The golf industry has been "in the doldrums for years" and is "still bleeding customers," according to John Paul Newport of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Preliminary PGA PerformanceTrak stats show that rounds played in '14 "were essentially flat," as rounds overall "were down 1.4% compared with 2013 but adjusted for weather (rounds played per day open) they were up 1%." Equipment spending "will come in slightly down for the year, but the amount spent at golf courses, including food and drink, was up." Illinois-based golf-consulting firm Pellucid Corp. President Jim Koppenhaver said, "The industry is stabilizing but not booming." Newport noted the "bright spot is avid golfers, who are playing as much as ever." Pellucid said that the "weak spots are fringe players and millennials, contributing to a net loss of between 600,000 and 1 million players last year." Meanwhile, the Hack Golf initiative, which involves the introduction of alternative golf-like games, aims "to generate additional revenue for golf courses underused by regular golfers." Foot golf, which involves "kicking soccer balls around a course into special, appropriately-sized holes," has "proved mildly popular, enough to spawn a dispute between two would-be rules-making bodies." Two ideas that surfaced at this year’s PGA Merchandise Show are "less likely to succeed." One is called FlingGolf, which is played "using lacrosse-like sticks for flinging balls down the fairway." The other is AeroGolf, "which involves bows and golf-ball-tipped arrows." Newport: "Ludicrous? Possibly, but you can’t say golf isn’t trying" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/24).
