Thursday, October 21, 2010

Greg Norman, Annika Sorenstam worried about the future of golf

In an effort to find innovative ways for golf to be more "affordable and accessible", Greg Norman, Annika Sorenstam and golf creative thinkers convened at the fourth annual Asia Pacific Golf Summit.

This 'call to action' in Thailand was only one of several forums designed to effect a change in the sport in order to attract more newcomers and to keep the golfers that already play interested in the game. Earlier this year, a Golf Business Forum in Turkey tackled similar questions with both Norman and Sorenstam in attendance.

Believing interest in the sport has hit its limit and is now declining, Hud Hinton, Troon Golf president and chief executive officer warned that, "The game is too expensive to play, too difficult to play, too expensive to operate and the pace of play is too slow."

Greg Norman came up with an interesting idea regarding the premise that it takes too long to play a round of golf.

"There's nothing to say that a golf course has to be 18 holes. Why shouldn't 12-hole courses be successful in Asia?"

Although it seems like an age-old question, what suggestions would you make in order to improve the sport and to bring in newcomers?

My idea?
Children are the future of the sport so perhaps add golf to a school's curriculum? Instead of just playing dodge-ball in a gym where kids learn it's okay to hit one another in the head with a ball, golf can also teach the nine basic principles of the First Tee Program.

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Tiger Woods earnings down but still $30 million richer than Phil Mickelson

According to SI.com, Tiger Woods may have dropped $9 million in earnings from last year but he is still the number one golfer on tour and still about $30 million ahead of Phil Mickelson!

Tiger Woods Phil Mickelson

In spite of his scandalous year, advertisers dropping like flies and nary a win in sight, Tiger Woods earned a whopping $90.5 million: only $20 million in "salary" from PGA Tour standings but $70 million from endorsements! In spite of being dropped by Gatorade, ATT and Accenture (see below), Woods' $10 million FedEx Cup bonus helped keep him in the number one position on the "Fortunate 50", ahead of Mickelson, LeBron James and Alex Rodriguez, whose Yankees salary of $33 million with only $4 million in endorsements barely halves Woods' home run.

Here is a list of Tiger Woods' corporate partners and sponsors, according to Golf.com, which helped keep Tiger Woods ahead on the money list:

1. Nike - "Just Do It"
2. EA Sports
3. Tag Heuer - "What are You Made of?"
4. Gillette - "The Best a Man can Get"
5. Accenture - "Go Ahead, Be a Tiger"
6. AT&T - "Reach out and touch someone"
7. Gatorade - "It's in Tiger, is it in you?"

Although Greg Norman recently stated, "...He'll come back and win golf tournaments, but he won't be as dominating as he used to be," I think that Tiger Woods' "B" Game was good enough to take home trophies. Once Woods starts winning regularly and this part of his life slowly fades into the past, companies will start returning to "Team Tiger".

People have very short memories and in golf, that's a good thing!

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