Golf’s reach is “expanding from the golf course to high-tech driving ranges and other grassless settings, potentially upending what it means to be a golfer,” according to Will Feuer of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. According to the National Golf Foundation, last year, the number of off-course golfers -- those going to simulators, driving ranges and venues such as Topgolf -- “surpassed that of on-course golfers in the U.S.” Feuer noted that “broadening where and how the game is played could help deliver a new set of golfers” as the industry looks to build on rising interest coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The more “entertainment-focused venues,” ranging from “gamified driving ranges to indoor simulators with bars, are breaking down some of the stereotypes of the sport.” Traditional courses and country clubs are also “striving to welcome the new-to-golf customers, loosening up some old traditions along the way” by “adding new Topgolf-like facilities, and some are reducing the number of holes to make a round shorter.” Feuer noted that Topgolf, even if not the same as traditional golf, “draws more people to the sport” with its 80 venues spread across the U.S. But this year, demand for Callaway’s golf balls “has cooled” and business at Topgolf is “slowing.” Callaway CEO Chip Brewer said that the “softening of corporate events is driving most of the slowdown, but consumers are also cutting back on midweek visits.” Feuer noted that shares of Topgolf Callaway are down 34% this year. Invited CEO David Pillsbury added that it “takes about 10 years for someone picking up a club at an off-course venue to convert to a dues-paying member of a private golf club” and the “green-grass golf industry hasn’t yet found a great bridge to move people from Topgolf and similar venues to traditional courses.” BigShots -- a chain similar to TopGolf -- COO TJ Schier said that it “still isn’t clear how many of those people will stick around and take up golf in a serious way” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/1).
