What The Governing Bodies Cannot Say: The Golf Equipment Industry Is A Financial Blip In The Grand Scheme

In the wake of the USGA/R&A distance insights study, we’ve predictably heard golf pros whine about the same old stuff in hopes of appeasing their golf manufacturer sugar daddies.

There are the laments of amateurs making rules for pro golf.

Desperate analogies to other sports.

Reminders of winning scores not changing much.

Developers causing all of this.

It was windy at Pebble Beach and the greens are so goofy small, that’s all you need to protect the shareholder value.

Webb Simpson beat Tony Finau, case closed.

Anyway, the Golf.com gang recentered the debate with some great stuff in their weekly Confidential, including this rebuttal to Phil Mickelson from Michael Bamberger.

Bamberger: Lefty made a point but I would say different from the one he was trying to make: the amateurs who run the USGA and the R&A–in concert with a group of highly trained professionals–aren’t looking to make money in the game. That keeps them pure. Pro golfers are typically trying to move product in the interest of making more money. The amateurs who serve at the USGA and the R&A have something broader in mind.

To the point of something broader, a few numbers to consider and which the USGA/R&A cannot point out without hearing excessive manufacturer whining.

Golf is an $84.1 billion industry in America when you factor in everything from courses, to travel to sales, according to We Are Golf.

In the United States, the National Golf Foundation puts the manufacturers contribution to that number at $2.6 billion. Frankly, that seems woefully low to me, but even if you quadruple the number it’s still not a significant portion of the golf industry.

Needless to say, we thank the companies for taking the risks they take as businesses, for bringing joy to lives and making wonderful equipment within the Rules of Golf.

But in the grand scheme, fussing and fighting over the manufacturing world’s needs over the greater good seems short-sighted given the course industry and its 2 million or so domestic jobs. A healthy golf industry is good for all, but giving disproportionate attention and weight to the view of one constituting such a small portion of the overall financial picture, seems unwise.