Garlogie_Granite

Ballater 36er this weekend, one of my fave courses, weather looking good. Excited already, COGG!

Other reasons to factor in are golf just being in a cycle.Hillwalking(my pastime) 20/30 years ago had lots of teens/twenty somethings on the hills,10 years ago we were asking where the heck are they all? 

Back to crawling with the blighters these days.

Add in smaller families,and replacement incomers not being too Golf orientated

aye, it's currently cycling and running that seem to be the flavour of the day

I was at the 1990 Scotland v England grand slam rugby game where I think FOS was first sung as the "national anthem". That is a moment that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

 

 

me too, my wedding day. fuck sakes. we beat hearts 4-0 in cup same day

In 1975, the school I had just moved to, Hazlehead Academy, with 1,000 pupils, located next door to a golf course, one of the best in the world, designed by probably THE best golf course architect in history, couldn't raise a 4 man team for the De Beers national school championship because only 3 of us played golf.

 

Golf exploded in the second half of the 70's and it was COLOUR television, that new innovation that helped to boost popularity. It was never a mainstream sport before then but the decline over the last 25/30 years has been steady and consistent, so much so that it will become a marginal sport again unless the governing bodies have the courage to look in the mirror and confront the truth.

Aye you're probably right, you're a fair bit older than me I think, but I seem to recall when I was little golf was viewed much like Bowls - "a game for aul' mannies" - it sure looks like it's going there again. Very sad.

I am possibly younger than you Garlogie, don't know.  But the four majors haven't been on BBC for as long as I can remember.

 

The earliest US Open I can recall for example I think was when Tom Kite won, back in 92 and that was on Sky, as was the US PGA at that time which was 26 years ago.

 

You may think the "Tiger effect" is rubbish but golf was booming here when he was at his peak around 2000 and by then most of the golf was on Sky bar the Masters, Open and PGA at Wentworth.  The downturn coincides more with Tiger's demise than with golf moving away from the BBC.

 

I don't dispute that lack of TV coverage on mainstream tele affects kids taking up the game but most kids nowadays have Sky in the house so its effect is not as great as some would make out.

Sorry, no, golf was not booming around 2000. And you've made my point perfectly regarding majors, SKY came along, started hoovering up torunaments, participation went down. 

 

Golf was booming in the 80s, at a time when locally we built Newmacher, Portlethen & Peterculter, and Alford, Newburgh, Oldmeldrum, Kintore, Kemnay & Insch went to 18 holes, and clubs had waiting lists everywhere.

 

By 2000 the decline was well underway. I went to an SGU presentation about 5 years ago a large part of which was how were we to recover from the "lost generation" of golfers. The downward slide of active golfers since the mid-80s was clear, and in contrast to the boom in USA & rest of the world, which *was* Tiger driven.

Isn't it obvious?

I think we can all agree that Westhill is a shite location for any sort of sporting activity....

...weeeeell, there's that "sport" initiated by the planting of pampas grass  (allegedly)

No mixed message - shame the Open is now on Sky but if you are willing to pay for it the coverage is great.

 

The game has been on it's knees for the last few years, it will pick up again.  Losing one week's golf in the year to Sky will not be the end.

Nope, you're missing the point.

 

Kids ape what they see. Wimbledon is on, suddenly you see kids out in the street with tennis rackets.

 

Golf used to have half a dozen ordinary tournaments, plus the 4 majors on BBC, and in the 80s the game boomed because of it, driven by the success of Lyle, Faldo, Woosie and the Ryder Cup teams.

 

The timeline of decline coincides nicely with tournaments going to Sky, it's been great for the pros, especially in America, but for participation it's been horrific.

 

Companies spend billions on marketing because it works, by accepting the short term Sky $$$, the R&A abdicated responsibility for the wellbeing of the game, probably because they are a bunch of old duffers with no idea about media presence and advertising.

Agree re Portlethen,a tidy but drab course.

Portlethen is lucky we have Westhill GC to stop it claiming the crown of worst golf course in the north east. 

Also don't underestimate the Tiger effect.  His time out of the game has had a MASSIVE effect on the viewing figures for TV golf and probably therefore had a knock on effect on participation levels.  Hopefully folk might start taking an interest again now he is back.

Rubbish. Only in America.

Mixed messages here.

 

It is a disaster for golf in the UK that the BBC have been trumped by Sky. This is the biggest mistake of judgement the R & A have ever made so whether the presentation is better, light years better, the same or worse is unimportant. It is the limited exposure and the vastly-reduced TV audience numbers that will accelerate the already declining - and in my opinion, terminal - trend.

Absolutely totally and utterly agree. Blinkered clueless thinking from the R&A. "Oh we've got £10m, think what we can do with that" they parroted.

 

Well unless it's to provide free golf for kids, fuck all mate.

Is it just me or do female porn stars always seem to have really duff tattoo's??

They have tattoos? 

Was just thinking (and especially in light of what's happened in the past 48 hours) that once the new stadium is built that the 4 stands should be named in recognition of our greatest servants. you can argue the toss about which ones to add the name to but I'd go with...

 

Mainer.......Gothenburg Greats Stand

 

Opposite side.....Sir Alex Ferguson Stand

 

Home end.....Willie Miller Stand

 

Away End....Donald Family Stand

 

This ensures our greatest team, manager, player and board members are remembered forever. No doubt Milne will want to claim his piece of history too. So I propose naming the onsite pub "Wiggy's"

 

Thoughts folks?

Sorry, I already have copyright on "The Wiggy Dome" for the stadium.  I'd call the bar "Tatties"

So very sad, I watched "the goal" last night, beer in hand, and quietly shed a tear outside in semi-darkness on my bench.

Farewell tour next year. My first ever album was Wild, Willing and the Innocent 

 

What's interesting about the Guardian story, is that it doesn't say who's liable for the cost. It looks like it's just the company informing their shareholders rather than an increased debt of the Scottish government. In which case, excellent contracting, for once.

For twice, ScotGov did the same for the Queensferry crossing. Any excess hits shareholders not taxpayers.

I live in the centre of town

 

I know it’s colder in the country but I remember scraping ice off my car windscreen once this winter.

 

Let’s double it and say twice.

 

Damp grey miserable we can all agree with but it hasn’t been cold.

 

It’s a lie

Get up earlier in morning then ya lazy coont 

 

Scraped my way through the whole winter, there was rarely a morning I wasn't out there de-icing

 

 

However, there's many pushing for a Pittodrie redevelopment with a reduced capacity, so strawberries and grapes.

...or a bunch of plums?

Your last point is very valid Rico.

 

The issue none of us really know is the proportion of the regular attenders that live in the city itself and the proportion that come from elsewhere.  Can anyone really say with any degree of accuracy what that split would be, I doubt it.

Club say it's 55/45

 

 

There are just so many ways that they are going to piss me off before Westhill United's first game.

 

 

Garlogie Galacticos

I'm saying that the facilities are not crap.

Do I have to look back through the thread to find the quote where you stated that you don't attend Pittodrie because of the hassle involved in the commute from Garlogie? I'm not quite sure what makes you think that the opposite won't be true?

Did you even read what you've quoted there?

 

 

Really take it you have not been to Livingston and Paisley recently.

Proper stadiums, like we're building 

A touch patronising. I'd suggest that DD is more likely to be able to think for himself than those attracted to the shiny new thing for the first few years of its existence. Take me for instance: I've said I'll go to the Westhill arena when it's built. However, I'm also know that I wouldn't have travelled to Westhill during the Paterson, late Calderwood and McGhee eras. Whilst we may be replaced by others, you're very reliant on those "others" being as "hardcore" as the likes of me and donsdaft. That generational thing for us, that may or may not be acquired by those that come after. What I, and others, are saying is that we'll find it a lot easier to give up as there just isn't the same pull toward Westhill that makes the trip worthwhile. Hopefully Westhill will breed the next generation of super-fan, as folk like me and DD will need replaced when the time comes. It's clear that there is a very small window in which to do this, and anyone who understands the dynamics of Scottish fitba would probably realise that the odds of this aren't great. There is a good chance that the core support (let's say season ticket holders for sake of argument) will be less than current after ten years at the new stadium, and that is the measure it should be held to. Out of town developments are not the future.

What circular nonsense. It's all been said before, but for every toonser who can't bother their arse with that massive 6 miles trip from city centre, there's a teuchter (and a lot of toonsers tbf) for whom the new stadium will be a dream to get to/from by comparison to Pittodrie, and for whom the hassle (if your theory is to be believed) will have caused them to miss a few games during the Paterson, late Calderwood and McGhee eras.

In fact quite the opposite.

 

 

 

If I don't go at first I very probably never will go.

 

 

I really don't expect the powers that be would notice my "little protest"

You'll be missing out then, it'll be a shame for you, as there's nothing better than a modern fully enclosed stadium.