Golf is Dying? That Apparently Isn't the Case for Fairfax County Park Authority

BURKE, VA — Golf is a dying sport that requires too much time from its participants, requires too much cash from its participants' wallets and has suffered mightily from the well-chronicled regression and absence of superstar Tiger Woods.

Or so goes the narrative.

Well, Roberta Korzen, who's in charge of golf marketing for the Fairfax County Park Authority, has something of a self-serving rebuttal she nonetheless can back up with facts.

"We're actually ahead on total rounds by 4 percent this year as opposed to last year, and we're actually increasing (participation) as opposed to declining," she said Wednesday. ". . .We're bucking the trend."

She also is aware of this past Saturday's business article in the Washington Post all but predicting the end of golf.

The headlines were jarring in both the print and digital versions.

Print: Whispers in the gallery get louder: Golf is dying

Digital: Golf is back in the Olympics. Too bad no one plays it anymore

"I didn't read the whole article but I got the gist of it," Korzen said with something of a rueful chuckle. "I mean, that's certainly something we're aware of, some of the things in the article, but again, we're moving in the other direction."

Korzen, a beginning golfer who likes to hone her talent at the Burke Lake Golf Center, says the parks authority has a database with some 20,000 golf customers. Among other things, they receive updates on the county's seven courses and news about kids programs and other golf-related activity.

"At least from my perspective, there's a false perception out there about golf," she said. "I guess I want to dispel those myths that golf costs too much and (only attracts people) of a certain age.

"All I can say is, that certainly is not the case with us."

Photo: Burke Lake Golf Center