The top 3 things we learnt about the golf industry during April

Here’s the top three things The Golf Business editor Alistair Dunsmuir learnt while editing the magazine in April:

3. The world needs to know how good for you golf is

Last year doctors were told to prescribe golf, which is more effective at keeping weight down than vigorous activities such as going to the gym and a doctor said that golfers live, on average, five years longer than non-golfers.

Now we’re told that it might even be the case that playing golf regularly prevents the brain from ageing more quickly, if you’re over 50.

These studies are providing golf clubs with a wealth of marketing material.

2. While alcohol is good for the game

The jury may be out on whether it’s good for any individual golfer, but it is undeniably good for the industry.

So much so that St Mellion International Resort in Cornwall wants to join the likes of Trump Turnberry, Dundonald Links and several golf clubs in Lincolnshire that sell alcohol to golfers from buggies while they are playing on the course.

This is popular in the USA, where there’s an entire profession of ‘beer cart drivers’.

Club aims to sell alcohol on the course

1. And health and fitness is even better

This also comes from the USA.

Clubs on both sides of the Atlantic are keen to get more women into golf clubs, and the obvious way is to provide affordable women-only coaching that includes a social aspect to it, such as group coffees in the clubhouse.

However, the Wall Street Journal reports that a number of American golf clubs have been investing in gyms in order to attract more women to their venues. It’s currently the third biggest trend in the USA and if it catches on here it should dramatically change the makeup of both how clubs physically look, and the gender balance of their members.

American golf clubs using fitness to attract women