Downswing? Dick's Sporting Goods, America's Largest Employer of Golf Pros, Lays Off All Due To Declining Consumer Interest and Sales

More golf courses closed than opened in 2013 - for the eighth straight year. But lest you think this is part of nature's rejuvenating cycle, 14 opened - while 157 closed.

This appears to symptomatic of a larger, broader malaise engendered by expense of the game in a time of declining household income, 24-7 work pressures, disinterest on the part of Gen Xers andYers who, in interviews, consider it too time consuming, unhealthy compared to alternatives and, frankly, boring. And as if all that weren't enough, the game's one true star, Tiger Woods, has never regained his championship form following a series of incidents highlighted by his ex-wife's demonstration of a powerful foreswing aimed at his SUV's windshield.

Dick's Sporting Goods, one of America's largest sports retailers had hired hundreds of golf pros to staff its 500 stores, thinking this would provide a distinct competitive advantage. Alas, it was not to be. Expertise could not overcome a lack of interest - a lesson for any business. Generally in such situations one would expect a cutback, not an elimination of the category. However the retailer's CEO was quoted as saying 'we dont feel we've found the bottom yet.' Fore! JL

Michael Sanserino reports in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Golf sales are dragging nationwide as fewer people are taking interest in the sport.
Dick’s Sporting Goods has laid off all of its PGA professionals from its retail stores nationwide about two months after the Findlay-based sports retailer announced it missed its golf sales projection by $34 million in the first quarter alone.
The move leaves 478 PGA professionals without a job, said a PGA of America spokesman Wednesday. Attempts to reach Dick’s representatives were unsuccessful.
“The PGA of America is aware of the decision made by Dick’s Sporting Goods that affects the livelihoods of many PGA professionals who have been employed at Dick’s,” the organization said in a statement. “We are extremely disappointed by the news as any time even one PGA member loses a job we are extremely sensitive to such matters.”
The PGA of America provides career counseling and employment services to all of its 28,000 members and pledged to support those affected by Dick’s decision. The organization has 12 employment consultants located throughout the country, and those consultants will contact the former Dick’s employees in the coming weeks.
Dick’s employed PGA professionals to separate itself from online retailers who offered many of the same products at competitive prices. The professionals offered in-store lessons to customers, among other responsibilities.
Dick’s was the largest sole employer of PGA professionals in the country.
But golf sales are dragging nationwide as fewer people are taking interest in the sport. Television ratings are down, in large part because Tiger Woods has failed to regain his dominant form, and fewer people are playing the game, Edward W. Stack, Dick's chairman and CEO, said during a conference call in May to discuss first-quarter earnings.
“We don’t feel we’ve found the bottom yet,” Mr. Stack said, after disclosing sluggish golf category sales.