The trick to growing and sustaining golf in Canada, according to the “Canadian Golf Consumer Behaviour Study,” is to give occasional and infrequent golfers reasons to become “engaged” golfers.
“The game needs more engaged/loyal consumers,” the study concludes, “arguably more than it needs new participants.”
The strategy of building on your base is sound if your primary goal is to increase revenues. The more engaged the golfer, the more he or she will spend on rounds, equipment, lessons, apparel and everything else. As in the United States, avid and core golfers in Canada – 25 percent of the nation’s 5.7 million total – account for the majority of rounds played and money spent.
What this approach doesn’t do, however, is increase participation. More and more these days, it seems that mature golf markets are giving up on the prospect of finding and attracting new players.