Happy Trends Tuesday!

Eight years ago I helped run the PR of a PGA tour in Madison, Wisconsin.

The event drew big crowds, but everywhere I looked, I only saw older white guys in polo shirts (like Brett Favre, ex-quarterback of Green Bay Packers👇). 

But golf has attracted an entirely different fandom since then.

With national golf day coming up, we’ll look at opportunities in this $102B sport's makeover today. 

In today's email…

• Golf is now for the masses – so are the profits
• Why nostalgia bait works, and how to make it work for you
• What we’re surfin’, from quitting 9-to-5 to making billions from Dune

Let's tee off! 

🤝 NEGOTIATE LIKE A BOSS

Train your brain for high-pressure situations. Take our negotiation strategy guide to dive into persuasion, soft skills, common mistakes, and countering objections.

🚀 WHERE TO BUILD NEXT

Golf is aging down and stylin’ up — how you can cash in

Remember when golf was the sport for wealthy grandpas in country clubs? 

No more – it has now passed the vibe check of a much younger, hipper, and more diverse crowd. 

RIP Richard Gilmore, you would’ve loved this trend. Source: Women in Revolt

There were a total of 45m golf participants in the US in 2023. Among them: 

• Nearly a quarter were people of color – a 43% jump from five years ago
• Female players took up 26%
• Over 50% of them are now Millennials, Gen Zers, or even Gen Alpha

The numbers look even better if we look at off-course only (golf that’s not played on a standard 18-hole course) – the average player age gets 11 years younger. 

We see plenty of opportunities to ride this golf craze and make some cash:

Golf fashion 

For the new fan base, golf’s role has expanded from a hobby to a lifestyle. 

And what’s a lifestyle without fashion? 

The $3.3B+ golf apparel market is ripe for the taking. For both on-course and off-course apparel, US sales in 2023 went up ~55% compared to 2019. 

Searches for “golf outfit” shot up on Pinterest in the past year. While interest can be seasonal, we’re still seeing unprecedented growth – the peaks keep getting higher. 

Source: Google Trends, six months rolling average

To play in this market, forget about white polos. Golf fashion is leaning more into streetwear, and used as a way of self expression. 

Design pieces that both function well and make a statement, like these Twisted Tea cheater pants that give you an extra ball, or the 420-friendly golf swag. 

To combat seasonality, you can even create a line of “grandpa-core chic” golf attire for men, suited for the colder months.

Or, zoom in the kids – the number of junior players increased by 40% from 2019 to 2023. The problem? They outgrow their clothes. You can start a secondhand marketplace for golf parents to sell used attire and shoes from their kids. 

All about the course

Managing a full-service golf course is a multifaceted job, and it’s gotten way more specialized and tech-driven in recent years. 

You can come at this opportunity in a variety of ways:

• Drones: Rent out drones to golf course owners and help them reduce labor costs. Drones can streamline routine course inspections and improve turf health with precise mapping. 

• Consulting: Become a sustainability consultant to help make golf courses more eco-friendly, like using water conservation or native plant integration to reduce costs, and attract environmentally conscious young players.

• Events: Find golf courses that are struggling, and help them attract new traffic through events and outreach, like corporate retreats, local tournaments, and themed parties. You’ll make valuable contacts in the industry and carve out a niche for yourself. 

If you own a golf course, or are considering building one, document the work — this kind of content is popular within the community. 

One guy built his first course for under $250k, and got 16k+ upvotes from fellow r/golf redditors. This video of someone weeding golf greens got 17.9m views on TikTok, and another one maintaining the greens got 2.2m views.

Off-course opportunities 

Many new players get introduced to golf through off-course settings. 

Driving ranges and family entertainment centers are worth $16.7B in the US. And eater-tainment venues – where you can play while dining – are having a moment.

You can focus on optimizing these off-course experiences, such as:

• Software to help eater-tainment restaurants optimize their customer experience
• Wearable devices to help new players analyze swing mechanics and improve their game
• A “DIY home golf simulator” kit that includes all the components needed for someone to build their own 
• An app to help players find driving ranges ("driving ranges near me" gets 107k searches/month, per Ahrefs)

However you slice it, golf is big business. So take your swing! 🏌️

🔎 OUR LATEST OBSESSION

Why we’re all willing victims to nostalgia bait, and how to turn the tables

If there’s one thing I can’t get out of my head lately, it’s this green guy. 

Ever since I saw the Heineken ad, I’ve made it my mission to own the boring phone. Sadly, it turned out to be ultra limited, with only 5k units available. 🥲

It’s now the screensaver for my smartphone. Source: Ad Age

I’m not the only one tempted by the allure of a simpler time. From devices to fashion to the snacks and media we consume, nostalgia is our generation's collective Roman Empire. 

Because of human’s tendency to romanticize the past, nostalgia has always been a marketing magic pill. Some are using “nostalgia bait” to describe campaigns that:

• Use references from pop culture, fashion, or historical periods to trigger positive feelings we have about those times
• Use this feeling to make you believe the new product they’re selling is as good as the original (it almost never is). 

But hey, I’m not here to caution you against it — adulting is hard, so if there’s a product that reminds you of your kindred kid spirit, why the hell not? 

Nope, I definitely haven’t Googled that. Source: Google Trends, six-month rolling average

For entrepreneurs, getting nostalgia right could do wonders for your own business. 

But there’s an art to making folks feel the fuzzies without being cheesy: 

👉 Nudge, don’t shout

👉 Be authentic

👉 Add a modern twist

👉 Don’t focus solely on one audience

Want to get the details on these tips, and see chock-full of examples of brands that did it right (and awfully wrong)? Go on, read this guide on all things nostalgia bait. I promise you'll be hooked. 🪝

🗂️ OPEN TABS

🐹 Work life: Are folks who got off the 9-to-5 hamster wheel happier now?

🔎 From X: You can make $$ from SEO in 8 hours. Here’s the play-by-play. 

🤓 Watch: How a data nerd made billions from Dune and Batman

💘 Mind game: Here are 5 psychological tactics to write emails that convert