Speak up for golf

As you may know, the game of golf and the golf industry have been drawing fire lately from many different places. The leaders of 10 golf industry associations will go to Capitol Hill on May 13 for the second annual National Golf Day where they’ll share the economic, environmental and human impacts of the game with elected officials.

Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation, speaks at last year's National Golf Day. On May 13, leaders from 10 associations will go to Capitol Hill again to talk about the golf industry's impact.
 
This is an important time to come together and spread the positive news about the golf industry. As we addressed in April’s "Teeing Off" column, legislators are attempting to use golf as an example of corporate excess rather than looking at it as an industry that generates a direct economic impact of $76 billion annually and supports 2 million jobs with wage income of $61 billion.

For example:

•  Sen. Tom Coburn introduced an amendment to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the $790 billion stimulus bill), which expressly excludes golf courses.

•  House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank scolded Northern Trust Corp. (which received $1.6 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funding from the federal government) for sponsoring the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

•  Sen. John Kerry introduced a bill that would prevent any TARP-fund recipient from hosting, sponsoring or paying for conferences and entertainment events. Kerry used the Northern Trust incident as an example of “an idiotic abuse of taxpayer money,” despite the fact that TARP funds aren’t allocated to operating expenses like marketing, which is typically how conferences and golf events are funded.

Several media outlets have attacked golf as well, including USA Today ("Masters of the Universe?") and The Sport News blog at nbcsports.msnbc.com ("Obama stinks at golf, and that's a good thing").

The Golf 20/20 economic impact reports provide the industry with the data it needs to tell its story. Disseminating this information needs to happen throughout all levels of the golf course industry – managers, superintendents, suppliers, everyone – not just among association leaders.

Please support their efforts by being an ambassador of the game when criticisms of golf pop up in the media or unfair policies or regulations arise.

Here are some important links to read and consider:

Advocate for your industry. It only takes a few minutes and you’d be surprised what an impact it can make.