The ModGolf Podcast: Fun Is The Leading Message - Jay Karen, CEO Of The NGCOA
(October 16th, 2024) - In this edition of the ModGolf Podcast, show creator and host, Colin Weston, speaks with Jay Karen, the CEO of The National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) to hear his take on how golf courses will navigate the upcoming decades as climate change, technology, entertainment and sustainable practices present new opportunities and challenges for the golf industry.
Jay has been the CEO at The NGCOA National Golf Course Owners Association since 2015.
"I would call it The American Dream Story where a family had a golf course for 50 years and they sold it to a developer for 10 times more than it's worth as an operating golf course. But the problem from a supply and demand standpoint is those courses are closing down. So where is the affordable public golf going to be? Municipal golf courses are positioned perfectly to continue to be the place where everybody can play golf because they're near urban population centers.
When you take those trend lines of the supply side of the American golf industry, it would not be surprising if 75 years from now we have 10,000 golf courses not 15,000, and we have 5,000 golf cafes like there are in South Korea. So if the future we will have a very different mix of supply of golf experiences in America."
- Jay Karen, CEO at The NGCOA
"It's in the DNA of the citizenry to keep those city golf courses as green spaces and not convert them to urban development. There's a protectionism towards not developing our existing city golf courses to keep them intact. For as many people who say we should shut these down, there are stronger voices that say, "No, we should keep them open and here's why it's because they are good for our communities."
- Jay Karen, CEO at The NGCOA