Depends on your financial situation. People who have deep pockets do whatever they want. Pay for all the new clubs and accessories, apparel. Have no problems paying for greens fees, etc.

For the broke ass Joe who has a budget it simply gets too expensive to play as much as they would like to.

For the casual players who arent that good they either get too frustrated and quit or they dont see paying the exorbitant prices to pay for a game they suck at. I dont blame em.

So depends one who you ask. Im an avid golfer and always will be but dont have deep pockets. I have found ways to cut costs. Buying used clubs. Not having to look like a pro out there and just wearing modest clothing thats affordable. My local muni has a twilight rate to walk for $11. I can play 3-4x a week at the cost of one round.

Although, whenever I get some extra money I will pay the $50 or so to play the better courses.

The practice range has $10 buckets which can get expensive if you like to practice a lot so Ive cut back there as well but my game shows. Ive actually found a large grass field to pracitce on but not everyone has that option so they are forced to pay the high prices to practice.

If it werent a money issue for me, Id have all the best equipment and play all the nicest courses because i can.

Golf is always going to be difficult no matter what equpiment technologies they come up with so its not that the games too difficult to keep people playing. Its golf. Its supposed to be difficult.

I think it just comes down to money for the majority of players. And then theres the other issue of courses cramming in as many foursomes as possible and making players have to wait on every tee box, making for a 5+ hour round. I can see people getting sick of that and quitting the sport.

But if you really like the sport and can deal with all the bullshit there are ways around a lot of the issues plaguing the industry.