2401  Golf as a metaphor for Tango

Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 14:01:53 -0600
From: Tom Stermitz <Stermitz@TANGO.ORG>
Subject: Golf as a metaphor for Tango

Not as off-topic as it might seem.


From the Wall Street Journal:

"The first tee is a magical place on the opening morning of a new
season. Dew on the fairway ahead glistens in the sun's first rays. The
manicured green in the distance beckons. The air is crisp, and as
golfers wait to hit their first shots, hope trumps reality -- ever so
briefly.

What happens next explains in large part why the golf industry --
despite the game's booming popularity as a spectator sport -- stagnated
in the roaring '90s and has since started to slip downhill: While
today's touring pros tame, even belittle, the courses they play, most
golfers play badly. They're likely to slice drives into the rough, plop
balls into ponds, dribble worm-burners down the fairway, muff chips and
choke on putts.

Modern golf courses, more often than not, are built and groomed to
impress very good players, not help average golfers. They are often
difficult. Play slows down. Golfers find themselves waiting between
shots. They stew (in the electric carts the course requires them to
rent) about getting no exercise. They ask themselves whether the $60 or
$120 or more they paid for this five-hour ordeal was money well spent.
Some conclude it wasn't. They feel vaguely fleeced. They play less --
or quit.

Nearly three million of the 26 million adult golfers in the U.S. quit
each year, says the National Golf Foundation, an industry research
group. Why? Health, job and family obligations, and other spare-time
attractions are some of the reasons. But underlying those, dropouts say
in surveys, is this: The game is too difficult, too time-consuming and
too expensive.

"It is so difficult that about two-thirds of those who try the game
quit because they don't think they will ever be able to play [it]
respectably," says Ron Drapeau, chairman of Callaway Golf Co....


What keeps these average players coming back isn't their scores, but
rather a few good shots per round, says Golf 20/20, an industry
promotion group. Therefore, the key to keeping them playing and getting
newcomers to join them is more good shots. Central to that is making
equipment and courses easier to use and, thus, the game more fun....