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SUMMER OF GOLF Swinging Surge

Local golf courses enjoy post-pandemic popularity boom

BY ZACH CAVANAGH, THE CAPISTRANO DISPATCH

For those with homes along the San Clemente Municipal Golf Course, Shorecliffs Golf Club or San Juan Hills Golf Club, if you’ve thought there’s been a torrid increase of shanked golf balls knocking on your windows and walls, you’re not hearing things.

There are now more golfers than ever before in the United States, as the sport has enjoyed an undeniable boom over the past two years.

Silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic were few and far between, but golf unexpectedly earned a shred of those. Pandemic restrictions meant that most activities or places to be were closed, but golf courses reopened quickly in 2020, as a socially distanced, outdoor recreation activity.

Interest surged almost immediately.

“We didn’t have enough parking in the parking lot,” Monarch Beach Golf Links general manager Eric Lohman said. “It was crazy. I’d never seen it before. People booking weeks out. The demand seemed to grow overnight.”

According to the National Golf Foundation, 2021 set a record with 3.2 million people playing golf for the very

Golf is a way of life for the 86-year-old Happy Golfer, Nick Karnazes of San Clemente. Karnazes loves his family, being Greek, his church (St. Basil in San Juan Capistrano) and golf—in that order.

Karnazes, who lives just off the San Clemente Municipal Course, has a sixword motto: eat, sleep, drive, play golf, repeat. Karnazes has dubbed himself as “The Happy Golfer,” and the game has taken him on a journey.

From his father giving him his first clubs as a teen, to making his high school and college teams through sheer determination, from competing in the Los Angeles Open at Riviera Country Club in 1973, to playing 96 rounds of golf—two in each of the contiguous 48 states—in 96 days traveling in a Winnebago in 2009, Karnazes has seen first time, with more than 3 million also trying the sport in 2020. Both records topped the previous recorded high of 2.4 million in 2000 at the height of the Tiger Woods boom.

Juniors entering the sport jumped by 24% in 2020, which held steady in 2021 and was the largest increase in junior golfers since 1997—the year Tiger Woods won his first Masters.

“Every demographic has increased,” Lohman said. “Women, kids, minorities, millennials. People that hadn’t ever come out before.”

In 2021, 37.5 million Americans played golf either on a golf course or off-course at a driving range, simulator or entertainment venue such as Topgolf. Of the 25.1 million people who played golf on a course in 2021, more than 6 million were women for the second year in a row and the first two years since 2007.

TEEING IT UP

Look no further for an example of this boom than the author of this very story.

I had played sparingly here and there over the years, with my greatest (and only) accomplishment being the golf merit badge in my time as a Boy Scout. After the shutdowns and with little else

plenty of fairways and greens.

With that experience, Karnazes has provided “The Happy Golfer’s ABCs of Golf” for players young and old to take to heart:

Golf surged in popularity because of its availability as a socially distanced, outdoor recreational activity among the pandemic restrictions of 2020. That popularity continued into 2021 with a record number of people trying the sport for the first time. Photo: Breeana Greenberg

for anyone to do, a couple of my friends who were regular golfers convinced me and more of our crew to join them one weekend, and I said, sure, why not? I still had a set of clubs. What did I have to lose?

Apparently, what I had to lose was numerous amounts of future weekend time, money on balls, apparel and equipment, and patience on days when I was still learning and could barely knock the ball out of the teebox. (Note: I am still very much learning, and while I can make contact, it’s still not terribly far, despite it more or less going straight.)

Basically, I had a new regular hobby, and like many, I was hooked.

Now, with two years of regular play

The Happy Golfer’s ABCs of Golf

BY ZACH CAVANAGH, THE CAPISTRANO DISPATCH

A • Absolutely the best game in the world.

B • Balance. In golf as in life, you must have balance. C • Competition. It’s you against the golf course. Good luck. D • Don’t give up. Never. E • Everlasting. Play from five to 95 years of your life. F • Fun. 18 chances to have a lot of fun. G • Give. Do it right, and the game will give you all you can handle. H • Happy. Very happy my dad got me clubs when I was 16 years old. I • Individual. It’s only you against thegolf course.

J • Jump up in the air when you make a birdie, par or even bogey. Show your feelings. K • Karnazes, Nick. The Happy Golfer. L • Love each and every minute on the golf course. M • Mental. It’s more than 100% in your brain before you put it in your hands. N • Nice. Nice golf hat, nice clubs, nice shot or nice round. O • Observe. Is it uphill? Downhill? Into the wind? Wind at my back? Always observe.

P • Putter. Don’t get me started. More than 50% of golf. Q • Quick. The opposite of slow, and golf and a few lessons under my belt, I’m ready to publicly display my below-average ability in this “Summer of Golf” series in the San Clemente Times, Dana Point Times and The Capistrano Dispatch.

Through the rest of the summer, I’ll be playing a South Orange County tour of public courses in our area. The idea of this series is to showcase some of the best public courses anywhere and detail what the experience of playing these courses is like through the eyes of the average new golfer who’s joined the sport’s ranks amidst this surge in popularity.

Check this space every week and follow my journey to maybe break 100 for the first time. See you on the links! CD

is in between. Have an even tempo. R • Right. Always keep the right score for yourself, in golf and in life. S • Strong. Be strong when you don’t play well, but stronger when you do. T • Together. I love my foursome. We have played together over 50 years. U • Use your brain, your clubs, your ability to perform. V • Victory. Feel your victory when you put your ball on the tee on hole No. 1. W • Whenever you get the chance, tee it up. X • X-ray vision for reading tricky breaking putts. Y • You. There is your golf ball. There is the hole. You make it happen. Z • Zzz’s. When you’re not golfing, sleep and dream about golf tomorrow. CD