Even without the presence of the world's number one golfer, the Open Championship at St Andrews last week attracted somewhere in the region of 125,000 fans. And yet the game is said by some to be in crisis.

Rory McIlroy, arguably the best player this country has produced although still trailing Nick Faldo in Major wins, turned over his ankle while having a game of footie with his mates. The irony should not be missed. Football is now played by more girls/women than any other sports while golf, desperate to attract the fairer sex, is stuck on around 12% of total golfers.

And there is a new version of golf being introduced on driving ranges and courses up and down the country. It is called - wait for it - FootGolf. The very mention of it has the old boys in the men's room choking on their gin and tonics and not without reason. Golf it is not. A bunch of lads/girls kicking their way along a par three course trying to get the football in a bucket-size hole with the least number of kicks. But it is catching on and it is making the difference between survival and bankruptcy for a growing number of financially strapped ranges and courses.

Necessity is the mother of invention it is said. It may be an exaggeration to say the game is in crisis but the figures don't lie. According to statistics produced by Sports Marketing Surveys Inc golf club membership in England has declined by 22%, from 874k to 678k, in the last ten years and active golfers by almost the same percentage.

This, of course, does not reflect the total number of golfers as the balance has changed from club membership to pay and play encouraged by computerised tee-time booking systems and comparator sites offering half-price, or more, green fees. Core golfers number around 1.5 million and, good news, this category showed a slight increase last year while total participation has levelled out at 3.3 million.

The average age of the typical golfer is 46 but the most avid, usually club members, are 58.
And probably getting older matching national demographics which, as SMS points out, is an opportunity for golf.

But the real opportunity is females and families - if perceptions of the game can be overcome. And that is what the governing body England Golf, representing some 2,000 plus gold courses, is attempting with its new strategy to make the game less time consuming, less complicated and more welcoming to the other half of the population. The stats on female golfers are interesting.

Of the total number of golfers, just 11.7% are women, compared to between 29 and 38% in the three major European golfing nations. Half took up the game because their husband/partner played but 27% feel they are treated poorly by male golfers. Now there's a surprise.

Of male golfers, 78% have a wife or partner who does not play. Half have sons who play but only 12% of their daughters!

So the opportunity is there and the Golf Foundation, a charitable institution funded by bodies such as the R&A, the PGA, European Tour, Golf England, plus individual bequests and a generous sponsorship deal from HSBC, is providing over half a millions kids with an experience of golf each year. Of these it aims to keep 20,000 in the game and persuade 5,000 to join a club. At the same time under the banner "Skills for Life" it expects that the enjoyment camaraderie and disciplines of the game will join all youngsters together and make them better people.

But it is not easy for this grand old sport. New attractions, like cycling, are eating into people's time and enthusiasm; many clubs are resistant to change, witness the arguments around dress code; and funding from Sport England is likely to decline.

But, as recorded above, necessity is the mother of change. The membership model is being challenged; a great golf course may not be enough; clubs which welcome all comers and have modern leisure facilities will be the winners. Not sure about FootGolf but if it brings in money and introduces more people to the game we have to be careful about turning our noises up. We have been doing it for too long.

Robin Miller - is a former Chair of Sport England Eastern Division, Chief Executive of Emap plc and non-executive director and chairman of HMV. He is currently non-executive Chairman of Edge Performance VCT plc.