Sociology of Golf

This document examines declining participation rates and economics in the business of golf in the United States, and suggests that by increasing diversity and inclusion, the image of the sport and participation rates will improve as the demographics become more consistent with the changing face of America. 

The intent is (1) to bring greater awareness to the lack of minorities and females participating in the sport and business of golf, (2) to offer recommendations on how to increase participation, and (3) to move conversations about the lack of diversity and inclusion in golf into academic environments better prepared to study this phenomenon through sociological and psychological frameworks. 

Four recommendations are made to help increase participation rates: (1) to hire (or appoint) a full-time staff specific to diversity and inclusion, (2) form strategic partnerships with grass-roots golf organizations and leaders, (3) create a supplier diversity initiative, and (4) create a traveling exhibit to recognize and remember significant contributors to the game; many who would otherwise remain unknown.

Between the 1890s and the 1960s, Jews faced significant levels of racial discrimination within British golf. Anti-Semitism originating from individuals, private clubs, the golfing press and golfing authorities was prevalent across large parts of the last century and was geographically widespread (affecting every sizeable Jewish community in Great Britain). Mirroring wider majority community discrimination towards the growing middle-class Jewish population, Jewish golfers faced racial hostility and exclusion within golf – a racism which was driven by crude stereotypes, snobbery, ignorance and a basic irrational fear of the ‘other’.

Golfing racism was powerful and extensive within Britain, yet Jews did not simply accept the hostility they faced and cease playing the sport. Whilst this article will illustrate and analyse anti-Semitism within British golf, it will also highlight the response to discrimination taken by Jewish communities – large and small – across the country. Unwilling to allow anti-Semitism to prevent their participation in the sport, Jewish golfers strove to create their own clubs and courses. Symbolically, these ‘Jewish’ organisations remained open to all, regardless or race or creed. Jews not only protected their own sporting interests in the face of a non-organised form of anti-Semitism, but also provided a retort to golfing bigotry and racism.

Golf is a fascinating sport whether we are watching it or playing it. I grew up seeing this luxurious sport, as my family loves golfing and somehow manages to arrange at least a mini-golf tournament at every get-together. When I started playing golf in my teens, I brutally failed to understand it. Because golfing is a daunting task, huge amounts of skill, mental strength, and patience required to get success in golf. Besides all this, you will definitely, need the best golf clubs set. As I belong to a family, who loves golfing and has some great golfers in the house, I could help you all to find an ideal beginner golf clubs set.

Despite high general participation rates in golf in England and a raft of initiatives to encourage more women and younger players into golf, fewer than one in five amateur golfers in England is female and there is a real dearth of young women entering the sport. Sexist policies and practices have been posited as possible barriers to women’s and girls’ grass-roots participation in golf, but to date little qualitative research has been undertaken on the lived experiences of recreational women players themselves.  To address this considerable gap, an 18-month ethnographic and autoethnographic research project was undertaken within a case study club in the English East Midlands.  Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with thirteen amateur women-players, ethnographic observations, detailed autoethnographic field notes and video auto-reflections, this article explores some of the key themes that emerged from the research, utilising primarily Foucauldian-feminist theoretical perspectives to frame the qualitative findings. The two key themes selected for analysis here are: 1) women’s lived experience of  corporeal surveillance in golfing contexts; and: 2) discursive othering and objectification of women in golf.

This study examines the relationship between golf and civility and advances the work of Norbert Elias by providing a theoretically informed analysis of the ritual dynamics involved in the civilizing process. Employing content analysis of texts and other forms of data, the authors examine ...

See paper for complete abstract.

I wrote this paper in 1982 for a graduate seminar on occupations and professions for Professor Barb Stenross at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, drawing on my experience as a relatively accomplished amateur golfer in high school, college, and country club golf circles, and as a caddie in the latter circumstances.  I feel like, after 35 years, it's relatively safe to make it public.

Golf was one of the fastest growing recreational sports in Britain before
1914. It created a market for professional golfers as shopkeepers,
teachers, green-keepers, and craftsmen. A database of 3000 players
was used to examine their social and economic experience at club
and competitive level, and this experience was then compared to
that of professionals in horseracing, cricket, and football. Golfers were
the first sportsmen to permanently organize themselves with the
establishment of the Professional Golfers’ Association in 1901, which
provided welfare services and promoted tournaments, thus actively
and uniquely assisting the development of the industry within which
its members worked.

Genuine golfers love to take a shot at the basics of the swing and stroke, which leads to “automatic” improvement that you truly don’t have to consider, until the point when your move gets out of sorts (and it will, even for the best players). Yet, past the basics are significant tips that deal with the aim, club selection, course management … all those nuances that add up to a more complete golf package. I call them 5 tricks to improve as a player, and I’m glad to share them with you here.