LET'S FACE IT: Country clubs aren't cool. They're not trendy, and they have never changed with the times. How many 100-year-old businesses can say that and live to tell the tale?

[ABOUT THIS SERIES] "Growing the Game" is Golfdom's quarterly series — now in its third year — that focuses on how the golf industry can attract more players to create more rounds. In addition to this installment on courting younger generations, we've also explored the impact women, minorities, disabled golfers and baby boomers could have on increasing play. We've talked to golf course architects about ways they can make the game more friendly for beginners and average golfers, highlighted creative marketing programs that recruit new golfers, and showcased initiatives aimed to quicken the pace of play. Visit our archives at http://www.golfdom.com/ to view the 2006-2008 "Growing the Game" series.

Much of the hospitality industry has re-invented itself to stay relevant with emerging consumers, especially 30-somethings. Many think that golf clubs will need to follow suit to keep revenue rolling in for the long term as they continue to battle each other for market share.

Prior to the 1980s, hotels, for example, were either no-frills budget brands, opulent palaces that felt like museums, or soulless cookie-cutter prototypes.

If you walked into a full-service Hilton or Marriott back then, you really couldn't tell whether you were in Boston or Dallas. Business travelers liked the predictability. Some still do. Younger business travelers hated them.

Above, the proposed Selva Marina clubhouse features smaller, more purposeful rooms, a coffee bar and WiFi connectivity. The current clubhouse (below) fails to incorporate enough useful outdoor spaces to meet the needs of the Atlantic Beach community.

Back then, the words "boutique hotel" conjured up images of somewhere Clark Griswold stayed in Paris in National Lampoon's "European Vacation." Then something cool happened in the 1980s. An ultra-chic, high-touch hotel popped up in New York, then one in Los Angeles and Miami. They were the brainchild of Ian Schrager, the man who brought the American discothèque to the 1970s with Studio 54 and the Palladium. He called his new design concept an urban resort, where young professionals could slumber, socialize and stay in affordable sophistication.

Schrager's hotels were a hit. A slew of hotel companies started up with the boutique concept, and even giant conglomerates like Starwood Hotels and Resorts launched the W Hotels brand.

Similarly, restaurants have changed to provide upscale food and beverage in a casual atmosphere. Think Panera Bread and Starbucks. Folks stand in long lines at myriad other upscale deli concepts to willingly pay $4 for coffee drinks and $10 for roast beef sandwiches.

But golf remains the same. Of course, much of the golf industry's staunch tradition is by design. Golf clubs have followed the same model for more than 100 years in America. That model has been: Take it or leave it — that is, if you beg enough members to let you join. That model was purposeful and wildly successful for a long time. But as clubs continue to compete with an unprecedented surge of local competition, the same old way of doing things might not be good enough to recruit and retain the members of tomorrow.