Golf exploded in popularity during the pandemic, but the global supply chain crisis is making new clubs hard to buy

• Golf clubs and grips are in short supply due to global supply chain issues, Bloomberg reports.
• The shortages come at a time when golf is exploding in popularity due to the pandemic.
• 2020 saw the biggest net increase in golfers in 17 years, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Supply chain issues are plaguing the golf industry at a time when the sport is surging in popularity.

Golf clubs - including irons, drivers, and putters - as well as items like grips are in increasingly short supply as supply chain holdups around the world continue to make it challenging to source new products, Bloomberg's Michael Croley reports.

Custom-fit clubs are taking upwards of 12 weeks to arrive rather than 10 days. Titleist's parent company Acushnet has warned of ongoing supply chain disruptions. And golf equipment maker Mizuno told Bloomberg it went from expecting to have a surplus of leftover inventory to "practically having no inventory at all."

Of course, the golf world isn't the only industry severely impacted by issues with the global supply chain, which was completely upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Between work stoppages, labor shortages, shipping backlogs, soaring demand, and catastrophic weather events, many industries have been struggling to get their hands on the products, and even the raw materials, they need to keep running.

There are shortages of everything from chicken wings to glass bottles to computer chips - and, baristas fear, possibly even Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

Read more: The pandemic has exposed the problems with America's paper-thin supply chains. Industries have to change if the US wants to avoid another catastrophe.

But the golf industry is in the especially challenging position of having recently experienced an explosion in popularity.

There were 24.8 million golfers in the US in 2020, an increase of 2% from 2019, making it the biggest net increase in 17 years, Golf Digest reported earlier this year, citing data from the National Golf Foundation. NGF counted 6.2 million new players - either novices or those returning to the sport - which was a new record, according to Golf Digest.

"There hasn't been this much optimism and new activity in the golf business since the turn of the century," Joe Beditz, president and CEO of NGF, wrote on the organization's blog earlier this year.

As of July 2021, combined sales of golf clubs and golf balls were up 77% from last year and 35% from 2019, NGF reported.

The industry's resurgence can be attributed mainly to the ability for people to safely play the game during the pandemic - it's an outdoor and naturally socially distanced sport, and many courses were able to open up last spring, albeit with new safety precautions in place. That golf boom led to soaring sales early on of items like pushcarts for golf bags and, for the ultra-wealthy, $30,000 backyard putting greens to keep their skills sharp.