Tee’s, Touchdowns, & Technology
Originally published 9/3/2021 on LinkedIn BY KELLEY PIERRE
When asking about the future of golf, what typically comes to mind? Depending on your audience, it can fall into two popular categories: professionals or VIC (very important customers). Within those two common realms, important topics such as diversity need to be considered, since diversity is one of the key indicators of growth and sustainability for the game.
There are various factors to explore when considering diversity in the $84 billion dollar golf industry. One category among the many is the space of technology and innovation. Currently, 3 out of the Big 4 consulting firms are occupying this space in different ways.
Deloitte’s consulting firm client, the United States Golf Association (USGA) is working towards Reimagining a Golf Ecosystem. Cathy Engelbert, retired Deloitte CEO said “We share the USGA’s vision to make the game more inclusive and responsive to how people think, act, engage, recreate, and live today”.
Another consulting firm, KPMG is working to bring more insight using analytics to the LPGA. The effects on the future of golf for women will help improve their personal performance due to data being available. Lastly, EY launched a Proximity Monitor that will tell you how effective social distance protocol’s are for an event. The monitor was deployed successfully at three of the European Tour’s golf championship events. These top consulting firms are shaping the future of the game using technology and innovation.
The PGA is also working towards a data-driven approach when hiring more diverse talent and vendor inclusion ways in which shape the future of the game.
The future of the game can be found in programs like 10AllIn, which incorporates golf into their STEAM education. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Mathematics. The 10AllIn Foundation, founded by Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes and Mental Health Counselor Jimmie Vincent, has STEM-certified educational instructors but felt it necessary to add the “A” component which represents Art. Art allows youth to harness creativity and problem-solving skills amongst other things.
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During the program, the children are taught golf as well as tackling pain points that golfers experience. In one session the students were coming up with innovative ways to stay cool on the golf course. The common nuisances that we as golfers have grown accustomed to can be modified in the future.
Dr. George Grant, inventor of the golf tee, didn’t settle with golf as it was in 1899. Before Dr.Grant’s invention, golfers would place their balls on mounds of sand. Dr. Grant became frustrated with mounting sand that he invented the golf tee. A short stick that you place into the ground and place your ball on top.
We may not be able to fully grasp the impact that the golf tee had during its inception because none of us have tried to tee up sand. Today the tee is so common that we forget that it was a pain point during Dr. Grant’s time. Mounting sand was the norm, ‘a part of the game’, now it’s used to refill divots. The correlation between what 10AllIn is doing and Dr. Grant’s invention has future implications on the game.
The Original Tee organization founded by Wendell Haskins celebrates the history of African Americans in golf and financially contributes to initiatives that support African American golfers. When asked about why they chose to donate to 10AllIn Haskins replied “I wanted to donate to 10AllIn because I think it is outstanding what Santonio & Jimmie are doing to introduce golf to the Black youth of Belle Glade.
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Programs like 10AllIn in Belle Glade and The Bridge Golf Foundation in Harlem are critical to the future of golf. The game of golf is full of opportunities that involve Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. Not just being a player. To have more young Black students become golf enthusiasts who are also proficient in STEAM will ultimately diversify and grow the entire industry of golf.”
The PGA of South Florida has supported them since their first meeting. Meredith Schuler, Assistant Executive Director of South Florida PGA said “When we got the email from Jimmie & Santonio, we felt that this was the natural progression because we were at the mark in which we felt we can take something else on. So the PGA reached out to Peter Barry from Callaway to see if they would be able to obtain clubs for the children.”
“We supplied golf clubs for the program and were very happy to do it. We are looking forward to hopefully contributing in an even more meaningful way going forward,” said Barry.
When we asked Jimmie Vincent what would scalability and sustainability look like, he answered “Right now, we are looking to solidify mentor relationships from PGA members to our students with lessons and training, equipment, fundraising, support for reimplementing our high school’s golf program and establishing our 4-year Ambassador program. We see scalability and sustainability as the order of progression as we begin to address existing needs within the game, as well as within the communities we are looking to serve. As the game is looking to grow, so are communities of color who desperately need some of the skills and access that golf affords.”
The future of golf is in making the game more accessible, the more children exposed to the game, the more room for innovation. The future of golf is looking at today’s problems with fresh eyes. Being able to come up with measures that make the game easier and more enjoyable. Imagine golfers in the future saying “Golfers in 2021, during the global pandemic, used to look for their golf balls, and they would still lose them in the fairway” With investments into programs like 10Allin, the ROI is measured by the future of the game.
Kelley Pierre is a Certified Coach with U.S. Kids Golf, Founder & CEO of All Access Golf and Director of Circulation and Consumer Engagement at African American Golfer’s Digest
