The “While We’re Young” advertising effort got old fast for some U.S. course owners and operators. In promoting the initiative, the United States Golf Association laid some of the blame for slow play on course owners and operators who don’t set up their courses property and try to pack them with too many golfers at the same time. Them was fighting words to Joe Munsch, the president of Eagle Golf, who promptly fired off a letter of objection to Glen Nager, the president of the USGA.
Here’s the gist of Munsch’s complaint:
As the president of a company that manages and operates golf facilities across the United States, we recognize that pace of [play] is one of the game’s biggest problems. I have been very critical of the USGA in the past because I think the organization is out of touch with the real world of golf and the need to grow the game and make it more fun. And last Sunday, the ideas expressed in your interview further support my argument.
You said the game at the recreational level needs to be fun. You said golf course operators need to slow down green speeds, lower rough heights, widen fairways, and generally make the courses more playable. These comments suggest you have not recently visited a course that was not set up for one of your tournaments, because golf course operators have understood these issues and done these things for years.
You further stated that the professional game is not the standard for the recreational game and that the recreational level needs to have a different paradigm. Those thoughts are surprising coming from an organization that recently ruled to ban the anchored putter, created unnecessary controversy when Callaway introduced the ‘non-conforming driver,’ and often frowns on the improved travel distances of today’s golf balls.
I am left to wonder what exactly is the different ‘paradigm’ sought by the USGA. Most, if not all, of the organization’s recent applicable rulings attempt to make the game more difficult and less fun to play.
Most disturbing to me was when you called for recreational golfers to visit your web site and unite with the USGA to send a message to the golf industry that the game needs [to] change and become more fun.
Those of us on the front lines of the golf industry have understood this for years. Our courses don’t have six-inch rough, 530-yard par 4s, and 270-yard par 3s. The best golfers in the world were unable to break par at your tournament once again, and nothing about the course setup looked fun to me or to the golfers, based on their comments and on-course reactions throughout the week.
In the golf industry, we fight, scratch, and claw to get golfers out to our courses. If they don’t have fun, they don’t come back. We have known for years that time is a factor. I am glad the USGA has finally come to this realization as well.
Welcome, at last, to the real golf industry. Here, the golf ball doesn’t go too far, short courses are not obsolete, the golf clubs are not too forgiving, and even the recreational golfer enjoys an occasional birdie. . . .