I’ve heard a lot of reasons why golf is in such decline in the U.S., with hundreds of course closings and literally millions of people giving up the game.

Most of them are true to some extent – too expensive, too time-consuming, etc. – and there’s another reason I’ve always suspected.

The younger generation is lazy. They’re slugs. They sit around playing video games, their already-pathetic muscles atrophying into useless masses of fat and blubber. Their heads full of fantasy, violence and mayhem.

Now, I’m backed up by Rodney B. Warnick, a professor of recreation studies and tourism at the University of Massachusetts.

Warnick told the New York Times he agreed that yes, the aging population is part of the problem, but that the younger generation, supposedly the heirs of the game, is “just not active.”

You know the game is in trouble when its decline is front-page news on the New York Times.

You know also when the game is in the hands of the younger generation. They’d rather play golf on a video game than the real thing.

Mark my words, they’re eventually going to be the ruin of the country. They’ll watch on video monitors as the Chinese take over our economy, our women and our golf courses.