originally Posted by dewilson58
Golf participation was declining 10, 15 years ago for the first time in 20, 25 years.
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It is true that, nationwide, total participation in golf started decreasing about 15-20 years ago. However, most of the decline was with millennials and the two biggest factors were that golf took too much time and that it was too expensive.
The Villages is unique in that most people are retired so time is not a factor and since golf is free for life, cost is not a factor. Therefore, the two biggest factors don’t apply here.
In addition, the Villages is one of the fastest growing areas of the country.
If you had a normal sized city with average population growth, you would have been wise not to add additional golf courses in the past 15-20 years as they would be underutilized today.
But the Villages is unlike the rest of the country.
And if you advertised yourself as the golf capital of the world and one of your top marketing features was “free golf for life,” and you were the fastest growing area in the country, you would want to build more courses to keep up with demand and population growth.