2020 has been a crazy year, to put it mildly … and it’s not over, as I write on September 30.

If there’s some good news, it’s that golf has prospered. Golf, for many years, was not really going anywhere. It wasn’t moving up and it wasn’t really going backwards. The situation varied regionally but golf was in stasis. That all changed this year when golf was, for many people, their only way to get outside and have some fun. It’s been very hard to get tee times at thousands of courses around the world. Everyone hates it happen this way … but it happened.

I live in a ski town. We shut down in mid-March and the lifts did not spin. In mid-April, I boldly predicted the town would be a ghost town. It’s been busier than ever this summer and fall … so my predictions are very poor! Shows you how much I know.

What’s going to happen to the golf industry when things get back to normal? Will people leave golf courses for other sports and pastimes? Who knows? Who knows what normal will look like?

However, course operators and others in the business need to use this opportunity to market like crazy. If you’re in the industry, you’re probably thinking, “Why market now? We’re turning people away.

As a direct response copywriter, I’ve worked with top direct marketers. One thing I’ve discovered: they market like crazy when things are going really well. The foot is always on the gas pedal … to use a dreadful cliché.

If you’re involved in some type of golf marketing … use this opportunity to market more than ever. Your efforts will pay off when the golfers who are currently packing our courses start to drift away because they have other opportunities for recreation.