Remember not so long ago, when farmers were actively encouraged to turn their fields into a golf course, because golf was deemed more profitable than farming? You don’t need to have been around in the days of Fred Daly to remember that; if you can remember John Daly, you know what I mean.

They say what goes around comes around and that certainly appears to be true in golf; now, it is golf courses that are being returned to agricultural land, for the value of farm land is now greater than its use in golf. Add in a number of golf courses that have simply closed owing to the global recession and it’s easy to see the industry may be heading – it’s not there yet – for a slump.

Everything has peaks and troughs of course, but if golf has its own recession it may have longer lasting effects than that of the economy. The high-end golf clubs won’t suffer; sure, they may make a little less profit than in previous years – or if it’s a members only club of course, they make no profit at all... just ask HMRC.

Those who can afford to be members of high-end clubs tend to be in recession-proof industries, or at least in positions where the recession does not hit them too hard. This view is reinforced by a conversation I had recently with a course owner across the channel, where golf is, he admitted, more affluent. He’s enjoyed a good start to the year and believes clubs in countries like France and Germany – where golf is still regarded as semi-elitist – are not feeling the pinch.

But further down golf’s food chain in the UK, smaller, less exclusive venues are being hit hard. And it should be a cause for concern. If dozens of courses providing affordable golf for all fall by the wayside while the upper echelons thrive, it will simply reinforce the perception of those outside the sport that it remains an elitist pastime – and if that view were to prevail it would once again be harder to attract youngsters into the sport.

As an industry, we can’t afford to turn the clock back 40 years; we can’t let the work of people like Seve Ballesteros go to waste. It’s in all our interests that golf remains buoyant, not just those clubs that can justify a £100 plus green fee.
We must work together to preserve the future of our sport and if that means burying the odd hatchet to work together for the common good, then so be it.