Of all the industries with a gloomy forecast that should come equipped with a warning label, golf is right up there with the housing market. For a game that brings so much enjoyment and intrigue to the approximately 29 million players in the U.S., golf has become a business that fosters angst, worry and, in some instances, despair among the people who have invested their lives, not to mention their money, in the game.

Where do you want to start?

With the number of rounds being played, which has been on a sharp decline since 2002 and threatens to dip some more this summer with soaring gasoline prices?

With the number of private courses being sold and converted into public facilities?

Or the number of public courses being closed?

Or that course construction has slowed dramatically across the country and come to a virtual halt in Western Pennsylvania?

How about the rising cost of chemicals and fertilizers, which are escalating every bit as fast as gasoline prices and making it difficult for smaller, low-budget courses to remain afloat?

"It has become very, very tough," said John Kerins, a PGA professional whose family owns Tam O'Shanter Golf Course, a tidy, well-maintained 18-hole layout in West Middlesex that, like other daily-fee facilities in the Tri-State area, has seen a dramatic decline in the number of golfers who frequent his golf course.

"We have a dying population ... the Cleveland-Pittsburgh region is one of the largest in population loss for a region in the nation. And a lot of the people who helped fuel the golf boom in the '90s were kids in their 20s who played five times a week. There was a demand, so they built more courses.

"And now that they have turned 30 and 40 and have families, they don't play as much golf. Now that demand has shrunk, and you have all these facilities. It's made it very difficult for courses to survive."

Kerins is just one of many golf course owners who don't paint a pretty picture of his industry or the direction it is headed. Of the 73 daily-fee golf courses in Western Pennsylvania that are listed by the National Golf Course Owners Association, there aren't many, if any, who have not felt the sting of declining rounds. Or the rising costs that are associated with trying maintain a quality layout.

But, in the midst of such gloom for owners and professional, there is a silver lining that exists for the other side of the industry -- the people who play golf.

There might not be a better time to be a golfer.

"It's great to be a golfer right now," said Bob Collins, director of golf at Oak Tree Golf Club in West Middlesex -- a former private club that struggled with debt and revenue and converted to an 18-hole public facility three years ago.

"Fantastic," said Highlands Country Club professional Frank Blazewick. "There might not be a better deal going than the one we're offering."

"It's a buyer's market, without a doubt," said PGA professional Ed Vietmeier, who operates Shenango Lake Golf Club in Shenango.

Indeed, the flip side to being a golfer in Western Pennsylvania means finding lower rates and more available tee times at public courses. It means being able to join a country club because memberships are all but being given away by smaller, private clubs who are seeking new members to stimulate revenue.

For groups of golfers, it means having the opportunity to book an outing at the last minute and, better yet, sometimes being able to dictate the price, instead of the other way around. Or being able to find ridiculously low rates for getaway packages at resorts along the East Coast and beyond.

The deals never will be much better than they are now, even if the industry, as a whole, continues to plummet into a worrisome abyss.

"I have to tell you, I talk to some of the other pros and you have guys calling and they want to tell you how much they're paying," Collins said. "They'll say, 'We got 24 guys, what can you do for us?' That's something that didn't happen 10 years ago. It used to be, when you told them you had availability, they said, 'Great, put us down.' Price didn't come into the picture.

"There are private places that used to have $8,000 initiation fees that are waived. Now it's come on in and pay the dues, just to get people there."

In the past five years, 10 private clubs in Western Pennsylvania have been sold by the members and bought by an individual or small group of investors. Five of those have been converted to public facilities, including Alcoma and Oak Tree, giving the golfer the opportunity to play courses he couldn't play before.

The other five have lowered their membership rates and eliminated an initiation fee in attempt to attract new members.

"I wouldn't say they are giving them away, but it's very attractive if you play a lot of golf and you join a club for $2,000 or $3,000 a year," Kerins said. "I lost a lot of people to New Castle [Country Club], when they lowered their rates. They took a lot of public golfers from me. That's a bargain, $3,000 a year."

But it's not just clubs such as New Castle and Highland, which has reduced its membership to $1,500 annually for unlimited golf.

In the Mercer County area, three clubs have been purchased by Ron Klingle, chairman of the board of Avalon Holdings Corp. in Warren, Ohio, and turned into a membership opportunity that is as affordable as it is tremendous.

For $3,000 a year, golfers can belong to what is called Avalon Golf & Country Club and play unlimited golf at any of the three courses at three locations -- Avalon Lakes in Warren, Ohio; Squaw Creek in Vienna, Ohio; and Avalon at Buhl Park in Sharon, Pa., formerly Sharon Country Club.

There might not be a better deal anywhere in the country, given the quality of the courses. And it's a bargain sitting there for the golfer.

It's one of the reasons the area from Sharon to Youngstown, Ohio, was voted by a national golf magazine as being among the top five "golfing" regions in the country. Good courses at low prices.

"It's challenging because we've opened doors up to lot of other things," said Blazewick, whose club has seen its bond-holding members decline from 280 to 75 in the past 12 years. "We're trying to get rounds but still trying to stay private. There are new faces every year because there's such turnover, and you start to lose that club feel. That's the hard part, trying to get consistency. It's definitely different."

Public course golfers have never had such good deals. In an attempt to stimulate play, many courses have placed discounted coupons in newspapers, magazines and even the Entertainment Book. Others offer reduced prices for foursomes, while some include lunch or a post-round beverage.

But some course owners have resisted cutting rates, saying it's too hard to maintain course quality because of the rising price of chemicals and fertilizers needed to improve turf conditions. One of those is John Aubrey, who owns Aubrey's Dubbs Dred in Butler, who said his play has dropped 25 to 30 percent in the past eight years.

Kerins hasn't reduced rates at Tam O'Shanter, either, aside from a Thursday special in which golfers can play for $22. But he said he hasn't raised prices in eight years, either.

"The only thing you can do is keep the course as nice as you can, get them around as quickly as you can and treat them nice," Aubrey said. "That's about all you can do. They understand what's going on. They're not dumb. They're filling their tank up, too. It's just a shame we have to pass that on to them."

But what is being passed on, at least for now, are the best deals a golfer can get.

"It's never going to change in golf," said Max Mesing, who owns Fox Run Golf Club and Stonecrest Golf Course in Beaver Falls. "As long as you're providing good service and value, they're going to keep you or your list and you'll continue to get business."