33rd annual golf industry Open lunch held

As well as undertaking multiple research projects at The Open this year, SMS INC. was busy co-hosting the 33rd annual Golf Industry Lunch at Royal Birkdale.

For a ninth year, SMS INC. partnered up with the British Golf Industry Association (BGIA) and the Golf Foundation to host the Golf Industry Lunch, which supports the Golf Foundation’s initiative HSBC GolfRoots. The Lunch is a major event in the golf industry’s calendar, and is attended by key figures from all corners of the game. The lunch was attended by 145 of the industry’s most influential people.

The Lunch takes place annually and is an opportunity for experts to discuss the state of the golf industry, considering where new perspectives and expansions will be able to grow the game. A wide range of industry representatives attend and this year SMS INC’s John Bushell and Richard Payne, The BGIA’s Philip Morley and Brendan Pyle of the Golf Foundation each gave a speech. John Bushell’s speech contained a whole host of fascinating facts, here is a selection of them below.

7.1% increase in rounds played at the end of June 2017, the second best half year average in five years

12% increase in Holes-in-One achieved in competition

Third – placing of Shanshan Feng of China in the ladies event at the Olympics. The Chinese Olympic Committee has subsequently announced that golf will be one of their eight key focus sports for future Olympics

129,150 golf bags number of golf bags the team at SMS have been through on the European Tour since 1995

 

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A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.