Fear and Loathing

I’ve always been a big fan of Hunter S. Thompson, the late writer famed for his Gonzo approach to life and his cutting-edge use of “participatory journalism.” A lot of writers of my era tried (unsuccessfully) to copy his style and his ability to insert himself into his tale.

Thompson even wove fiction and fantasy into his articles to illustrate, illuminate and provoke. His book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” features hallucinations, invented characters and hyperbole on a grand scale – but he gets away with it because there is sometimes more truth in fiction than in straight reporting.

That, however, has not been the case with some of the recent coverage of the golf business in presumably responsible outlets. The most recent and perhaps most egregious example was perpetrated by Patrick Clark who penned an article for Bloomberg news titled: “America’s Golf Courses Are Burning.”

As awful as the headline is, get ready for the subhead: “More than 800 courses have closed over a decade. Now clubhouses are going up in flames.”

You can read the whole article here (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-15/america-s-golf-courses-are-burning) but the author suggests that there’s a rash of fires being set by owners of failed golf courses. In short, there’s an epidemic of clubhouse arsons going on! I can’t believe we missed this huge story! Oh, wait … it’s maybe, kind of, sort of happened twice.

“In April, fire ripped through the clubhouse at a shuttered western Kentucky golf course that had been the center of a lawsuit, burning through the afternoon until the roof collapsed over smoldering beams. On New Year’s Day, a former volunteer firefighter lit a small fire outside the vacant clubhouse of a closed 9-hole course outside Orlando, then returned three days later to spark a larger blaze, with the help of a can of paint thinner he had found there. And in September 2015, a fire reduced the 10,000-square-foot clubhouse at an abandoned golf course in Bakersfield, Calif., to only a few charred beams.”

Dramatic language indeed, but is it evidence of a tidal wave of evil arsonist course owners? Not so much. It’s a classic example of a sensational “click-bait” headline that has little to do with the reality of the situation.

He gets some of the story right when discussing the overall trends in our very overbuilt market: “To some extent, all those course closures are simply a market correction: The golf industry went through a building boom in the 1990s and early 2000s, driven by developers who used golf courses as amenities to help sell homes. But the closures also reflect changing preferences for leisure activities. Participation in the sport is down 20 percent since 2003, according to data from the National Golf Foundation, and homebuilders have moved on to new types of recreational amenities, including manmade lakes and agricultural communities. Lately, the equipment business has been feeling the sting, with Nike Inc. announcing that it would stop making golf clubs and retailer Golfsmith International Holdings Inc. considering bankruptcy.”

By the way, this same guy wrote an article for Bloomberg last year titled: “Now Playing on America’s Golf Courses: Meth Cooks and Rattlesnakes.” Same deal … blazing hot headline followed by a mediocre story designed to take a shot at golf.

I fear that Mr. Clark loathes us.

And he is not alone. We are an easy target for business writers looking to have fun with catchy headlines about a course closing every 48 hours in the U.S. or brick-and-mortar golf stores being shuttered.

Few mainstream reporters seem to get the fundamental truths. Land developers used courses as anchor amenities with abandon in the ‘80s and ‘90s. We built too many of the wrong kind of courses. We have 15,200 courses for a flattish number of rounds that requires about 13,000 facilities. In short, the bubble is gradually deflating.

That said, most good facilities are doing just fine. Clubs have regrouped and are generally doing very well. Multi-course operators have taken over many poorly performing courses and are at least stabilizing them after years of awful management.

Many facilities are finally figuring out they need to market their product and to change the positioning from “we’re really hard and single-digit handicappers will love beating their brains out here” to “we’re a great course for average players, women and families.” Golf should be more about fitness, fun and friends than birdies and bogeys.

Crappy articles have been popping up for years. Here’s my advice: ignore them and keep doing good things to advance the new golf market that’s emerging. As Thompson said, “Buy the ticket, take the ride.” Quit worrying about what others write or say, do the right thing and you’ll win in the end.