Years of working at supporting the game of golf has allowed Bill Flood to rise in the ranks. Earlier this month, after seven years of service to the Connection Section PGA, he was elected as the 34th president of the Connecticut Section PGA.

“It’s an unbelievable honor,” Flood said.

Now, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get down to business or — to put it another way — get out the wedge and dig out of the rough. Flood hopes to encourage prospective golfers to get involved and find the patience and dedication to stick with the game and help build interest in driving, putting, and chipping on the courses.

“The game is not thriving,” said Flood, adding that he believes it will be with more attention given to tweaking the game for newcomers.

Flood, who also serves as head professional at Rock Ridge Country Club and as head coach of Newtown High School’s boys’ squad, believes the game is losing interest annually because, well … it’s too hard to play.

“The game is very difficult. It takes a lot of work to be good,” he said, alluding to the hours of repetitions required for golfers to hone swings.

“It today’s world, who has that kind of time commitment?” he commented.

It’s also no secret that it’s expensive to play golf due to the equipment necessary and costs associated with operating and maintaining fairways and greens. It’s not like basketball where an old hoop and a ball are all an up-and-coming player need to at least practice his or her shot.

Flood says the job of PGA professionals is to find ways for younger people to do better in the game of golf. “Player development” is a new buzz term in the PGA, Flood said.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Flood said. “My mission, for the Connecticut Section over the next two years, is to grow the game and serve our members.”

Flood said he and a team of PGA officials will spend time working on player development with a creative approach. “We need to attract more juniors and more ladies to the game of golf,” Flood said. “My mantra will really be about trying to get new players into the game and making it fun.”

He said an example of how the game can be simplified and, thus, made more enjoyable for beginners, is to move tees forward to create a shorter course for golfers getting accustomed to swinging clubs. He’s optimistic it’ll catch on once young players get a taste of golf.

“Once people get the bug they want to take lessons — they want to do everything,” Flood anticipates.

According to a June 2013 article in Golf Digest, “Why Golf Needs To Change” by Bob Carney, “Golfers are 15 percent fewer than six years ago, down more than four million players, and industry efforts to make the game more attractive to newcomers seem to be treading water, at best. Millions try the game each year, but their retention barely makes up for the loss of players elsewhere.”

It was reported this past summer that Dick’s Sporting Goods laid off hundreds of PGA professionals who provide golf instruction in its stores as golf equipment sales have slowed.

In an a July 21, 2014, Fortune online article “Golf: Can it be saved? And can new tech save it?” it is indicated that that the game is losing viewership on television and participation on the courses. The article reads: “According to the National Golf Foundation, golf course closings outpaced golf course openings in 2013 for the eighth straight year,” with only 14 new courses opening and more than 150 closing a year ago.

There are new innovations in the game with the Game Golf Digital Tracking System, as mentioned in the Fortune article.

Golf simulator devices enable players of all ages and abilities to practice swings year-round, and, with the help of a professional such as Flood, get feedback on their hits. Flood teaches lessons with a simulator and points out that it allows players to work on their games during winter months so they’re in midseason form in time for spring. It also gives first-time golfers a chance to break in. He and Jon Phillips, head golf pro at Candlewood Valley Country Club in New Milford, offer lessons using Newtown Golf Lab, a golf playing simulator that uses high speed cameras for training purposes, at NYA Sports & Fitness Center.

“We’re trying to make learning the game inexpensive,” Flood said. “We’re trying to take the game and make it more affordable and get people excited about the game.”

While numbers of participants may be down, the Fortune article also states that “PGA Junior League Golf has expanded from 1,500 youth participants in 2012 to 8,900 in 2013, a 490 percent increase. In 2014, participation doubled (18,000 kids).”

There are also positive signs at the local youth level. Flood notes that Rock Ridge’s Junior Program has 120 participants. At Newtown High School, a girls’ club team was started and coached by Flood and Jeremy O’Connell last spring, and has moved up to varsity status this coming season.

The key, Flood notes, is to keep emerging players interested in the game. He is passionate about golf, noting that the game gives those involved a perspective on how to behave throughout life, with discipline and honesty at the forefront. After all, in what other game does an athlete call a penalty on him or herself? “It teaches you so many things about yourself,” he adds.

Flood is thrilled to have an even more significant leadership role in the efforts to increase popularity of golf than he has had. He will run board meetings and oversee the section office, working with a staff which includes Tom Hantke, executive director of the section, to whom Flood speaks very highly. Flood notes that his promotion is a reflection on Rock Ridge.

“It’s a big honor for Rock Ridge Country Club. They have been so supportive of me being a leader in the PGA,” he said.

“I think one of the things that’s impressive about Bill is not only his commitment to the section but his commitment to his programs at Rock Ridge,” said Mike Johnson, president of Rock Ridge Country Club, adding that he looks forward to seeing Flood take his experience to a broader audience of golfers.

Johnson has been a member of Rock Ridge for nine years, including five on the board of directors, and one year as president.

Flood joined Rock Ridge as an assistant golf pro in 1996, and became head professional a year later. He became a member of the PGA in 2001. He succeeds Mike O’Grady of Lake Waramaug Country Club, who served a two-year term as the section’s president.

Flood was elected to serve a three-year term as a PGA director in 2008, served two years as secretary, and most recently served as vice president. He also has served as chairman of the Communications and Special Awards committees, and also served on the Education and Finance committees. The 53-year-old owned and managed three Golf World stores in Syracuse, N.Y., prior to coming to Connecticut. He learned to play golf at the age of 23.

John Korzte, a nine-year Rock Ridge board member and past president of the club, notes that Flood has taught the game of golf to his family members and always puts everything he has into teaching the game. “He does it with an absolute smile, 24/7,” Kortze said. “You couldn’t find a better ambassador of the game of golf to a community like ours or surrounding communities.”