Peter Williams: Aussie survey sets template for New Zealand

Australian golf has again gone in search of what its players thinks and want. The second Australian Golf Consumer Survey has been emailed to around 30,000 players with answers to be filled in online. Because it's only ticks and spots and not written opinions, the whole process takes about five minutes.

The survey's main sponsor is the Australian Golf Union, the amateur administrative body for the game in that country but the Australian PGA, most equipment manufacturers and suppliers, a credit card company and business advisers Ernst and Young are also involved.

The release launching the survey quotes Jeff Blunden from Ernst and Young's Golf Advisory Group saying: "There are certainly some challenges being faced at the moment and the industry needs to better understand its customers and how their needs are changing."

While there are no details in that generalisation, the content of the survey makes it's pretty clear just what the challenges are.

There are questions on types and costs of club membership, how far you're prepared to travel to play, how much you spend on golf, what equipment you like best and why, what golf you like on TV and what professional tournaments in Australia matter the most. (As the number of tournaments on the circuit there is declining at an alarming rate, it's hoped that all of them matter.)

So Australia appears to have the same issues that face golf in this country - a declining and ageing club membership with not enough players in the 'married with mortgage' category, a sluggish equipment industry, busy city golf courses but under-used layouts in the country and a battling professional tournament scene.

The first survey conducted in 2003 revealed some encouraging future trends. Half of those surveyed hoped to increase their participation in the next two years.

A higher percentage of females expected to play more often in the next two years compared to men. Has reality matched expectation?

Among those classed as social golfers who were not members of clubs in 2003, 78 per cent said then they'd like to become members. The main reason they weren't in a club was that it was too expensive.

There were other intriguing statistics from that inaugural survey. Seventy seven per cent of golfers were married. But of those, only 35 per cent had spouses who played. Many of us already know how damned hard it is to convince some people of the merits of this wonderful game!

The most frequently upgraded club is the driver. Over five per cent change their big club at least once a year but the internet is not a popular place to buy clubs.

Forty per cent of golfers predominantly used the web for results and tournament news.

In a trend that is beginning to develop here, forty percent of respondents in Australia in 2003 said they would like to live in a golf community. That surely is encouraging news for the developers at places like Gulf Harbour, Kinloch and the Lakes Resort at Pauanui.

The new survey will run for about two months in Australia and it's likely to be next year before the results can be collated and compared to 2003. But the game across the Tasman is building a valuable resource.

The new amalgamated New Zealand Golf comes into official existence on Monday week. One of the first tasks is surely to start gathering the same information in this country.