[2006alum]

I'd say among my generation (millennials), a big reason is that most who have the financial/demographic profile to be ideal candidates for golf live in or very near to very urban large cities, and there just aren't golf courses anywhere nearby. Even if I wanted to play golf, it'd be a lot of work just to get to a golf course even once a week. Also, as much as it is saddening to say this, a lot of us have jobs where even on weekends we can't be certain a week in advance that we can block off the 5-6 hours it takes to make a golf tee time, play 18 holes, and get back, shower, etc. 

If these factors seem trivial to you boomers, now you know how good you had it! Golf is a luxury sport for reasons beyond just the greens fees or membership dues.

[2006alum]

I'd say among my generation (millennials), a big reason is that most who have the financial/demographic profile to be ideal candidates for golf live in or very near to very urban large cities, and there just aren't golf courses anywhere nearby. Even if I wanted to play golf, it'd be a lot of work just to get to a golf course even once a week. Also, as much as it is saddening to say this, a lot of us have jobs where even on weekends we can't be certain a week in advance that we can block off the 5-6 hours it takes to make a golf tee time, play 18 holes, and get back, shower, etc. 

If these factors seem trivial to you boomers, now you know how good you had it! Golf is a luxury sport for reasons beyond just the greens fees or membership dues.

[Mick]

I'd say among my generation (millennials), a big reason is that most who have the financial/demographic profile to be ideal candidates for golf live in or very near to very urban large cities, and there just aren't golf courses anywhere nearby. Even if I wanted to play golf, it'd be a lot of work just to get to a golf course even once a week. Also, as much as it is saddening to say this, a lot of us have jobs where even on weekends we can't be certain a week in advance that we can block off the 5-6 hours it takes to make a golf tee time, play 18 holes, and get back, shower, etc. 

If these factors seem trivial to you boomers, now you know how good you had it! Golf is a luxury sport for reasons beyond just the greens fees or membership dues.

Baby boomer here.  Played a lot of golf in high school (dad had a share at Pasatiempo), some golf in college, played all through my 20s a few times a month with my wife.  

Then, we had our first child.  And all that vanished.  I just couldn't justify leaving for six hours on a weekend while Mrs. Mick took care of our colicky child.  So I played golf 1-2 x a year after that.  Shoot, I didn't even get to watch the final round of the U. S. Open all the way through for years, forget about playing.

My dad played both days every weekend for most of his adult life.  Good ol' silent generation.

[Mick]

I'd say among my generation (millennials), a big reason is that most who have the financial/demographic profile to be ideal candidates for golf live in or very near to very urban large cities, and there just aren't golf courses anywhere nearby. Even if I wanted to play golf, it'd be a lot of work just to get to a golf course even once a week. Also, as much as it is saddening to say this, a lot of us have jobs where even on weekends we can't be certain a week in advance that we can block off the 5-6 hours it takes to make a golf tee time, play 18 holes, and get back, shower, etc. 

If these factors seem trivial to you boomers, now you know how good you had it! Golf is a luxury sport for reasons beyond just the greens fees or membership dues.

Baby boomer here.  Played a lot of golf in high school (dad had a share at Pasatiempo), some golf in college, played all through my 20s a few times a month with my wife.  

Then, we had our first child.  And all that vanished.  I just couldn't justify leaving for six hours on a weekend while Mrs. Mick took care of our colicky child.  So I played golf 1-2 x a year after that.  Shoot, I didn't even get to watch the final round of the U. S. Open all the way through for years, forget about playing.

My dad played both days every weekend for most of his adult life.  Good ol' silent generation.

[2006alum]

Baby boomer here.  Played a lot of golf in high school (dad had a share at Pasatiempo), some golf in college, played all through my 20s a few times a month with my wife.  

Interesting to hear our generational differences and similarities! I grew up working at a golf course every weekend and many weekdays in high school, so if anyone should have been a lifelong golfer, it's me. And the kids part I get. But the problems start much sooner than that for my generation. Almost all of us had jobs out of undergrad that required some combinations of travel or crushing hours that made 5-6-hour golf excursions improbable. Then most of us made cross-country moves for grad school, and then had to pay off grad-school debt, largely by living in places like NYC and SF that aren't amenable to much golfing. All that before any of us even considered kids; plus most of us were barely married by the end of our twenties!

It's interesting to realize how much of being a successful white-collar professional today (let alone married with kids) essentially demands a lifestyle that is antithetical to leaving room to pursue a sport like golf.

Maybe we can all start wildly successful startups by age 40 and then finally afford spend our mid-life crises on the links?

[2006alum]

Baby boomer here.  Played a lot of golf in high school (dad had a share at Pasatiempo), some golf in college, played all through my 20s a few times a month with my wife.  

Interesting to hear our generational differences and similarities! I grew up working at a golf course every weekend and many weekdays in high school, so if anyone should have been a lifelong golfer, it's me. And the kids part I get. But the problems start much sooner than that for my generation. Almost all of us had jobs out of undergrad that required some combinations of travel or crushing hours that made 5-6-hour golf excursions improbable. Then most of us made cross-country moves for grad school, and then had to pay off grad-school debt, largely by living in places like NYC and SF that aren't amenable to much golfing. All that before any of us even considered kids; plus most of us were barely married by the end of our twenties!

It's interesting to realize how much of being a successful white-collar professional today (let alone married with kids) essentially demands a lifestyle that is antithetical to leaving room to pursue a sport like golf.

Maybe we can all start wildly successful startups by age 40 and then finally afford spend our mid-life crises on the links?

[Hulk01]

Excellent points.  Looking back, I realize it was selfish to play all the golf
I did before before my kids reached driving age.

And I presented my recommendations to the PGA, before the market crashed.
The gutting of the middle compounds the golf industry's challenge.

And the slow, languid, almost tedious pace of the game is out of step--
several slow steps behind--the pace the new generation has grown up with.

I love the game itself and so many of the courses on which it is played--
Bandon is Mecca--
but that love now exists more in memory and theory.

[Hulk01]

Excellent points.  Looking back, I realize it was selfish to play all the golf
I did before before my kids reached driving age.

And I presented my recommendations to the PGA, before the market crashed.
The gutting of the middle compounds the golf industry's challenge.

And the slow, languid, almost tedious pace of the game is out of step--
several slow steps behind--the pace the new generation has grown up with.

I love the game itself and so many of the courses on which it is played--
Bandon is Mecca--
but that love now exists more in memory and theory.