"The recession has dealt a mean bogey to golf."

If I didn't know golf when reading Roger Vincent's front page LA Times story on golf's economic struggles, I think I'd read these numbers and think, gee that's not as rough as other industries:

Hundreds of courses have closed in the last two years and many formerly exclusive country clubs have slashed fees or opened their greens to the public.

Sales of golf balls, clubs and apparel -- a multibillion-dollar industry -- have dipped 10% this year as players trim spending, according to golf researcher Pellucid Corp.

But perhaps the most dramatic examples of golf's woes can be seen in the string of barren fairways and locked gates. Through September of this year, at least 114 of the nation's 16,000 or so golf courses had closed, according to the National Golf Foundation, a number that was offset only partly by the opening of 44 new courses.

There's more from this story worth chewing on, but for starters, is a 10% drop in purchasing and 114 course closures out of 16,000 as much of a contraction as other industries have seen?