Are Millennials Ruining Golf?
It’s a question you hear being asked more often at courses in 2017 as concerns grows that the next generation isn’t taking up the game with as much passion and enthusiasm as their parents and grandparents.
The golf industry is asking the wrong question. The question should be: What are we not doing to attract young golfers?
The answer is in what attracted previous generations: the social aspect of the game.
The way that has changed is the missing link. It’s social media.
Millennials are on social media and are using it to connect with each other. Is your course doing what it needs to do to interact with Millennials is this way?
Consider this: A 2016 social media surveyed showed nearly 80 percent of golfers age 29 and under use social media DURING their round. Is your course set up on Instagram, etc. and has someone in charge of social media who can capture those interactions and drive engagement?
If not, your course isn’t doing what it can to be connecting to golf’s next generation. Instead, course and industry officials are choosing to blame Millennials for not participating like their parents did and make them a scapegoat for the problems the game faces.
When we’re blaming, we’re not innovating. And we can start innovating by being more creative in how we attract and retain Millennials and start speaking their language on social media.
What is your course doing to cater to Millennials on social media? Watch my video: Are Millennials Ruining Golf?
Follow Zeb Welborn on Twitter @ZebWelborn
in 2015, Zeb Welborn started the #Golfchat Twitter chat. He is also the founder of 19th Hole Media, author of the Social Golf Course, president of Welborn Media, Chairman of the Board of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, and he loves golf
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