The September edition of ‘Inside The Ropes‘ – the journal of America’s National Golf Foundation – reports on a survey of 850 core golfers who were asked to rate ten factors according to which contributed most to their enjoyment of a round of golf.
NGF posed the question: “Think about the last time you played golf. What made it enjoyable?” and they offered a selection of different factors. The results are interesting to say the least.
“The people played with and the golf course itself accounted for over half of golfers‘ enjoyment. Ball striking is important – all golfers need some positive reinforcement. That feeling of ‘shot euphoria’ adds to everyone’s enjoyment and keeps golfers coming back,” says the report.
The last six factors: scoring, weather, amenities, course aesthetics, exercise and competition add to, but certainly don‘t significantly drive the enjoyment of golf for most golfers (of course there are always exceptions).
Scoring itself accounts for less than 10% of total enjoyment. And competition isn‘t for everyone. It accounted for only 3% of all Core golfer enjoyment.
The most important factors in descending order were as follows:
• People: the people you play with 19%
• Course conditioning: greens are most important 19%
• Course design: challenging, memorable design 17%
• Ball striking: hitting some good shots 12%
• Score: how well you score 8%
• Weather: come rain or shine 7%
• Amenities: the clubhouse, range, 19th hole, etc. 6%
• Course aesthetics: the flora, fauna and feeling 6%
• Exercise: the good walk spoiled 4%
• Competition: vying to win a match 3%
(Note: this ‘golf enjoyment scorecard’ was originally developed by Dr. Gary Wiren)
The full report can be read at http://www.ngf.org/cgi/itr.asp?src=ITR&storyid=50#enjoy
National Golf Foundation www.ngf.org