Nicklaus concerned about golf's shrinking numbers

ORLANDO, Florida ? Golf legend Jack Nicklaus says he plays about once a month now.

His wife, Barbara, doesn?t really play. Son Steve, a good amateur, doesn?t play much either, and the 22 Nicklaus grandchildren play only a bit.

?It?s a really little bit,? Nicklaus said Thursday. ?They play less than I do, and that?s not very much.?

Other sports are grabbing attention and time from those 22 grandchildren and others like them, Nicklaus said. Parents are taking them to parks to play soccer, lacrosse, touch and tackle football, baseball or basketball.

?Why can?t we have golf in those parks? There?s no reason why not,? Nicklaus said during a keynote speech for the launch of Golf 2.0, an industry initiative to build interest and participation at the annual PGA Merchandise Show.

Nicklaus proposed using synthetic putting surfaces to create temporary, portable golf courses in those parks, with a goal of introducing new participants to the game and allowing them to have fast-paced fun. That same thinking led, last Labour Day weekend, to experimental 12-hole tournaments on a course using eight-inch cups (nearly double the standard size) at the Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio.

Winner of a record 18 Majors, Nicklaus said the Captains Club of organizations and well-known individuals who help guide the Memorial, the PGA Tour event at Muirfield Village, had sent a letter addressing golf?s problems to groups such as the Professional Golfers? Association of America, the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.

Captains Club members, including the USGA, R&A and Major winners such as Gary Player, Tom Watson and Judy Rankin, felt golf was seen as too difficult and too expensive, and took too long to play. Since 2006, Nicklaus said, U.S. golf had lost 23 per cent of the women and 36 per cent of the kids who had played.

Golf 2.0 can be part of the response to those problems, said Nicklaus, who has been in the sport for 62 or his 72 years. Launched by the PGA of America with support from the USGA and others, it includes a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to give youngsters and their families access to golf courses and instructional sessions.

Golf?s return to the Olympics after being absent since 1904 could also have a monumental effect, Nicklaus said, but only the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games are guaranteed. Olympic authorities are to vote again in 2017 on whether to extend golf?s inclusion for 2020 and beyond.

?If we are successful in Brazil, the number of people that we will bring into the game will be astonishing,? Nicklaus said. ?But we have to bring them in having fun.?

Ottawa Citizen

? Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F255/~3/VxJCRuljJsE/story.html

weight watchers timberwolves office space rawhide bigfoot tony romo twilight zone