In the constant battle for new golfers, digitalisation is a fixed term in the debate over the right strategies. Without a Trackman range, indoor golf, YouTube golf videos and a swing app on the smartphone, the game is completely unattractive, especially for tech-loving teenagers, according to all digitalisation fans in the golf industry.
Pure nature without digital technology also has its appeal. If you work your way through mental health guides, longevity seminars and serious studies, you will quickly realise that a round of golf without any digital devices can provide your stressed mind with a little peace, relaxation and recuperation.
A way out of digital addiction
Incidentally, a critical look at our own behaviour quickly exposes our digital addiction. On the putting green, headphones are plugged into your ear, blaring an audiobook or the latest political podcast. On your wrist is a smartwatch that records your every step. At the end of this round of golf, it will probably be around 12,000. Great. Goal achieved. But to be honest, do I need a smartwatch to tell me that golf is a real exercise sport? Not really.
Can we still play 18 holes of golf without any digital devices on our bodies or in our bags? Leave the smartphone in the car? Count the distance using the markings on the edge of the fairway and your own steps, and train our swing feel for distances? Do nothing but play golf for four hours, talk to flight partners, listen to the sounds of birds, wind and the clacking of balls?
Digital detox as a marketing message
Digital detox on the golf course is a marketing tool that we underestimate in its importance, especially when we think of parents and their children. With all the hype about the most innovative golf apps, training aids and entertainment aids, it is rarely considered that there is also a need for other things. The tranquillity that nature exudes around golf courses can have an attractive effect. It enhances the pure golf experience and is a selling point for the sport of golf.
Children need to experience nature
The positive influence of experiencing nature on children in particular has been studied many times in science. Their healthy development is therefore also linked to experiences in nature. If you talk to parents who are fighting the daily battle to regulate their children’s smartphone use, they will tell you that four hours on the golf course also means four hours without a cell phone. What’s wrong with building nesting boxes, fishing in a pond with a landing net and observing a few tadpoles through a pocket magnifying glass during a week-long children’s youth camp? Getting out into nature is a program that many parents are desperately looking for.
Leisure providers, training institutes and private coaches are now selling the experience of nature as a valuable commodity. With golf, it is automatically included. An advertising message could hardly be better.
