There's been lots of ink spilled over the Fedex Cup. Most of it negative. Putting together such a big...thing...and integrating it into the culture of a sport is a huge multi-faceted undertaking. There will be hits and misses, it'll be adapted in the coming years, and in principal, the result will be an event that engages the public and grows the fan base. Fans will be tempted to play, and the golf industry will benefit. That's the basic premise ...and no matter what one thinks of the Fedex Cup in its current state, I believe most (elitists excluded) would agree that growing the game is a good thing. And that begs the question; what about junior golf... where the true "lifetime customers" might be thought to reside? Is it being overlooked by the golf industry? That's what women's golf expert Nancy Berkley writes in this Cybergolf piece. She outlines the difficulties that Golfer Girl, a magazine aimed at the "tween" girl golfer market, has had in getting advertisers. I wrote about Golfer Girl when their first issues was about to launch. Now they're getting ready to print their second. Golfer Girl is a perfect publication for its audience and its audience is a demographic that should be a big part of growing golf.
So let's hope sponsors and advertisers take note. After all, as Nancy points out, "girls are not only amazing golfers, but good shoppers and consumers as well."
The major golf manufacturers are always going to market their product to the established base, ie. mature male golfers. As a group they lack the foresight to see beyond the obvious.
ReplyDeleteGolf is a hard sell for today's over-programed youngsters. Unless there's a huge motivation, their schedules are too full to fit in such a time consuming activty, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteJust want to say I love your blog. My hubby is big golfer and I got my first set of clubs this past year and I LOVE IT. I dont know why I waited so long to start playing!
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