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Click the image above to see what "While We're Young" is all about!
 How's your Summer going...??
You know -- two things occurred to me as I read over Lucas' story this week:
One) The first issue of "Selling It..." came out in late summer 2002 ... and I'm pretty sure that in all these years since -- this may very well be the first issue we've ever devoted to golf! (Please -- any of our long-time readers, feel free to shoot me a note on this if I'm wrong...) So all that said, we're WELL past long-overdue for a USGA story!
Two) And the other thing I'm pretty sure about -- is that I'm the one that is upsetting the 91% of you "peeved" with the guy in front of you playing so (dang) slowly! (To be honest -- a golf club in my hand is not a pretty thing to observe...!)
But all kidding aside, great work by the USGA to execute deep-dive research and analysis of their business and figure out how they need to go about "Selling It..." to the next generation of golfers. Golf is such a beautiful sport -- it would be a shame to see it's passion fade. We wish great success to the "While We're Young" campaign and look forward to hearing about the results this Fall.
Now ...get back out on the course before I tee off in the foursome in front of you!
Ron Seaver
[email protected]
P.S. - Want more revenue generating ideas? Follow @NatlSportsForum on Twitter to get more helpful insights on #sportsbiz, #sponsorship and more!
PROGRAM TITLE
US Golf Association: "While We're Young"
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OBJECTIVES
Over the past few years, we have seen the growth and number of players in the golf industry stagnate and flat line. Each year, there are nearly two million golfers joining the sport, which sounds great, but it directly correlates to about two million golfers leaving. The characteristics of the demographic have changed over the years, and the industry has been slow to respond to the new and different needs of these golfers. What was once an old demographic, has shifted to the ages of 29-49; a slightly younger crowd. Along with this younger generation comes a different lifestyle and mindset towards golfing. No longer are people planning vacations - which go hand in hand with golfing - and games with friends months in advance, but rather that time frame has shrunk down to two to six weeks and in many cases, a day or two before. For a generation with little time on their hands, five to six hour rounds of golf are out of the question, and the industry has seen the consequences.
The USGA took note of this growing problem and did some research to find out the root causes of extended round times. They analyzed four main factors affecting the pace of play: golf course design, golf course set up, player management and player behavior. They used mostly in house research, with experts in the field observing at both professional and amateur level courses. The findings were incredible, and not in a good way; over 91% of all golfers are bothered by slow play, 70% think it has gotten worse over the last few years and 50% have walked off the course due to slow play. Statistics like that are some of the worst across the entire sporting industry! If 50% of players say they have up and left a game due to the length of their round, a serious problem is at hand. That is why the USGA decided to take bold action and after a year of planning and research, they launched the “While We’re Young Campaign”.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
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“While We’re Young” is an industry-wide initiative designed to engage, educate and mobilize the golf industry in a fun and interesting way that will change the mindset of golfers across all performance levels. The idea came from the executive committee at the USGA after a speech given by Glen Nager, President of the USGA, on the inherent need to increase the pace of play or suffer the consequences. The campaign as a whole consists of five different commercials featuring different famous players and people, an educational website and a pace of play pledge to join the movement making speed a priority.
Each video features a situation where a golfer is taking too long to putt or tee-off, and is promptly told to hurry up and take the shot “While We’re Young” by a famous face like Arnold Palmer. Check out the video with Clint Eastwood and his classic glare here.
Banking on your ethos and a cultural lexicon, the decision to go with the Caddyshack tag line “While We’re Young” was an easy and simple one for the USGA. “We believe it’s important not to lecture, preach or admonish the golf community but rather create a fun and engaging campaign that everyone can relate to,” said Joe Goode, Communications Director at the USGA. The Caddyshack line is the perfect way to get people’s attention and keep it lighthearted while still getting the magnitude of the problem across. Getting celebrities in on the campaign also contributed to the weight of the commercials. Their time and support was a huge contributor to the success of the program.
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The commercials were designed to educate the public of the problem and then drive them to the website where they could learn about the solutions to slow pace of play. At the USGA website, individuals can see what they can do to speed up the pace of play both as a player and as an owner. One aspect is directed at the individual; players are encouraged to play ready golf and according to their skill level so they don’t spend 10 minutes trying to shoot out of a bunker. The other part of the campaign is directed at golf course owners and those who design and run the courses. Course set up and design can have a major impact on the pace of play and are both totally controllable variables. For years, the focus has been on players to speed up their play, but there is only so much one can do. Factors that are controlled by owners like hole location, ruff height, hazard layout, fairway width and green speeds are out of the players hands and can negatively impact the time it takes to finish a round. The USGA has instructional information on their website to help owners realize the gravity of the problem and provide some simple solutions to shave time off rounds.
Click above to visit the "While We're Young" website!
MEDIA
This initiative launched on June 10th at the Open in Merion, where Justin Rose made history as the first Englishman to win the Open in 43 years. The USGA took a 360-degree approach to advertising and promoting this campaign; capitalizing on all the channels they could, including television commercials, social media, digital advertising, interviews and media coverage.
The “While We’re Young” campaign received great press coverage from the start. The New York Times, USA Today, Time Magazine, CNN and others were all over it, further helping to support the cause and popularize the problems with pace of play. To promote the initiative and get the word out among rich and famous, the USGA teamed up with NBC to at the American Century, a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, CA.
RESULTS
The goal of the campaign was to unite and mobilize the entire golf community to increase the pace of play, and according to Goode, that’s exactly what they have seen: “We’re seeing golfers make pace of play a priority, golf course owners changing course layout and players moving faster to manage their own behavior and their group behavior.” The campaign has put the importance of pace of play back on the radar, and in fact, at the very front of the industry. There are no hard statistics yet because the campaign is too “young”, but later this fall, the USGA will unveil their research findings publicly to show the growth they have seen in both round times and industry statistics.
LOOKING AHEAD
Moving forward, the USGA plans on staying with the “While We’re Young” tagline and expanding on the educational component of the campaign. They just rolled out new videos and information on the website to keep pace of play an issue that golfers are constantly aware of. Staying ahead of the game, USGA researchers are continually studying how players navigate the course and where the bottlenecks are with GPS tracking at both the Amateur and Elite levels to keep updated.
CONTACT
For more information, contact:
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