It may take younger generations to save the game of golf

John Tipping is nothing short of a golf junkie. And as the producer of the Seattle Golf and Travel Show, he has plenty of opportunities to get his fix.

“I love being outside. I love being able to walk down the grass fairways and see the trees and the water,” he said. “And I love the competition.”

So do many others. But not enough to keep the number of players from going down. The Sports and Fitness Industry Association reports overall participation fell nationwide in 2014 for the fifth year in a row.

Live results from Round 2 of the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay

And the number of people between 18 and 34 dropped 13 percent over the past four years.

One of the biggest reasons is it takes too long – with an 18 hole round at public course around the area lasting upwards of 5 hours.

“I think even a nine-hole golf course is too long,” he said.

The cost and the difficulty are also big deterrents to both experienced players and newcomers alike. But the golf industry has launched a number of initiatives to change that, both locally and nationally.

“Unfortunately, we were drawing several million new players to the game per year and losing several million through age and inability to continue playing,” said Mike Moore is the CEO of Pierce County-based RMG Golf, which owns or operates three courses including the Classic in Spanaway.

His son, Ryan, grew up on the Classic and is a veteran PGA Tour pro playing this week in the U.S. Open.

RMG Golf is among several local golf management companies who have turned to memberships and specials that have significantly reduced the costs, making it far more affordable for players to hit the course more often.

“As my youngest son Jason said, the young construction worker who just got married and has a baby or two, can actually play golf without his wife being upset with him,” Moore said.

RMG is also among a number of operators doing whatever they can to lure new players in, like their weekly series of lessons and wine tastings for women.

“It becomes more of a social thing,” he said. “That’s been really neat, getting more women in. And each of our clubs have shown significant growth in the women’s game.”

But everyone agrees, the key to golf’s future is the kids.

“I don’t know it will grow; I think it will stay proportionate to where it is now, unless there is some huge effort to drive kids into the sport,” Tipping said.

The nonprofit First Tee Foundation aims to do just that, bringing low cost or free golf instruction to local courses and schools. Tipping says there are plenty of other opportunities at most local courses.

Moore said a new crop of young guns dominating the PGA tour should also help make the game cool with more kids, just like Tiger Woods did several decades ago. It’s a major focus of his son’s, who is putting on several junior tournaments this year.

And there’s plenty of optimism the U.S. Open will encourage a lot more people of all ages to at least give the game a shot.

“It may get a lot of people to swing a golf club for the first time,” Tipping said.