Page 12 - GBC Eng winter 2021

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Golf Business Canada
“...less than half expressing that they have had a “COVID Liberation Moment” - defined in the research as a particular moment in time when someone felt that they had basically gotten their pre-pandemic life back in some meaningful way...”
has long been elusive. Even the mainstream media, which just five years ago, piled on golf, claiming that it was antiquated and declin- ing, has marveled at how the constraints of the pandemic created a perfect storm that has driven a renaissance for our sport.
I’ve previously written and reported on how those mainstream doom and gloom prognostications were misguided and based on opportunistically selected data interpretation, so I won’t dwell on its flaws here. In place of this muckraking has been a rosier portrait of a leisure activity that filled the pandemic driven voids for social interaction, escape from the confines of quarantines and an opportunity to get outside and commune with friends and nature in a safe and socially distant manner. Couple that perspective with welcomed stories of a more inclusive and social game, and all of a sudden, golf has become cool and contemporary in these pandemic driven times.
BEYOND THE NARRATIVE: REALITIESOFTHEPARTICIPATION SURGE
Of course, the truth below the narrative is slightly tempered. Our data has consistently shown that the preponderance of rounds played and dollars spent, continue
to come from the previously defined core and avid players that still represent some 80% of spending and participation. As with others, the pandemic has provided greater time flexibility, with nearly a third of golfers still not back to full time work in a dedicated out of home workplace, as we entered the Fall. This exten- sion of pandemic induced restric- tions, the onset of the Delta variant and an attitudinal trepidation that continues to pervade the consumer mindset, enabled 2020’s participa- tion surge to extend deeply into the 2021 golf season.
Another driver that has extended the halo of the COVID golf surge has been a failure of competitive recreational activities to adequately seize upon the latent demand that built for them during the shutdowns and attendance restrictions. While the Barometer found early and often, a building desire and willingness among a majority of consumers to return to favourite past times like travel and sporting events, movies and indoor dining, the lifting of attendance restrictions (and in many cases, subsequent reinstitution of them) has for a majority of consumers, been quite underwhelming. This sentiment has continued to build, particularly among newer and less committed golfers.
Spawned on by labour short- ages, an inability of much of the service sector to deliver the levels of customer facing attention that people expect, and the COVID safety net that golf became for many who were not previously committed to it, golf has a better opportunity to secure its space as an ongoing staple of discretionary time and spending. Case in point, in late August, over a third of all surveyed agreed that dining out at restaurants, going to bars or clubs, attending a live sporting event and going to the movies, were each “not as enjoyable as I remember.”
Another intriguing measure in the Barometer has shown less than half expressing that they have had a “COVID Liberation Moment” - defined in the research as a particu- lar moment in time when someone felt that they had basically gotten their pre-pandemic life back in some meaningful way...either temporarily or permanently. In late September, only 44% of golfers had experienced this COVID liberation moment. The overall incidence for experiencing these moments of liberation, has dropped for three consecutive months. In late September, only 29% of all Barom- eter respondents strongly agreed that “from my standpoint, the COVID-19 pandemic is over.” Yet 75% of those who have played golf