TREND WATCH
Female Escape Artists and
The golf scene is changing with more women
spectators stir up tournament culture, while
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GOLF'S CHANGING FACE
It's not just business as usual on golf courses
today. New groups of people are demonstrating interest in the game and the game itself is
undergoing changes.
The National Golf Foundation (NGF) reports
that 24.7 million Americans played golf in
1996, an increase from 19.9 million in 1986.
During that same decade, the number of African-American golfers almost doubled from
360,000 to 700,000. Other newcomers to golf
include women, who now make up one-third
of the two million people who take up golf
each year.
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Of the 5.4 million women
playing golf in 1997, a
NGF survey found that
this segment of the golf
market consists of five different benefit categories:
• Escape Artists
(17%) play to get
away from the job
or other daily responsibilities;
• Traditionalists
(23%) are primarily
club members who
play to enjoy the outdoors or spend time
with family;
• Hobnobbers
(21%) are women who consider golf as an image- or career-building
activity and play to enhance self-confidence
and belonging;
• Golf Nuts
(20%) are female golfers who
play the most and have the lowest handicaps; and
• Party Putters
(19%) play golf purely as a
social activity.
In order to increase crowds and revenues, some
golf tournaments have built stadium courses
with better seating and sought more corporate sponsors for party tents. The good news
is that it has worked. Sixteen PGA tournaments reported record crowds in the past two
years. The Phoenix Open drew more than
460,000 people in 1998, a 300% increase in
ten years.
Who are these new people? According to PGA
surveys, approximately half of today's spectators are under 35 which is a 25% increase
among that age group in just three years. The
not-so-good news is that these younger newcomers to PGA events bring with them a festive mood, creating challenges for tournament
organizers and security personnel. (Wall Street
Journal, April 10, 1998)
Not enough time in the weekend to spend
half a day on the golf course? Think golf is
just too slow-moving? Enter "Speed Golf," a
game, which originated on the West Coast,
that combines running with golf. Speed-golfers post scores that reflect both the score and
playing time. As the golfers run around the
course carrying only one club, the caddy in a
cart speeds ahead shouting out yardage and
handing the speed-golfer the appropriate club.
(International Speed Golf Association, San Diego,
Cal.)
UPS AND DOWNS OF PHSICAL ACTIVITY
The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) estimates that the sporting
goods industry grew 5.2% in 1997 with sales
of equipment, footwear, and apparel, reaching $44.14 billion. SGMA reported that sales
of fitness equipment increased 10% to $2.9
billion and predicts that 1998 will see an additional increase of about 7% to $3.1 billion.
(Fitness Management, April 1998)
It appears as if the lucrative sneaker industry
has finally stubbed its toe. Nike's unsold inventory is up by nearly $500 million to $1.4
billion and Reebok's earnings are down from
$254.5 million in 1994 to $135.1 million in
1997. Watch for these companies to turn away
from big dollar contracts with professional athletes and move towards new advertising campaigns such as Nike's "I Can," Reebok's
"Anything's Possible," and New Balance's
"Achieve New Balance in Your Life." (USA Today, February 13, 1998)
The International Dance Education Association (IDEA), an association of fitness profes
44 / Illinois Parks and Recreation
FEMALE ESCAPE ARTISTS AND HOBNOBBERS FILL TEE TIMES
Hobnobbers Fill Tee Times
and African-Americans playing the game. Younger
"Speed Golf" takes off on the West Coast.
BY EllEN I. O'SULUVAN, Ph.D., CLP
sionals, reports the followingincreases in class
participation during the past year: yoga up
23%; dance (ballroom, ballet, tap, etc.) up
22%; walking programs up 19%; circuit
training up 17%; tai chi up 16%; and martial arts up 15%.
New athletic equipment soon to appear
in sporting goods stores everywhere
includes:
• A baseball with a "brain" that
automatically clocks the speed
of a pitch;
• Hands-On Basketball, a unique
teaching basketball with color-coded hand prints;
• Charger Bike, a mountain bike with a motor and computer that intuitively knows
when the rider needs a motorized boost; and
• A smart bat with computerized sensors that
read the power and timing of the swing and
tells players whether they got a home run,
a hit, or struck out.
PATTERNS & PREFERENCES
Nostalgic for the good old days when gas was
30 cents a gallon and you could buy a house
for what a car now costs? A recent study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
compared the cost of houses and consumer
goods based on the number of hours the average American would have to work to acquire
these items. This study indicates that for most
consumer purchases life is better now than it
was back in the 1950s. Basic living costs take far less from today's paychecks. In 1950, the
average American household spent 54.8% of
its income on food, shelter, and
clothes. Today that amount has
dropped to 37.7%. There are
two exceptions: college tuition and medical expenses are not better
deals in today's marketplace. (Los Angeles Times,
March 25, 1998)
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According to the U.S.
Census Bureau,
the number of women choosing not to
have children has reached its highest level
since it started to track this statistic in 1976.
For women between the ages of 15 and 44,
42% are childless today as opposed to 35% in
1976. The increase is even more substantial
among women 35 to 39 years old with 19.7%
childless versus 1.5% in 1976.
An estimated 12.8 million households in the
United States had Web access in 1996, which
represents a 276.5% increase over 1995. That
number is projected to reach 50.3 million by
2002. (Web/On-line Services 1997: Consumer Market Analysis and Forecast)
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Apparently most baby boomer parents are taking a "don't ask, don't tell" policy with their children regarding drug use. A recent study
conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free
America suggests that parents vastly underestimate the presence of drugs in the lives of
their children. While only 21% of parents indicated that there might be a "possibility" that
their teenagers might have tried marijuana,
44% of teens revealed that they already had
experimented with the substance.
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MATCHING BENEFITS
AND BEHAVIORS
Women golfers aren't the only recreation participants who pursue a particular activity for a specific reason or benefit. Try matching benefits to
other leisure behaviors and see if you
can better attract or retain participants based upon the reason they do
what they do. This approach can lead
to the development of more targeted
and effective programs and services.
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ELLEN L O'SULLIVAN, Ph.D, CLP
is the president of leisure Lifestyle Consulting of Giastonbury, Conn., specializing in support for the service industry in reaching
and retaining customers through leisure experiences and Lifestyle
connections. Comments or suggestions about the column con be
made by contacting her at 860.633.3652 or
ellenosufl@aot.com.
May/June 1998 /45