Augusta National giving golf a boost in time of need

National Golf Foundation research shows that the overall number of U.S. golfers has hovered around 25 million for the past few years, down from a high of about 30 million in 2003.

Sports & Fitness Industry Association data showed the golf participation rate of people aged 18 to 34 fell roughly 13 percent between 2009 and 2013.

More U.S. golf courses have closed in a calendar year than have opened for the past nine years, according to the NGF, reflecting a drastic oversupply of courses for the number of active golfers.

The number of rounds played on the Grand Strand has dropped 10 consecutive years according to statistics compiled by marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday.

Projections for the sport and business are tepid. Golf needs to gain some extra distance.

Augusta National Golf Club has taken it upon itself to lead efforts to revitalize the game.

The club is using its prominence and influence that emanates from both its powerful membership and Masters brand to spur growth of the game and increase participation.

“Doing the best we can do now includes a growing emphasis on our efforts to help others grow the game,” said Billy Payne, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. “We try hard to contribute to the future health of the game.”

An international initiative to assist the game began in 2008 when the club introduced the Junior Pass Program, allowing juniors ages 8-16 free Masters admission with a ticketed adult whose name appears on the series badge application.

The club now helps organize and operate amateur tournaments in both the Asia/Australia region and Latin America that each have a berth in the Masters on the line, and in 2014 it began hosting the finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship, a free nationwide competition geared to spur junior golf participation in the U.S.

The club also played a role in the reintroduction of golf into the Summer Olympic Games next year for the first time since 1904.

The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was first played in 2010 and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A) is Augusta National’s tournament partner, and the Latin America Amateur Championship was first played in January in Argentina and Augusta has partnered with the R&A and United States Golf Association to stage that event. The club hopes the enticement of a Masters berth increases interest and participation in the game among amateurs in those vast areas.

“Through the years I believe that we have significantly increased the interest in our game throughout that important [Asia-Pacific] region of the world,” Payne said. “… Hopefully through time we'll introduce the fun and excitement of our game to kids throughout Latin America.”

The Drive, Chip & Putt Championship is for boys and girls ages 7-15 and will have 255 local qualifier host sites throughout all 50 states followed by Sub-Regional and Regional qualifiers before the finals in 2016 at Augusta National. The USGA and PGA of America are partners in the initiative.

The finals are held the Sunday before the Masters, are televised for several hours on Golf Channel and are open to the public at $25 per ticket through an online lottery.

Regarding its role in the Olympics, Augusta National is member of the International Golf Federation, which is chaired by Peter Dawson of the R&A and is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the world governing body for golf.

The IGF will be the administrator of Olympic golf and lobbied for the sport to be welcomed back into the Games, and Payne undoubtedly played a role in that. He was the president and CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games and spearheaded the effort to bring the Games to Atlanta, and believes inclusion in the Olympics will be a significant factor in growing of the game worldwide.

“As to its ability to impact the growth of the game, I'm a proponent,” Payne said. “If you start giving important worldwide recognition and prizes to a specific sport in the Olympics, the countries who feel they have a chance to win will invest more in that specific sport. It will become in their consciousness that they need to compete.”

Payne recalled that China won medals in 2008 in Beijing in sports they didn’t participate in at the time the country was awarded the Games.

“I suspect because important medals are given out, that the funds supporting golf around the world for its development will increase significantly, and it's going to be a very positive development,” Payne said.

Payne said Augusta National is not considering hosting a women’s tournament, or even an amateur event.

“We have a very short member season at Augusta National. It's seven months only,” Payne said. “The time that we dedicate to the preparation and conduct of the tournament is already extensive. I don't think that we would ever host another tournament.”

Augusta National’s recent efforts to grow the game have thus far been focused on youth and amateurs, not on professionals, other than their connection to the Olympics.

Aspiring professionals in the United States have fewer places to play domestically now that the PGA Tour has started or taken over tours in Latin America, Canada and China and made them part of its network hierarchy starting with the PGA Tour and running through the Web.com Tour.

Mini-tours and developmental tours in the U.S. are dying out or struggling to survive against the tour-sponsored international competition, and U.S. touring pros often have little or no money left to spend on domestic playing opportunities after they’ve expended resources attempting to play in Canada, Latin America or overseas.

Augusta National isn’t interested in finding a remedy for the dying developmental tour circuit that could lead to a decrease in the number of touring pros in the U.S.

“The prioritization of our interest is to get kids to embrace a lifetime passion for the game, not necessarily to develop a career in the game,” Payne said. “So we are trying to make it fun and exciting and lifetime participation, and we are not really equipped, nor would we, I think, express an opinion about specific tours or what they ought to be doing.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Augusta National giving golf a boost in time of need."