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The Future of Golf Depends on Saving Its Amateur Players
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Television audiences continue to follow new professional leagues and headline-making rivalries, yet another conversation is gathering pace across golf. Participation has climbed in recent years, and women now represent one of the sport’s fastest-growing demographics, accounting for more than 50 percent of the net participation gains. Governing bodies are also investing heavily in broadening access, aiming to attract 22 million more golfers over the next five years. Even so, many of the game’s strongest amateur players find themselves confronting a simple question once youth competition ends: where do they go next?
Elite amateur golf has continually produced many of the sport’s greatest competitors, but the structure between junior success and the professional ranks remains remarkably thin. Only a small fraction of accomplished amateurs will ever earn a living on tour, leaving many each year without a meaningful competitive pathway despite years spent developing their game.
As golf continues to grow, many within the sport argue that participation alone is no longer the benchmark that matters. Sustaining competition throughout adulthood has become an equally pressing challenge.
Women’s golf has added further momentum to that discussion. Record participation numbers and expanding television audiences have helped reshape perceptions of the women’s game, yet competitive opportunities remain uneven once players move beyond collegiate golf or choose not to pursue a professional career.
Accessibility increasingly extends beyond learning the sport. It also means creating places where talented players can continue competing regardless of financial circumstances.
Alan Fadel believes this overlooked space has become one of golf’s defining opportunities. Instead of focusing on professional prize money, the president and chairman of the Amateur Golf Alliance (AGA) has spent the past decade building competitive structures intended to reward ability first. His argument is straightforward. If elite amateur golf disappears, the sport risks losing one of its strongest traditions.
The movement traces its roots to the Concession Cup, an international competition inspired by the famous concession during the 1969 Ryder Cup. Originally launched as a biennial contest between elite American, British and Irish mid-amateurs before expanding to include Europe and women’s competition, the event gradually evolved into something larger after its reception convinced organizers that amateur golf required broader support.
“I think the catalyst was how well the Concession Cup was received,” Fadel says. “Especially by the women who have very little to compete in. We feel like having the opportunity to make this team will engage women in the game, especially in the mid-amateur game.”
Today, the Amateur Golf Alliance operates as a non-profit think tank dedicated to strengthening elite amateur competition. Alongside staging international events, it has funded college players who previously lacked financial resources and provided stipends to other members of amateur golf team practice squads so they could compete on equal footing. It also developed player-performance technology, launched a national golf championship with the National Links Trust, and continues expanding opportunities for mid-amateur women through one of the world’s highest-rated competitions in that category.
Each initiative reflects a philosophy Fadel believes has become increasingly important as golf’s financial landscape changes. “After what’s happened with LIV Golf and the purses on the professional tours, money is just taking over the sport,” he says. “We’re trying to construct elite competitions where money for the players isn’t the primary focus. They’re doing it for the love of the game.”
His emphasis repeatedly returns to merit. “We’ve tried to elevate people and help them reach where they should be on the basis of merit and nothing else,” he says.
Fadel speaks from personal experience. Raised as a caddie, golf earned him a university scholarship before leading to a season on the PGA Tour and decades of success as one of Ohio’s most accomplished amateur players. Looking back, he sees every opportunity in his own career as evidence of what access to the game can create.
“My motivation is I’m just paying back what I’ve received,” he says. “Golf got me a free education. I qualified for the professional tour. None of this would’ve been possible except for somebody bringing me into the game. We want to bring people into the game in hopes they’ll receive the same kind of benefit, and more.”
As the sport continues working to expand access and attract younger generations, workforce development has become a growing part of the conversation, highlighting golf’s potential as a source of professional opportunities both on and off the course. Fadel has brought that perspective into his work through a workforce development program in Washington, D.C., supported by both AGA and the National Links Trust. The program introduces inner-city students to the operational side of golf facilities, from course maintenance to daily club operations, while giving participants insight into the range of careers connected to the sport.
Perhaps the most ambitious goal lies in preserving what Fadel calls golf’s “missing middle”. He points out that numerous accomplished junior golfers eventually reach an age where professional careers become unlikely, yet structured elite competition largely disappears. Instead of viewing that point as the end of competitive golf, Fadel argues it should become the beginning of another chapter.
“We think it’s about playing the game for a lifetime and playing at the elite level as long as you can,” Fadel says. “We’re hoping to fill that gap.”
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