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Jon Last
Jon is the President of Sports and Leisure Research Group,
a full-service marketing research consultancy focused on
sports, travel and media sectors. Jon has also collaborated
with the NGCOA Canada Research Department to provide
the Canadian golf industry with critical data and analyses.
Learn more at www.sportsandleisureresearch.com.
The pre-pandemic years may
The The 2025 2025 Golf Golf
seem like nothing but a distant
memory to some golf facility
Industry Outlook Industry Outlook
owners and operators. Yet, it really
was not that long ago that our
industry was struggling with a
barrage of negativity amidst
Mastering The Mastering The
struggling facilities and reduction
of golf course inventory. Mass
media piled on with rampant
Road Ahead Road Ahead
suggestions that the game was
dying a slow anachronistic death;
unsuitable for an attention deficit
society of millennials and Gen Z
more interested in living in digital
worlds than the real world. But
then, it all changed. COVID
brought a hunger for socialization
in a safe and comfortable environ-
ment. Golf answered that call.
For decades, one of the two
impenetrable detractors from
participation in golf, lack of time,
was alleviated by the pandemic’s
push towards at home and hybrid
work. As recently as November of
2024, our research shows that just
half of the North American working
population was doing so exclus-
ively from a dedicated workplace
outside the home. That figure was
65% pre-COVID. Evolving consumer
values are putting a premium on
work life balance, with 57% of
golfers agreeing that they have
more time available to them now,
than they did prior to the pandemic.
A similar 58% agree that they have
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Golf Business Canada
Golf Business Canada