McIlroy Addresses Golf's Shrinking Participation


Rory McIroy said he believes golf could do a better job of attracting young players. The top-ranked player in the world told BBC Radio 4 that to do that the pace of the game needs to be accelerated.

"Everything's so instant now and everyone doesn't have as much time as they used to," the 25-year-old Northern Irishman said during the interview. "So you maybe try some way of speeding the game up.

"The viewership in golf is up but the participation is down," noted the four-time major champion. "People enjoy watching the game but gone are the days that you could spend five or six hours on a golf course."

He hopes the USGA and R&A - the game's primary rule makers worldwide - step up with initiatives to attract younger players. "I don't think they'd be against it, especially if they wanted to get participation levels up," said McIlroy.

"I don't think they need to alter tournament-play formats, I think that works very well. It's the grass roots . . . definitely not at our level."

He also believes his remarkable success at an early age has drawn fellow countrymen to golf. "I feel as though I've inspired a lot of kids back home in Northern Ireland to pick up the game and play," he said.

"Hopefully I can continue to do that beyond Northern Ireland because it's a great game. It's given me a lot and I've loved every minute of it and I know if more people pick up the game they'll love it, too."

The game certainly needs to take significant measures to regain its popularity from 10 to 20 years ago when upwards of 200 to 300 new golf courses were opening every year in the U.S.

But recent figures aren't encouraging. The number of American golfers fell by almost a quarter to about 23 million in 2013 from its peak in 2002. Last year alone golf lost 1.1 million participants. The problem extends to the across the Atlantic. In England, the number of young people who regularly played golf was almost slashed in half between 2010 and '13.