Golf Inc. has the story about the biggest decline in golf rounds played in the USA since the 2002 recession directly after 9/11.

From Golf Datatech:

Golf rounds in the United States fell 1.8 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year, according to the year-end National Golf Rounds Played report.  The decline is the largest since 2002 – the year following the 9-11 tragedy – when rounds plummeted 3.0 percent.

Weak December play – with rounds plunging 6.8 percent for the month – ensured that the rounds total would drop for the second consecutive year.

Is there any more compelling reason to get TANG Golfing started right away?

A piece in Business Week about what courses are doing to survive may well sum it all up.

In Illinois, greens fees at the Greenview Golf Club in Centralia are down from $35 a round to $23, which includes a cart.

For the courses that survive, if they manage to keep prices where they are trending to now after the recession, then rounds and the number of players will increase.

The struggling economy has buried many golf courses in a financial sand trap, forcing owners to offer deep discounts to keep players and recruit new members.

The interesting thing is that this economy may compel golf to make the changes that it has to not only in order to survive, but in order to change the golf business model so that more people can play.  Remember, we've lost around 4 million golfers in the United States since 2000.  Just to get back to square from Tigermania, we would have to get all of them back into the game.  We can start with lower prices.