Dick's chose golf over guns and now reaps the benefits.
it’s because Obama is hogging all the Golf courses
FYI...... I am not a golfer and don’t play one on TV.
I saw a really good movie this week on Netflix...... Seven Days in Utopia.
It involves a golf pro that lost it...... he took a fork in the road that took him to Utopia Texas, pop 318. There he found redemption and a new life.
It is far from you average Hollywood propaganda piece.
Golf is a sport largely played by the masses when the economy and their pocketbooks are doing well.. This is a symptom of the Obameconomy.
I also think that many people, being unemployed, have cut golfing and other luxuries out of their tight budgets.
I went into a new Gander Mountain and was amazed at the number of guns they had. Must have had 400 guns on display. No golf stuff tho
Obama has single-handedly made Golf uncool while making guns cool.
while some of the decline in the numbers playing golf may be mortality among age groups that used to be more active in Golf, my counter evidence, anecdotal as it is, is an upswing in the numbers of my own recently retired age group who have just recently taken up golf in the last few years - half of those I know in my age group who never played golf much if at all in the past, retirement have taken up golf, or greatly expanded how much they play since they retired in recent years - and who buys more golf items year over year; those who have been playing for many years, or those whose active play starts in more recent years
maybe Dicks is in a slump of their own, with the expansion of outfits like Sports Authority and, from what I have seen in some locales, an expansion of independent pro golf shops.
A Dick’s opened up near me, talking a HUGE extravaganza of a store. Very modern, upscale looking. I am not the big sports guy, in fact, perhaps farthest from it. And I would never pretend to know much of anything about a business I don’t really care about....but sometimes you see a “Best Buy” kind of situation where sure, the store might do a good business just on flash, but in this era of very low retail margins, it’s hard for me to imagine such a huge store making sense.
Golf is fun to play but sucks to watch on TV. Just wanted to say that.
I haven’t played a game in years due to work taking up so much time.
The little 9-hole course where I play (senior $15, regular $18) had been packed until just this year. I don’t see how they managed to attract paying golfers in the depths of the downturn (2009-2012) but can’t now that things are somewhat better, although hardly booming.
Unfortunately, the slow players and idiots are still coming....
This is doubly good news. Besides shrinking the unfair economic gap between Americans and Nicaraguans, the anemic economy also reduces crowding at the golf courses. It’s no wonder Democrats in the Senate and in our White House are thrilled with their progress.
That is one thing, but also Golf is a luxury that fewer and fewer can afford. Thanks to Obama and Democrats for their war on the Middle Class!
Dicks is NO REFLECTION of golf popularity. We golfers all know Dicks prices are retail plus. Online purc
hases are 40 percent less
Years ago, I concluded that golfing is a form of gambling. You can easily get addicted, for much of the same reasons. A behaviour psychologist might single out the power of “random intermittent positive reinforcement”.
Most of my drives fall short, or hook or slice off course. If there’s a water hazard, I bring out a floating ball. If there’s a sand trap, I know I’ll be using a wedge on my next shot. However, every now and then, I hear that beautiful “thwack” from a drive, and watch it fly gracefully down the fairway. Occasionally, I miss the hazards and the traps. Sometimes, my first putt goes in the hole.
Whenever I get a good shot in, the endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, etc. start pumping; and it feels soooo gooood! I’m on a natural high for the rest of the game — no matter how many balls I lose in the rough. Somehow, I only remember the good shots later; and, like any addict, I’m hooked (much like half my drives).
I was going to say, they seem like a poorly run organization.
But the huge upswing of popularity also hurt the game as the influx of new players, some of whom never bothered to take any lessons or learn the rules and etiquette, and the long playing times (5 to 6 hours for 18 holes) and difficulty even getting tee times, drove a lot of long time players away out of frustration.
And then when Tiger crashed and burned both professionally and personally, Annika retired and Wie failed to live up to expectations, and people found it wasn’t as easy as the pros make it appear on TV and it had lost the “cool factor”, a lot of those newcomers lost interest.
Yes, I’m sure the economy factors into the equation as well.
I stopped playing around 2006 mostly because of lower back issues and then a gain of more weight than I’m comfortable carrying. Of course being unemployed between 2009 and 2010 also had a lot to do with it.
But I’m working out and losing weight and have been thinking recently of dusting off my clubs and at least going to the driving range and playing a round or two in the fall, see how my back tolerates it and perhaps playing more regularly.
BTW - Dicks is a terrible place to buy golf equipment, has been for years.
I quit golfing when it hit a buck a hole... $$$
Obama’s reverse Midas Touch strikes again.
If you’re going to run a sporting goods store, don’t be a Dick(s).