[minnship8]

With all the bashing going on about who's responsible for the decline in trapshooting numbers, I thought I'd give a little perspective. Here is what they are talking about in golf...(from the article linked above)

...Since Tiger Woods joined the PGA Tour in 1996, broadcast golf has enjoyed a decade-and-a-half-long financial boom. That same year only nine players earned more than $1 million. By 2012, that number had ballooned to 100. But even as the money in televised golf has grown, participation has shrunk. The sport loses about 1 million players per year. ...

...Barney Adams, the founder of Adams Golf, the last truly successful independent club manufacturer, is unapologetically pessimistic about other small companies’ odds of survival....Adams’s assessment of golf’s demographics and his conclusions about what they mean for the business are brutal. “Look at the average age of today’s golfer,” he says. “Half are over 40. How does that forecast into the future? If you look out 50 years, golf becomes squash.


Perspective can be a wonderful thing if viewed from the outside.

Regards,

Chip

 

[Scott Johnson]

Chip,
the reason for the decline in Golf is because we moved the Grand from Vandalia to Sparta.......really, no $hit....LOL. Scott

 

[V10]

Not a problem.

They're going to change all the golf courses over to sporting clays.

 

[Auctioneer]

The decline in the sport is a number of things.

Cost to shoot. Shells, gun, reloading equipment, components, finding components, traveling cost.

Go to a shoot and get your a$$ kicked by a sandbagger.

Rules change to the point you don't know whats what.

The ATA doing what it wants and not listening to the members.

The Grand moving to a ANTI GUN STATE didn't help. Not a good place for a gun group.

When things change to where one and all are on a even field then the sport might recover.

 

[silver sides]

If a sport can't be played on a smartphone,it's doomed!Ask the younger generation what there're spending on smartphones and cell plans.And of course hang out at the sportsbar a couple times a week.The trend is spending on "sit down" sports

 

[minnship8]

V10,

It's a viable solution to the Goose Poop problems on the greens.

Regards,

Chip

 

[Fox32]

For Golf to survive they need to have three holes on every green.

 

[ring3]

I gave up golf and took up trap.

Travel about the same.

Costs a little more.

Components tight but I've found what's needed.

Rules; I read them and remember them best when they are applied to a situation.

ATA provides structure for my sport. I'm pleased with it's performance.

Sandbaggers, not sure I know any. May be because I don't pay attention.

List of anti gun states seems to be growing. Probably can't hate or avoid them all. Might even help turn the tide of perception using their facilities for large events.

Grand is on my "Bucket List". It will be a few years but I'll get there. I'm enjoying a declining sport with a number of friends. I sure hope this is just a valley and interest once again increases.

Rob

 

[Gapper]

If half the people are over 40 then the other half are . . . . rocket scientists?

 

[9point3]

Look at parcipitation and attendance across the board in all sports.

It's not just trap.

 

[Scott Johnson]

Another reason for the decline in Golf was Tiger getting caught, see human nature is a funny beast. There are two things that really P.O. people, one is someone who has a lot more money than them and the other is someone that gets 10 times more action than them. See Tiger had both and since his public announcement on that, well Golf is in a death spiral and now you throw in Sparta, 3 hole targets and 1200 f.p.s. loads, well that was the icing on the cake. YMMV I could be full of B.S. Scott

 

[Jim Tyner]

"I could be full of B.S."

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Good for you. LOL

JT

 

[redudley]

I hung up my golf clubs and returned to trap shooting last year. While I like hitting a golf ball, it is slightly more fun to smoke targets. Besides, I like shotguns much more than golf clubs while both sports carry good portions of sportsmanship and social interaction.

There are more youngsters shooting trap today than when I stopped shooting trap 12 years ago. It was very encouraging to see so many high school young people at the Tn and Ky state shoots last summer shooting in scholastic and other locally sponsored programs. The programs for youngsters should be a success since many of us understand the addiction to trap shooting is very powerful.

Fortunately, there is a future.
Ralph

 

[blacklab]

length does not matter in golf or other things. you fill in the blank. what does matter is the tightness of the target.

 

[Scott Johnson]

Blacklab.............LMAO. Scott

 

[himark]

V10 posted his graph on another thread with Grand attendance. To me that says it all. The most ALARMING RED FLAG, is not how many were at the Grand or our declining current #'s. It is the lack of youth! Think about it our youth shooting is exploding off the charts and yet we retain hardly any. This is a fact that needs addressed. There is our problem and should be the top priority to the ATA...Not trying to hold onto there cheese they have.

 

[grntitan]

Auctioneer,

I am curious. What part of the Grand being in an "ANTI GUN STATE" as you put it, has affected you most? What restrictions apply to you now that didn't with the Grand in Ohio? This I gotta hear.

 

[Big Jack]

Yes, presently, there are an abundent number of youngsters in the trap game. Check the history of young shooter participation. Once they reach a point that they have to pay for their own shooting the number greatly reduces. I glad to see the youth programs continuing. The expense to participate is more then most young can bear. It has always been my conclusion that they have the best of all when starting young. They have the eyes, the reflexes, and usually have dad or grandpa paying the bills. Now, find a sport that requires thumb dexterity and today's youth would run away with the game.

Big Jack

 

[minnship8]

himark,

Too expensive. While parents can pay to play in JHS and HS, once college comes around there's no time and after college, most parents won't pony up. Then comes mortgages, wives, kids, college.

I began shooting trap at 12, quit at 16, re-entered at 53...with time and money and a long enough standing marital relationship that my wife likes having me gone now .

Regards,

Chip

 

[trappermike]

Absolutely right, chip.