Cool new golf is blowing away its fusty habits

The rules and traditions of the ancient sport are being relaxed as venues push for more diverse participants and younger players just looking for fun.

Young golfers during a junior golf program at a club in Orange County, California. “New golf” has led to radically revised six- or 12-hole courses and fun activities. The New York Times

Bill Pennington

Jul 8, 2021 – 1.14pm

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Golf is one of the world’s oldest sports, with treasured traditions honed across several centuries. But increasingly over the past decade, many people have come to see golf as just plain old. And not in a good way.

The number of devoted recreational golfers in the United States has hovered at about 25 million, but the cohort is ageing and more than 1600 American golf courses closed in the 2010s. In 2004, and over the next 14 consecutive years, participation on courses waned.