Grow the game

In golf, "sustainable" is about much more than the precious natural resources that create the sport’s beautiful backdrop.

By the sounds of the eighth Hawaii Golf Industry Conference a couple of weeks ago at Royal Hawaiian Country Club, golf’s future must have a darker complexion from the ground up, out of necessity. And, if Donna Orender’s passionate proclamations are even partially true, women will be much more prominently involved.

Then again, anyone even fleetingly familiar with the game the past 50 years has heard all this before.

The grass always appears greener somewhere else — often in Hawaii, which is one of the reasons so many want to golf here. Now, the rising expense of keeping our courses maintained has superintendents considering watering only tees and greens. That would leave 90 percent of the turf brown, the way it’s been from the beginning on courses in places like the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

To diversify and update a sport that has traditionally been exclusive and exceedingly slow to change, the U.S. Golf Association and others are working to make the game more accessible.

That means cheaper, easier and faster, for folks who actually work for a living. Look for more family and nine-hole rates, beginners teeing it up on the 150-yard markers and renewed emphasis on playing faster, whether your game is good, bad or — the majority of us — an endless adventure.

Some 200 of the "stakeholders" from segments of Hawaii golf got together to try to identify current opportunities and challenges and listen to nationally recognized leaders who spoke to global trends. Pacific Links Hawaii, which owns Kapolei, Makaha and Olomana and runs Royal Hawaiian, hosted. The Hawaii region of Pacific Links International has said it has looked into the purchase of almost every course on Oahu — not hard to believe with courses on all islands struggling with costs and/or membership.

The stakeholders talked about addressing Hawaii’s challenges collectively, including rising maintenance costs, the impact of legislation and losing female golfers during the broad expanse of college graduation and retirement. And they talked about all Hawaii golf has going for it.

"We live in paradise and our weather, environment and beauty of our golf courses are second to none," said Ko Olina Director of Golf Greg Nichols, who chairs the biennial conference. "More importantly, our community and people are second to none. … Golf is a game and is fun to play for persons of every age and ability. Playing the game, especially in Hawaii, challenges and excites all of one’s senses and helps a person to re-connect to themselves, their friends and family and to their environment."

The challenge now is sustaining all that, in Hawaii and everywhere golf is played — or dreamed of being played. The Hawaii associations conceded they still had no idea how many rounds are played in a state considered a golf mecca. That impacts funding from stakeholders in tourism, the Legislature, hospitality, real estate and transportation, among others.

But it was Orender’s presentation that was most compelling. She worked for the PGA Tour for 17 years, before becoming president of the WNBA from 2005-2010. The PGA of America, represented locally by the Aloha Section PGA, has now hired her as a consultant "to lead Golf 2.0’s Connecting with Her strategy." The PGA calls it "a key component in the industry’s overall goal of reaching 40 million golfers by 2020."

Orender recalled a 1972 cover story in the PGA of America magazine about bringing more women into the game. It hasn’t worked all that well. She wants to help create a more "welcoming environment" and establish partnerships with women’s organizations.

Orender began by saying "38 million women want to play, but now only 18 percent" of those are involved in a "game that is 98 percent white males." She called women the "key to the next generation for a flat industry" because they are the "multiplier of goods and services."

She cited female percentages like 56 (college graduates), 50 (managers), 70 (new business startups), 85 (purchases) and 87 (influence), with the last two most glaring.

She implored the Hawaii golf industry to learn to "train for someone who has never golfed, communicate differently, let them see the benefit of interaction and experience."

And, when pro golfer/analyst Gary McCord lapsed into old golf stories about the old boys’ old environment in his "Talk Story" session, Orender stood up. "You are talking about 200 people," she said. "What about the other 37 million?"

It is a question golf needs to answer, still.