Businessweek reported yesterday that Golf Galaxy, a chain owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods, announced that sales at the company’s 79 stores dropped 10 percent in the past quarter.
And golf revenue has continued to drop ‘in the low teens’ in the current period vs. the year-earlier quarter.
Golf Galaxy Chief Executive Officer Edward Stack said the sport is ‘unpredictable’ at the moment. “We really don’t know what the bottom is in golf,” he said on an earnings conference call. “The industry has a real issue.”
Participation year-to-date is way down as well.
The National Golf Foundation stated that 2014 golf rounds dropped 3.6 percent in January, 4.6 percent in February, and a staggering 23 percent in March.Read the full Bloomberg Businessweek story here.
Of course, the readers of this site love the game. But overall, is golf sliding into nothingness in America? Have free-time interests, the economy, the internet, and changes in work and family life left golf to die a slow, painful death?
Or is this simply a golf retailer saturation issue and a month of bad-weather this March?
Can the game itself be revived to its past glory?
We welcome your thoughts in the comments…
Weather has been the biggest factor all over the country this year. Myrtle Beach in early March had wind chills in the teens. Who wants to play in that? Our courses haven’t dried out yet around here. I don’t know about you but I’m really starting to hate playing in wet conditions. Heading to Mesquite, NV this weekend to enjoy some dry courses and the Mesquite Amateur. Sorry, I’m not buying much golf equipment this year. Found a deal on last years Taylor Made Lethal golf balls on EBAY over the winter for $26 a dozen. I’m set for this year. Why would I want to pay $40 to $50 for the new balls? Like Matt says, take the savings and go play some more golf.
Weather certainly can hurt revenues, however, I side some fault on Golf Galaxy’s prices. You can buy a reversible Nike Golf belt there for $60.00 or go to TJ Maxx and get a reversible Nike Golf belt for $20.00. Buying a Taylor Made or Titleist hat for $30.00? No thanks – I’ll take my money and go play 18 with a cart. Every now and then I get some coupons in the mail from Golf Galaxy. The problem is…they exclude basically every golf manufacturer in the store. Lots of luck to their retailer executive team to fix this. Meantime I’ll try my best to be the educated consumer who continues to fight high prices.
As always – awesome site Al! Thanks for all your hard work.