PGA Show: This college student created the prototype of his swing training aid with Star Wars lightsabers

Dylan Horowitz created “the Swiss Army knife of golf training aids” during COVID. 

ORLANDO – Dylan Horowitz doesn’t look old enough to shave let alone order a beer yet he’s already created his own golf training aid with famed PGA golf instructor Rick Sessinghaus.

Horowitz, 20, of Stevenson Ranch, California, is a junior psychology major and the captain of the Chapman University men’s golf team in Southern California, but in his spare time he’s invented the Kavooa Pro swing training aid, a tripod-based product that can be adjusted via a patented telescoping device with rods (golf alignment sticks) to stabilize a golfer’s head and hips during the swing.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Kavooa Pro” link=”https://www.amazon.com/KAVOOA-PRO-Training-Allignment-Smartphone/dp/B0CLHF6C3Q?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=smgq4-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=d04ae5810c17ddc1395efa54514223d2&camp=1789&creative=9325″]

At 16, Horowitz was taking lessons from Sessinghaus, who is best-known as the instructor to two-time major winner Collin Morikawa from a young age until late last year, at Scholl Canyon Golf Course. Horowitz’s main swing flaw was his head dipping down and forward during the swing and compensating with his arms. Sessinghaus would hold a stick to his head during lessons but once COVID struck in March 2020 they began doing FaceTime lessons and Horowitz needed someone or something to monitor his head position during this period of isolation. In MacGyver fashion, he taped a pool noodle to the top of a punching bag around his height and set it up for hitting into a net at home. When courses reopened, he realized he needed something he could take to the course.

“So, I put two Star Wars lightsabers together, poked two holes at the end of it and put it on top of a tripod,” he said.

That was the original version of the Kavooa Pro, which means stable in Hebrew. Two years and several refinements later from PVC piping to 3-D printing, he has created an adjustable training aid that can address multiple flaws in the golf swing, or as he put it, “the Swiss Army knife of golf training aids.”

“When he showed me the first prototype I knew he was on to something because of its versatility,” said Sessinghaus, who has endorsed products before but never has been involved to this extent. “Seeing it evolve was fascinating. In addition to head movement, it can help with hip movement and swing plane and even putting and chipping.”

This is Horowitz’s second time attending the PGA Show and first time with a booth. His father, mother and cousin help run the business. What’s been the biggest challenge of bringing his adjustable training aid to market?

“Figuring out how to work with my mom and dad,” he said with a laugh, noting that he’s also had to learn about tariffs, distribution, margins and the intricacies of running a business.

The unit also includes a phone clip holder, allowing users to easily take videos of their swing. Kavooa Pro, which sells for $129.99, weighs just 3.5 pounds and collapses to be stowed in the side pocket of most golf bags.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Kavooa Pro” link=”https://www.amazon.com/KAVOOA-PRO-Training-Allignment-Smartphone/dp/B0CLHF6C3Q?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=smgq4-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=d04ae5810c17ddc1395efa54514223d2&camp=1789&creative=9325″]

Are players finally pushing back on rising green fees? This California golf mecca might be an indicator

“Last year we could have quoted a million dollars and they just said please send me the contract.”

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The pandemic-spurred surge in golf over the last three years is bound to end at some point, but Ben Rodny believes it won’t end this coming golf season in the Coachella Valley.

“We’ve built our budget for this year and we are planning our business plan for next year on the expectations that things are going to continue to grow,” said Rodny, the director of sales and marketing at the Indian Wells Golf Resort.

From rounds played across the country to the number of golfers to the group sales business that resorts like the Indian Wells Golf Resort is seeing, golf has been a major beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down numerous activities including other sports.

The pandemic sparked a turnaround in golf, which had seen rounds played and the number of golfers dwindle for more than a decade. But the pandemic seemed to drive people outside to an activity that was allowed in most areas of the country. Twenty percent increases of rounds played were reported in 2020 and 2021, with smaller gains in 2022.

So far in 2023, the National Golf Foundation reports a 3.8 percent increase in rounds played through the end of September. But in the Palm Springs area, year-to-date rounds for 2023 are down 2.9 percent, a result of lost rounds because of weather such as August’s Tropical Storm Hilary, which shut down some courses for weeks with flood damage. In September, though, the NGF reported a 6.4 percent increase in Palm Springs area golf over the same month in 2022.

For many in the golf industry in the Coachella Valley, there are some signs that the surge, while not reversing, might be at least slowing down.

“We are planning for it to level,” said Kurt Burmeister, general manager of La Quinta Country Club. “We are seeing growth, but it’s not as aggressive growth as we have seen the last three years. But the signs for the season are similar to what we have seen the last three years.”

Even at the 36-hole Indian Wells Golf Resort, where rounds played were well over 400 a day in the 2022-23 season, Rodny says he is starting to see a few signs of a throttling back of the game’s growth.

“What I am noticing, particularly on the group side of the business, golf tournaments, smaller outings, is that there is some pushback on rates that is starting to happen that we did not see last year,” Rodny said. “Last year we could have quoted a million dollars and they just said please send me the contract. Now there is a bit of pushback and we are hearing it from our clients who are trying to organize a high-level event, either with us or with one of the other top players in the Coachella Valley.”

A winding golf cart at Indian Wells Golf Resort (Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)

Prices still going up?

Like many courses around the desert, the Indian Wells Golf Resort uses dynamic pricing during the season, which means green fees drop during periods of lower demand but rise during peak demand like Fridays and Saturdays in January and February. In the 2022-23 season the top fee was $299 per round, and Rodny sees that going higher in the coming months.

“Our base price is set between $249 and $259. So I actually do anticipate us breaking the $300 price this season in January and February. By how much I can’t tell you,” Rodny said.

Golfers congregate on the putting green before heading out for a round at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
Some golfers say they are having to adjust their plans as prices continue to increase.

“I have friends who come down for a week or 10 days in February, and they are already changing their plans,” said Fred Barnett of Palm Desert. “They may come down for the same number of days but not play golf as much because the prices keep going up. And it’s not just the golf. It’s the hotels, too.”

Golfweek’s Best: Top public and private courses in California

Barnett said his friends are willing to pay $150 or so for a round, but that price is getting more difficult to find in the peak season in the desert.

“Four rounds at $150 each is $600, and you can pay for a couple of nights in a hotel by skipping one round of golf,” Barnett said.

“I just can’t afford to play as much these days,” said Barbara Garcia of Indio. “It’s not just that golf is more expensive. Everything is more expensive: gas, food, everything. Something has to get cut back, and for me that is golf.”

“The higher profile courses are at $300 a round, the lower profile courses are at $175 a round,” Rodny said. “But the thing that is really keeping the golf resort in play is the fact that the hotels are incredibly full with group business.”

At La Quinta Country Club, where the amount of membership play is more important than guest fees for the course, Burmeister said the club’s response to increased play and waiting lists for membership has been to eliminate activities that aren’t specifically for members.

“We have become much more member-focused. We’ve done a lot of outside business through the years, (The American Express PGA Tour event) being an example of that,” Burmeister said. “And we are fully committed to that. But we’re doing less wedding business. We have committed to that plan as well. So certainly from an operation standpoint, we have become more member-focused, which in essence may increase dues over time, but it is more about member services right now.”

Burmeister also said increased revenue from the increase in play in the last three years has allowed La Quinta Country Club to make some long-term plans.

“We have already set our project for next year, which is a new irrigation system,” Burmeister said. “That has already been funded. We already know that.”

While the surge may have slowed in the desert, Rodny knows that the cycle for the game might end. But he also doesn’t know when that will be.

“The wave has to crash eventually,” Rodny said. “And then rise again.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=451191062]

Q&A: Alan Shipnuck goes deep about his new book ‘LIV and Let Die’

“It took a piece of my soul, but it was a super fun challenge.”

Alan Shipnuck’s latest book, “LIV and Let Die,” which went on sale on Oct. 17 (Simon & Schuster: $32.50), may be his best book yet – which is saying something.

Shipnuck, a longtime golf writer who now writes at the Fire Pit Collective, chronicles what he terms “the battle for the soul of the game” between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf League.

But this is a book – and a subject – that jumped off the sports page and onto the front page. It’s much bigger than just PGA Tour vs. LIV and he tackles it all.

Most impressively, Shipnuck succeeds in what I call “The Finding Nemo” test. Remember the Disney feel-good movie from 20 years ago? It was made for kids but there were so many one-liners and scenes that made the parents who had to sit through it cackle out loud. This book, which provides a history lesson on the last 50-plus years of the professional game, will be enjoyed by casual and non-golf fans alike but there’s so much new reporting and colorful, fresh anecdotes for even the most ardent golf fan and industry lifers.

With lawsuits flying and government interest of concern to his sources, Shipnuck has to rely on more off-the-record material and quotes than you’d typically like to see but in this case the trade-off seems worth it for the minutiae he digs up that confirm our suspicions to the various behind-the-scenes dealings by Saudi leadership and those in the Tour offices. And his trademark glib style means it can read a bit like the Page Six gossip column at times, but Alan’s gonna Alan!

He’s turned sections that could be drier than toast into a page-turner and every time I finished a chapter and thought, ‘OK, I need to do this chore or get some sleep’, it pained me to put it down, and usually I just powered on. That’s what a good book does, #amirite?

In this Q&A, Shipnuck shares a lot on how the sausage was made and sprinkles in some spicy takes along the way.

A planned golf entertainment center in a Florida golf hotbed has been halted — is this a sign?

“The world has changed significantly from the time we initially evaluated the opportunity,” a senior VP said.

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”b5b22055-8c69-4186-8375-d8426b37ec56″ cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

NAPLES, Florida — Golf entertainment center BigShots Golf was set to open in this town next year but now company officials have pulled out of their previous agreement with Collier County.

In late April, BigShots Golf Senior Vice President Randall Cousins stood in front of the Board of Collier County Commissioners and explained how the company had faced issues while financing the project. The board voted to give BigShots a 60-day extension to finish its budget and plans.

BigShots Chief Legal Officer Emily Decker emailed county officials on June 19 saying BigShots was terminating its land lease.

“There’s no one in the room that’s more disappointed than I am that BigShots canceled their lease,” Commissioner Burt Saunders said during Tuesday’s Collier County Commission meeting. “None of us could have foreseen that.”

Why did BigShots terminate its lease?

“The world has changed significantly from the time we initially evaluated the opportunity,” BigShots Golf Senior Vice President Randall Cousins said. “Today, we face increased costs in every major category, including financing, construction, and operations. In the past several months, we’ve explored many options to mitigate these challenges and invested several million dollars of sunk cost into development and materials. Unfortunately, we did not find a sustainable solution.”

Saunders said BigShots terminated its lease because the company was unable to finish financing the project within the allotted time.

“Quite frankly, the folks at Club Corp and BigShots really just weren’t communicating with us,” Saunders said. “They weren’t really honest with us as to what was really going on. As late as April they were in here talking about financing and we all knew that that was probably not the case.”

The commissioners gave the company six extensions but BigShots was unable to finish budgeting and planning by June.

“These challenges are not exclusive to Collier County, and we are thankful for the patience and support we’ve received from Commissioner Saunders as we evaluated and exhausted our options,” Cousins said.

What was BigShots going to offer?

BigShots was planning on opening an outdoor 12-hole golf course, virtual driving range, and restaurant next year in Collier County.

The driving range would have been two stories and offered feedback for golfers based on data from their swings.

The restaurant was going to be on-site with an option to have food delivered to the driving range.

How will First Tee be affected?

First Tee, a golf program for youth, was set to meet at the BigShots facility once it opened. Saunders assured that First Tee would still have a place to meet as he proposed the county still build a 12-hole golf course and clubhouse on the land. Saunders said he had already spoken with two developers about the project.

“They can do a golf course, that’s not a problem,” Saunders said. “They can do a driving range. Most importantly, they can provide the facilities needed for First Tee, and a little practice green and a little clubhouse and a restaurant. All of that can still go on this property. And quite frankly, that is the best use of that property for our community,” Saunders said.

Commissioner William McDaniel did not support the idea to build the golf course.

“I am totally in support of bringing the property forward [and] offering it up to a developer for a public golf course with a reduced rate for our residents,” McDaniel said. “But before we make a commitment on the expenditure of that $7 million right now, I would prefer we set that aside.”

He raised concern about the cost of the golf course when the county already has financial commitments to other projects.

Commissioner Rick LoCastro expressed support for the golf course, saying the project would benefit both the community and the county.

The motion to build the golf course passed 4-1, with McDaniel voting against it.

What’s happening with the land BigShots leased?

Originally BigShots was set to build its facility on 18 acres of land at the northeast corner of Golden Gate Parkway and Collier Boulevard. A state nursing home for veterans was going to be built on 11.7 acres at the northwest corner.

The board voted on Tuesday to switch the projects’ land. Now, the state nursing home will be built on 18 acres whereas the golf course amenities will be built on the 11.7 acres.

[lawrence-related id=778316247,778263294,778190837,778181346]

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is more entrenched than ever after PIF deal

“Jay took the arrows, he got lambasted and was burned in effigy, but is he going to lose his job? No.”

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”b5b22055-8c69-4186-8375-d8426b37ec56″ cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

During Tuesday’s PGA Tour players’ meeting in Toronto, Tour pros called PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan a hypocrite and said it was time for new leadership. The latter remark drew a standing ovation.

This moment in time happened shortly after Monahan blindsided the players he works for by announcing an agreement brokered in secret to merge commercial interests in a newly formed business entity with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the sole financier of the rival LIV Golf.

The optics following that meeting, which Monahan himself described as “heated” and “intense,” are that he’s in a tumultuous and weakened position. The knee-jerk reaction is to think Monahan has lost trust with the players and is a dead man walking.

But that is a short-sighted view, according to one former Tour pro.

“Survive?” he wrote in a text. “They are going to give him a raise and throw him a parade.”

The parade may have to wait several years for the anger to die down and for players to have been rewarded handsomely for being good soldiers during golf’s civil war. But the larger point is that Monahan’s in the strongest position he’s ever been in, which is hard to fathom after the beating he’s taken in the court of public opinion the last few days until you factor in that he’s CEO in the proposed for-profit enterprise and his only competitor is now his partner. He’s leading a new global golf entity and has two of his board members – chairman Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne – covering his flank.

“Can he survive it? He’s already come out on top. This is game, set, match,” said a former longtime PGA Tour executive, who knows the ins and outs of how the Tour operates. “Now we’re just dissecting the game: How was the Tour down two sets to one and all of a sudden they went 6-0, 6-0, we win. And, oh, by the way, the guy we just beat is going to be our new doubles partner.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan speaks during a news conference ahead of the 2022 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

In this brave new world, Monahan and board members Herlihy and Dunne are at the top of the mountain. According to the press release announcing the deal, the Tour will hold the majority of the board seats. This was a power play, a turf grab and Monahan protected his job all under the flag of ‘this is the best for the game.’

It took the two board members, Monahan’s consiglieres, to convince him to take a meeting with His Excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, who, sticking with the mafia theme, made Monahan an offer he couldn’t refuse. He finally realized that there’s no bottom to the Saudi pockets and that LIV wasn’t going away and would continue to poach players. So he sold his soul and took the money.

Then it became a matter of determining how he was going to justify his about-face and explain his utter lack of transparency to his membership. He could argue that the litigation was a drain on resources and that dropping it would avoid having its dirty laundry aired in discovery, which could be problematic. Monahan won’t publicly address some of the challenges the Tour was facing but sources say that there was pushback from sponsors asked to pony up more money for the designated events, which the Tour was funding this year through its reserves, and the TV networks were asking for modifications to their long-term agreements due to the loss of big names.

The Tour’s rainy day fund may not have been equipped to outlast the storm. Remove the source of the money and the deal makes a lot of the Tour’s problems go away, not to mention the financial woes of the DP World Tour. Taking the moral high road in the fight against LIV, all the anti-Saudi rhetoric turned out to be just another strategy to securing a better price. Monahan knew he’d be painted as a hypocrite and he made the deal anyway.

“Jay took the arrows, took the hit, he got lambasted and was burned in effigy, but is he going to lose his job? No,” said the former Tour executive.

But at least one agent to a multiple major winner was making phone calls on his players’ behalf to determine how Monahan could be ousted from office so that the unhappy pros could hit the pause button on the memo of understanding with the Saudis.

“It was an autocratic decision. This is supposed to be a member’s organization, right?” the agent said.

Dustin Johnson Jay Monahan
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan converses with Dustin Johnson on the seventh tee during a pro-am prior to the RBC Heritage at Harbor Town Golf Links on April 13, 2022, in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

But here’s the reality: the players have little to no recourse. They could have a majority vote to remove Monahan and it would only confirm how support for his leadership has dwindled. Monahan can only be ousted from above and that’s the board and two of the independent directors on the board are also on the board of the new entity.

There’s nothing in the Player Handbook labeled “how to replace the Commissioner.” But to organize a special meeting a player has to have a written request from two or more of the player directors of the Tour’s policy board or file a petition signed by no less than 25 percent of the voting members of the PGA Tour with the Commissioner. Within 30 days of receipt of the request of that petition, the Commissioner shall schedule and give notice to such a meeting. In short, to have a policy meeting requires a lot of leg work.

Monahan may have lost the faith of many of the players but there is no unified voice – they are divided over PIP, over designated events, etc. As one former Tour pro put it, “the majority of players just care if their direct deposit works on Tuesday.”

Unless the Tour’s policy board were to block the deal, which seems highly unlikely, Monahan’s job isn’t just secure, he’s more entrenched than ever before. No one has any leverage to unwind the agreement he’s made. The players don’t have a voice. They’d have to unionize against their own association. There is, however, one way Monahan’s power play could unravel: if the U.S. Department of Justice determines the proposed merger violates anti-trust rules. A DOJ probe is ongoing, but Herlihy, the Tour’s chairman and a lawyer by trade, co-heads one of the top law firms and his specialty is mergers and acquisitions. He’ll know how to lead the Tour through any murky waters.

“The corner office is set,” the former Tour executive said. Monahan’s legacy may look in tatters today, but in time his preemptive strike to end the hostility in golf and pump billions of dollars into the sport may have the same pros calling for his head to throw him a parade down PGA Tour Boulevard.

All it took was selling the PGA Tour’s soul less than one year after Monahan said it wasn’t for sale.

[lawrence-related id=778363195,778362926,778362914,778362595]

Maverick McNealy, who is named for the Ford Maverick, signs endorsement deal with the American carmaker

McNealy and his three brothers are all named after American cars, a nod to their family’s connection to the auto industry.

[mm-video type=video id=01h0rs7radgvxtx40rvf playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h0rs7radgvxtx40rvf/01h0rs7radgvxtx40rvf-07f1e41e7519ca1d9e89e5a946a4a323.jpg]

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – There are some sponsorship partnerships that just are so obvious.

Sam Ryder and transportation and logistics giant Ryder System, Peter Malnati and Malnati’s Pizza and, maybe the best of all, Brooke Pancake and Waffle House are just a few of recent vintage that jump to mind. Well, add Maverick McNealy and Ford Motors Co., to the list. The PGA Tour pro and the American carmaker announced an endorsement deal that started this week at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

McNealy, 27, and his three brothers – Dakota, Colt and Scout – are all named after American cars, a nod to their family’s connection to the auto industry.

The family’s ties to the innovative spirit of the Detroit auto industry and cars run deep. McNealy’s grandfather, Raymond William McNealy Jr., was vice chairman of American Motors, and an avid golfer. While McNealy’s father, Scott, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, claims he named Maverick after the Ford sedan, mom Susan says she named him after the Tom Cruise character in “Top Gun,” which was originally released in 1986.

Maverick McNealy, who was named after the Ford Maverick, signed an endorsement deal with Ford Motors. (Darren Reese)

The Ford Maverick was introduced in 1970 as the first American car to be marketed as a compact. It was designed to be an affordable, fuel-efficient car that could compete with the smaller, Japanese imports from Toyota and Datsun that were becoming popular in the U.S., and was produced until 1977.

According to Wikipedia, the Ford Maverick’s name was derived from the word for unbranded range animals, and the car’s nameplate was stylized to resemble the head of Longhorn cattle. The Ford Maverick was reborn as a compact pickup truck, starting with a 2022 model.

McNealy only has had two cars in his life. He drove a hand-me-down 2011 Ford Explorer in college and bought himself a 2021 Ford Explorer SC when he earned his PGA Tour card. On paper, the sponsorship deal with McNealy sounds like a no-brainer, but it took several years of dogged efforts by McNealy’s agent, Peter Webb, to bring it to fruition.

“It’s a tough brand to crack, so many layers, so many agencies but finally got it done,” Webb said.

As part of the program, McNealy will drive select Ford vehicles at different PGA Tour stops, including this week where his yellow Ford Mustang sticks out like a sore thumb in a parking lot full of Cadillacs, which is the official car of the PGA.

He will carry a customized Ford Maverick yardage book in his back pocket, and there also will be a digital campaign highlighting the different Ford cars and McNealy’s history with the brand.

“I’ve always driven Fords, my whole family drives Fords and it’s really cool now to be a Ford ambassador because it couldn’t be more who I am and what I like to drive,” McNealy said.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=]

What’s Nick Faldo’s next move after TV? He’ll start by teaming with a golf tour company

The six-time major champion was signed as a global brand ambassador.

Although Nick Faldo’s tenure as a golf commentator at CBS Sports is coming to an end, he’s not leaving the game completely.

The six-time major champion, who announced weeks ago that he’s retiring from his position on TV after the Wyndham Championship, was signed as a global brand ambassador for Hidden Links and a number of its sister companies — Golfpac Travel, Tee Times USA and Go Play Golf Gift Card.

Faldo, 64, won 33 times internationally and another nine on the PGA Tour. He won three green jackets at the Masters and three British Opens. His best finish in the U.S. Open was solo second in 1988; he also tied for second in the 1992 PGA Championship. Along the way, he held the top spot on the Official World Golf Ranking for 97 weeks.

Faldo also has a golf course design company, which has done work in more than 20 countries.

Meanwhile, Hidden Links books golf tours to Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales and other European destinations. The partnership makes sense since Faldo now lives in the Orlando area, but was born just north of London.

Golfpac Travel and Tee Times USA profess to be the largest golf tour operator in America.

Managing Partners Marc Bender and Adam Wachter released a statement saying they’re “absolutely thrilled to partner with Sir Nick Faldo. Sir Nick is a six-time Major Champion, Hall of Famer, universally respected figure in the world of golf, and for nearly 20 years has had an epic second career in network broadcasting sharing his wit, charm and knowledge. This partnership will be transformative for our businesses as we continue to positively impact the game of golf around the world.”

“With my upcoming plans to step back from full-time broadcasting, I will have the necessary time to be a great partner and contribute to their future growth,” Faldo said.      

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Is golf’s boom slipping? NGF reports number of rounds played have dipped, with weather largely to blame

Is golf’s boom chilling? Yes, and crummy winter weather is largely to blame as rounds have decreased year over year.

If you’ve recently tried at the last minute to book a weekend round of golf just about anywhere in the U.S. – especially if the weather was nice – you know how packed many courses are. Golf has boomed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and wise players have learned to schedule early.

But will the boom continue?

That question has been front and center on the minds of many course operators and industry insiders, and recent numbers provided by industry tracker Golf Datatech and the National Golf Foundation haven’t been entirely definitive on the recreational game’s trajectory. There are many factors to consider, with weather likely chief among them. But based solely on the number of rounds played, the sport in the U.S. is in decline compared to the boom years of 2020 and ’21.

Golf Datatech this week reported that rounds played in April 2022 in the U.S. slipped almost 13 percent versus the same period in 2021. That follows a 14.3-percent decline in rounds played in March 2022 versus the same month in 2021. Golf Datatech reports that total rounds played in 2022 in the U.S. have dipped 9.8 percent through April versus the same four-month period in 2021.

As golfers frequently love to do, you might be able to blame the frequently crummy weather more than a drop in interest.

The NGF reports that golf industry analyst company Pellucid Corp. says bad weather has been a major factor in the decline in rounds played. Pellucid reported that so far in 2022, playable hours dropped 14 percent. Pellucid uses detailed weather data from across the U.S. to determine playable hours, and its research showed that extreme cold, rain and snow kept players off the courses in many regions more frequently than in recent years.

And because fewer total rounds are played annually in the first several months of each year because of winter, especially in northern climates, the recent dip in rounds played likely will have only a small effect on total rounds played for the year. If the weather is better this summer, the game appears to be in good shape to continue its rebound – that assessment is based on the fact that club and golf ball sales have climbed 14 percent versus the same period in 2021.

So apparently there are plenty of players who have been stuck at home waiting for the weather to clear so they can use all those new clubs and balls. Our advice: Book early.

This all comes on the heels of some of the most dramatic increases in rounds played in history. The total number of rounds played in 2020 surged 13.9 percent versus 2019 as the pandemic shut down many alternative entertainment and exercise options. Rounds played increased again in 2021, rising 5.5 percent as the popularity of golf continued.

Are those kinds of numbers sustainable? Time will tell. But in the meantime, keep an eye on the weather and your favorite online tee time booking site.

[listicle id=778269723]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

KPMG severed ties with Phil Mickelson. Will others such as Callaway, Workday and Rolex soon follow?

During the 2020-21 season, Mickelson amassed around $40 million in endorsements.

The fallout surrounding Phil Mickelson’s allegiance to a Saudi-backed breakaway golf league continued Tuesday with news that one of his top endorsement deals has ended.

KPMG announced Tuesday afternoon that it concluded its relationship with the six-time major champion, a deal that reached back to 2008. Although the release said the two sides had “mutually agreed” to end their partnership, it was clearly a reaction to eroding support for Mickelson in the face of disparaging comments about the PGA Tour and the proposed Saudi-backed super golf league made to Alan Shipnuck that surfaced this week.

“The Tour likes to pretend it’s a democracy, but it’s really a dictatorship,” Mickelson told Shipnuck. “They divide and conquer. The concerns of the top players are very different from the guys who are lower down on the money list, but there’s a lot more of them. They use the top guys to make their own situation better, but the top guys don’t have a say.”

Mickelson also told Shipnuck that he was willing to deal with “scary motherf—-rs” in Saudi Arabia in order to gain leverage on the PGA Tour despite human rights abuses by the Saudis.

Soon after, Tour players began refuting Mickelson’s comments, including Billy Horschel, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously, but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” McIlroy said of Mickelson’s comments. “It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

[listicle id=778049864]

Not long after KPMG announced the split, the company had noticeably pulled all content involving Mickelson from its website. This move could signal the beginning of a groundswell, which the 51-year-old noted in his post.

“I have incredible partners, and these relationships mean so much more to me than a contract. Many have been my most influential mentors and I consider all to be lifelong friends,” Mickelson said via social media. “The last thing I would ever want to do is compromise them or their business in any way, and I have given all of them the option to pause or end the relationship as I understand it might be necessary given the current circumstances. I believe in these people and companies and will always be here for them with or without a contract.”

Other companies attached to the former Arizona State star include Workday, Callaway, Rolex, Amstel Light, menswear company Mizzen+Main, Intrepid Financial Partners and Instajet. Mickelson also co-founded the company Coffee for Wellness in 2020.

While players are paid handsomely for winning tournaments — for example, Mickelson made $2,160,000 by edging Louis Oosthuizen for the 2020 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island — the biggest paychecks come from sponsors, many of whom attach themselves to a star’s perceived personality and likability.

According to Forbes, Mickelson was 29th on the list of the world’s highest-paid athletes during the 2020-2021 season, amassing around $40 million in endorsement deals. Overall in his career, the 45-time PGA Tour champ has taken home about $800 million in endorsements. He’s earned less than $100 million in golf purses.

[vertical-gallery id=778047768]

Will other companies follow suit and drop the aging star? That’s yet to be seen. As of late Tuesday, Callaway and others still had pictures of Mickelson on their websites, and calls to his sponsors went unanswered.

While the ramifications will almost certainly accelerate in the short term, it’ll be interesting to see if Mickelson can rehabilitate his image over the long haul.

For example, blue-chip sponsors such as AT&T and Accenture dropped Tiger Woods in 2009 when news of his sex scandal broke, but he’s back atop the golf world when it comes to endorsements, with 2K Sports, Bridgestone, Centinel Spine, Discovery Communications, Inc, Full Swing, Hero Motocorp, Kowa Company Ltd., Monster Energy, Nike, Rolex, TaylorMade and Upper Deck in his stable. According to Forbes, Woods pocketed an impressive $60 million in endorsement deals during the 2020-21 season.

That was down from the $70 million Woods made in endorsement deals in 2008, before news of the scandal surfaced. At the time, Woods was far and away the most handsomely compensated spokesperson in golf.

Second that year? None other than Mickelson, with more than $52 million in endorsements.

It remains to be seen if that one-two combo remains in place in the future.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

‘The industry is ready to come back:’ Q&A with Marc Simon on the 69th PGA Show

Marc Simon discusses the 69th PGA Show to be held January 25-28 in Orlando.

After conducting a virtual show last year, the PGA Show returns to Orlando from Jan. 25-28. The 69th annual gathering of the golf industry will look different in size and scope thanks to COVID-19 concerns, but the Show must go on and Golfweek spoke with Marc Simon, event vice president for PGA Golf Exhibitions, who explained what to expect.

GWK: Why are we having an in-person show this year?

MS: That’s a great question. After having a virtual event last year, while so much of the feedback was positive and the educational component was good, people missed being together, the networking component and seeing, touching and feeling product. The industry is ready to come back. We have over 600 brands, 13,000 people pre-registered and the Show is an important conduit to drive the business of golf forward, to address the issues of the day, and how do we retain all the new players coming in. There’s no better way to do that than to meet in person.