The Not So Distant Future

Movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Starship Troopers” and “Back to the Future II” prove that predicting the future, though entertaining (yes, I liked Starship Troopers), is almost always dead wrong.

That being said, I’m going to try my hand at it and see if I can predict some shifting trends in a game that is in desperate need of a facelift.

Golf is played by 57 million people worldwide, 51 million of which will never break 100 and 91% of whom will never belong to country club. Golf, for the vast majority, is not about meeting a status quo but rather about being outside, improving your game, and being with your friends on a Saturday afternoon. We’re playing because its fun!

Part of having fun is not dropping a hundred bucks on a round where course rules outnumber the course par. Let’s get real, who really has five hours and all that money to set aside once a week? If golf is going to continue rising in popularity it is going to need to adapt and start catering to the needs of the majority.

Here are a few changes that we might see down the road.

1. Who said you have to choose between playing 9 and 18 holes. If you have time to play 3 or 4, why not pay for 3 or 4.

2. Lets make renting clubs more affordable so a beginner can get to know the game a little before spending an arm and a leg on a set of sticks.

3. Lastly, let’s rethink the dress code. Just because golf has been played for six centuries doesn’t mean we have to dress like it. Now there’s no doubt that some serious progress has been made since knickerbockers but come on, everyone looks the same out there! We need some more individuality on the course. Let’s get creative. Dress well and be unique. Not so much John Daily unique, think more along the lines of Geoff Ogilvy unique.

We at PUMA have done some thinking about how to spice up the links a little.
Check out our store and see what you think.