Will golf be recognizable in 20 years?

A course is a course, of course of course …

Or is it?

According to those madcap bean-counters at the National Golf Foundation, the number of off-course golfers (those going to simulators, driving ranges and entertainment venues such as Topgolf) recently surpassed the number of traditional on-course golfers in the United States.

For the sake of full disclosure, I am neither a traditional golfer nor a high-tech golfer. But I do enjoy playing miniature golf with my wife and son when we’re on vacation. (For the sake of fuller disclosure, the biggest hazard in such scenarios is not water but “got t...