SCOTT KEEPFER
MAULDIN - It’s a good evening for driving a few golf balls, which is clearly evident by the limited number of parking spots available at Shanks Driving Range on a mild midweek night in late June.
A steady, almost rhythmical series of pings and thwacks – courtesy of woods and irons contacting a seemingly endless diet of small, white dimpled balls – fills the air, as do the refrains from hits songs by a cavalcade of country music artists.
If Keith Urban and Blake Shelton aren’t your cup of tea, you’d best pack your own ear buds.
Cars and trucks continue to pull in under the watchful gaze of owner Robbie Biershenk’s three Labrador retrievers, Mulligan, Callaway and Retee, who greet some arrivals with cavernous grins and wagging tails, others with tepid indifference.
“They identify the cars and the people when they pull in,” Biershenk says. “They know which ones bring them treats.”
By 7:30 p.m., 25 people have made their way to the tee stations, including Michael Green, a 25-year-old produce truck driver who is intent on a much different type of driving on this night.
Green, who can be found here more evenings than not, sends a steady procession of balls rocketing straight and true into the distance, pausing to admire the ones that bring a smile to his face.
“You can’t play 18 holes every time you play golf, but you can go out and play nine (holes) or come here,” Green said. “It does satisfy my golf urge.”
And helps take the edge off as well.
“You can relax,” Green said. “When you’re sitting here smacking a ball, it relieves a lot of stress.”
There are many millennials — generally speaking, folks between the ages of 18 and 34 — among the throng, which should come as good news to Steve Mona, who as CEO of the World Golf Foundation is intent on uncovering the ways and means to attract more millennials to the game.
The game hasn’t changed, but our cul-
See GOLF, Page 4C
“
Golf needs to unbutton that top button a little bit and have a little bit more fun.”
ROBBIE BIERSHENK
OWNER OF SHANKS DRIVING RANGE
Michael Green hits a bucket of balls at Shanks Driving Range in Greenville on Tuesday.
BARTBOATWRIGHT/STAFF
Golf
Continued from Page 1C
ture and lifestyles have, which is altering the way that Mona and other leaders in the golf industry perceive the future of the sport.
“Millennials are showing a significant interest in the game, much like their parents did, but the area we’re trying to address is the way they wish to consume the game as a generation,” Mona said. “In the past it was, ‘Let’s drive to a course, play 18 holes, have a sandwich, and take six hours to do it.’ Well, that’s not necessarily what all millennials are looking for.”
While the baby boomer generation still clings to the long-held and often stodgy traditions typical of many clubs and courses, most millennials would rather see a new approach that better suits their lifestyle.
Time, family and financial constraints are primary factors at play.
“If you’re 33 and married with a 5- and a 7-year-old who are active, that day-long golf experience may just not fit for you,” Mona said. “Yet you want to play golf and engage with the game, and that’s what we’re trying to address.
“So how can we serve up golf in segments that are more in keeping with the lifestyle that millennials have adopted? Is there a way to have a one- or two-hour golf experience, or combine it with something else so that it’s not just about the golf?”
Mona says interest in the game remains high, as evidenced by the fact that 2.2 million fledgling golfers tried the game for a first time last year, which ranks second only to the all-time high of 2.4 million in 2000, during the height of the Tiger Woods era. And total engagement, be it through viewing golf on television, reading about the sport or actually playing at a course or alternative venue, hit an all-time high last year, with 95 million people.
But the number of Americans who played at least one round of golf last year continued a recent slow but steady decline, 148 courses closed last year, according to the National Golf Foundation, and Mona is well aware that the future of golf is largely dependent on millennials embracing the game.
On the positive side, the “millennial generation” has spawned several young players who are gaining in popularity, attracting more fans to the game and helping to rekindle interest in the sport – players such as Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed on the PGA Tour and Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson and Brooke Henderson on the LPGA circuit.
“I think golf will grow in popularity among millennials just because of the great young players on Tour right now,” said Stephen Behr, a former Clemson player who recently capped his senior season by winning the Byron Nelson Award. “People my age are really big golf fans now, more so than when I was in high school.”
But millennials could use a few more enticements, he admits.
“I’d like to see more courses like the Charleston Municipal Course, where itdoesn’t cost $40 or $50 or more to go play 18,” he said. “Rarely do you find a course that’s decent where you can play for $25.
“Instead of courses focusing on members and prestige, I’d like to see them be open, friendlier and more affordable, where a guy can go out and bring a cooler and have fun playing.”
There are several other things that could be incorporated into a master golf plan designed to increase participation among millennials, including:
Decrease the time
Mona is a proponent of what he refers to as “fast break golf,” which entails teeing off early and shortening the round to nine holes.
“What you’d do is tee off before the first tee times of the day, and you’re out of there in 1 1 ⁄2 to 2 hours,” Mona said. “You’re only going to play nine holes — that’s all it allows you to do.
“Then you can get back home and take the kids to their soccer game. A 33-yearold might be able to make that work and he hasn’t missed out on family opportunities.”
While a growing number of players are going the “nine hole” route on their traditional courses, par 3 courses such as Crosswinds in Greenville are growing in popularity, primarily due to their ability to satiate the golf urge in short order.
Ryan Sprayberry, a 30-year-old selfemployed landscaper who lives in Taylors, plays at Crosswinds regularly to help satisfy his “addiction.”
“I find myself wanting to hit a golf ball every day, but whether I do or not, that’s another thing,” Sprayberry said, laughing. “It can be addicting. And sometimes just getting a competitive taste of the game is all it takes.”
Provide alternatives
Kelly Gramlich, a former women’s basketball player and recent graduate at Clemson, is from Austin, Texas – the site of one of Topgolf ’s 24 locations, eight of which are in Texas.
Topgolf describes itself as “the premier golf entertainment complex where the competition of sport meets your favorite local bar,” and Gramlich can confirm. She spends at least one evening at Topgolf on her trips home to visit family and friends, who refer to it as “Club Topgolf.”
“It takes an hour or two, and it’s much more social,” Gramlich said. “I compare it to bowling. You have lanes, but at Topgolf they’re called bays. They supply you with clubs and there’s music and drinking and eating; it’s a fun place to go.”
The 22-year-old Gramlich, who lives in Seneca, says she’d love for Greenville to get a Topgolf facility, and the city is indeed being considered. The closest Topgolf location is in Atlanta, although one will be opening soon in Charlotte.
“For those people who maybe didn’t grow up playing golf, but enjoy watching it on TV, it’s a good way to put their skills to the test without playing 18 holes,” Gramlich said. “And it’s probably cheaper than most courses.”
Even Mark Anderson, a former University of South Carolina golfer and the 2013 winner of the Web.com Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am, sees the appeal of a nontraditional outlet such as Topgolf.
“It’s one of the biggest things rightnow — just making golf fun like that, because not everybody has time to play a four- or five-hour round of golf that sometimes can be quite expensive,” Anderson said. “Something like Topgolf can really introduce a lot of people to at least hitting golf shots. And it’s open late at night, so you can have dinner, play golf and go home when you want.”
Five million people played Topgolf last year, providing further evidence that the golf experience doesn’t have to be 18 holes. Fifteen million went to a driving range and 4 million played golf simulators, Mona said, so interest in the sport is there in a variety of forms.
Tommy Biershenk, Robbie’s brother and co-owner of Mauldin’s Legacy Pines Golf Club, is incorporating disc golf and soccer golf into his course’s offerings in hopes that they’ll provide further appeal for millennials.
“He’s trying to think outside the box,” Robbie said. “Those things are big in other areas, so he wants to try them here.”
Embrace technology
The millennial generation is all about technology, so enhanced efforts to employ some cutting-edge scientific advancements on the golf course could very well provide more incentive for younger players.
“Millennials expect to have technology every place they go, and a number of facilities are embracing that,” Mona said. “Courses need to make sure they have Wi-Fi and allow phones on the course, in the clubhouse. It’s imperative. When you go to a football game, you don’t hear the ticket taker saying, ‘You can’t take that cellphone in.’ ” More technology is on the way, but much already has arrived. Golf balls equipped with Bluetooth transmitters to track accuracy and distance are becoming popular, and many players now use a GPS-based aide that clips to a cap and verbally informs the player of the distance to the front, center and back of the green.
Still another gadget is available that tracks each shot during a player’s round, with the data capable of being accessed via smartphones and other personal devices. Players use this information to help improve their performances and readily share some of their highlights via social media.
Another technology gaining momentum is the “GolfBoard,” which might be best described as a “snowboard on wheels.” These single-person, batterypowered vehicles are popping up at many courses, including Legacy Pines, and offer an alternative mode of oncourse transportation that can result in considerably faster rounds.
Make it accessible
Jason Sehorn, a former defensive back with the NFL’s New York Giants, said he found the cost of golf prohibitive when he was growing up in California, and the same could hold true for many younger players today.
“I know from my standpoint, it was inaccessible,” said Sehorn, an avid golfer who recently played in the Bill Haas Charity Classic in Greenville. “I couldn’t afford it. Forget the greens fees and everything else; it was the gear.
“You’ve got to put out a lot of moneyfor all of your clubs and bag and balls and clothes, because you’ve got to look good – you can’t just show up in jeans. So it’s an expensive sport.”
It certainly can be, but there are more alternatives now than ever before.
The Callaway Golf Co. has a preowned program that offers equipment at substantial savings.
PGA of America has a trade-in, tradeup program, and many facilities will provide loaner equipment, particularly if you’re taking a lesson.
But the best advice? Borrow a set of clubs or pick up an old set at a yard sale; if you discover that golf is for you, you’ll be compelled to upgrade soon enough.
“There are ways to take up the game without investing in equipment if you’re not sure you’re going to stay with it,” Mona said. “And there are ways to get equipment at a reasonable cost if you are.”
The other consideration is the cost of playing a round.
“It can be expensive if you go to Pebble Beach or Pinehurst No. 2, and that’s the perception,” Mona said. “But here’s the reality – the median green fee in the United States is $37. If you want to find affordable golf, you can find it.”
Pump up the jam
Traditionally golf has been the ultimate game of quiet.
Other than the wind whipping through trees or the singing of a nearby mockingbird, sounds of all types are largely vacant from the golf course.
Until now.
A recent Golf Digest survey revealed that 20 percent of golfers age 18 to 34 listen to music on headphones while playing, and 37 percent bring some type of portable music player to the course.
“There certainly is the ability to have music out there, and we’re just going to have to get comfortable with that,” Mona said. “If the group ahead of or behind us has music going, I don’t think we should worry about it as long as it’s not interfering with our game.”
Bottom line? Don’t expect to hear AC/ DC blaring over the loudspeakers at Augusta National anytime soon, but if you find yourself at Shanks Driving Range on a mild-weather Tuesday night, you’ll soon be humming right along.
So loosen up.
Get in the swing of things.
“Society has changed and the game of golf has changed in the last 10 years,” Biershenk said. “Golf needs to unbutton that top button a little bit and have a little bit more fun.”
Oh golf, ye are a-changing.
And millennials are at the forefront of that change.
Anything that promotes the sport is fine by Greenville’s Bill Haas, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who at age 34 is on the millennial “cusp.”
“I think golf’s popularity goes in waves,” Haas said. “But I also think that the 20- to 30-year-olds who didn’t play as much growing up are now realizing that golf is a sport they can play for the rest of their lives.”
And that is music to Mona’s ears.
“The good news is that a lot of people continue to engage with the game,” he said. “And the real beauty of golf is that one can play from age 9 to 90, so it really doesn’t matter when you get started.”