"The majority of people who buy homes in golf course communities don't play golf. Golf is way down at the bottom in terms of total numbers and growth"
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McMahon’s line lands like a cheerful emcee yanking the curtain back on an entire slice of American lifestyle marketing. Golf course communities sell “golf” the way cruise ads sell “the sea”: not as an activity, but as a mood board. Manicured greens read as status, calm, and order - a ready-made postcard of prosperity that requires no actual tee time. The sting is that the product isn’t the sport; it’s the scenery, the bragging rights, and the promise of a certain kind of neighbor.
His phrasing is tellingly blunt: “majority” versus “don’t play golf” isn’t just trivia, it’s a diagnosis of consumer aspiration. People aren’t buying into a game; they’re buying into the idea of being the kind of person who could play, who might play, who belongs near people who play. That’s the quiet American trick of the late 20th-century leisure economy: identity as real estate upgrade.
The second sentence sharpens the cynicism with numbers. “Way down at the bottom” punctures the cultural myth that golf is endlessly expanding - an executive pastime destined to grow with suburban affluence. McMahon is hinting at a market reality developers and advertisers would rather keep off-camera: golf as a brand is doing the heavy lifting even as the sport’s participation softens. The context is a boom-and-bust rhythm in amenity-driven housing, where “lifestyle” outlives the hobby it’s supposedly built around.
His phrasing is tellingly blunt: “majority” versus “don’t play golf” isn’t just trivia, it’s a diagnosis of consumer aspiration. People aren’t buying into a game; they’re buying into the idea of being the kind of person who could play, who might play, who belongs near people who play. That’s the quiet American trick of the late 20th-century leisure economy: identity as real estate upgrade.
The second sentence sharpens the cynicism with numbers. “Way down at the bottom” punctures the cultural myth that golf is endlessly expanding - an executive pastime destined to grow with suburban affluence. McMahon is hinting at a market reality developers and advertisers would rather keep off-camera: golf as a brand is doing the heavy lifting even as the sport’s participation softens. The context is a boom-and-bust rhythm in amenity-driven housing, where “lifestyle” outlives the hobby it’s supposedly built around.
Quote Details
| Topic | Marketing |
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