“Pickleball will be bigger than golf in 5 years.” So says Hank Haney, one of the most famous golf coaches in the world.
Coach Of Tiger Woods
Hank is a professional golf instructor best known for having coached Tiger Woods. He now owns and operates a golf instruction business and is still considered one of the best coaches in the world.
Haney has also added pickleball to the repertoire of sports he participates in. He has become a pickleball addict and even has a personal court in his backyard.
Haney was a guest on his friend Tyson McGuffin’s The McGuffin Show when he made his prediction. He also revealed he had taken up the sport and was obsessed. These announcements were pretty shocking coming from someone so ingrained in the world of professional golf, but as we all know, the pickleball bug can bite hard and bite fast!
Pickleball is way overrated but it is about 1/100 the cost of golf and takes a lot less time. You don't need a pickleball "pro" like CPG and you don't have to pay high-priced talent like Miguel.
— dave winn (@dwinn2001) March 5, 2023
Residential Communities And Resorts Already Switching To Pickleball
Further evidence has also appeared in other major publications this year: Bloomberg, Axios, Forbes, and Architectural Digest have all run stories comparing pickleball favorably to the golf industry.
The main difference with pickleball is its extremely low-priced entry point – players only need a paddle versus a full set of clubs.
Many housing communities and golfing resorts have added pickleball facilities to their portfolios. The Architectural Digest article features CEO Mike Meldman of Discovery Land Companies explaining that all their properties now come with pickleball courts, and most will double their pickleball capacity in the next few years.
This article describes how the Hilton chain now offers pickleball courts at six of its hotels.
A pickleball facility costs peanuts if you compare it to the construction of a golf course. The courts require very little upkeep, while maintaining a golf course is astronomical, not to mention a pickleball court’s relatively tiny footprint. Court rental fees are also only a fraction of green fees.
Money talks when all is said and done; a cheaper pastime with the same or greater demand will always come out on top. Maybe one day soon, pickleball really will overtake golf.
