The U.S. golf industry rolled out a low-budget, five-year plan to lure beginners to the game as it faces a sense of "urgency" in the declining economy.

The World Golf Foundation, a collection of the sport's top governing bodies, industry-leading companies and course operators, will embark on the initiative next year in hopes of attracting 700,000 new golfers to play 5.7 million rounds.

The plan may generate as much as $700 million in spending on the sport by 2013, said Cindy Davis, president of Nike Inc.'s golf division, who helped develop the program.

The plan, unveiled yesterday at the group's annual Golf 20/20 conference in St. Augustine, Fla., is tentatively titled "Get Golf Ready" and will be implemented at 5,000 golf facilities across the U.S. For $99, beginners will receive five lessons covering basic skills, rules, etiquette and values.

The global economic crisis has forced the sport to evaluate where new golfers are coming from, while trying to retain current players. David Fay, executive director of the U.S. Golf Association, the sport's governing body in the U.S. and Mexico, said the industry needs to embrace the mantra of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

"Obama talked about the 'fierce urgency of now,' and I think you could say the same thing about golf," Fay said in an interview. "We're all interconnected in this. Whether it's the financial-services industry, the auto industry, or media, we all have to work together. Urgency. I like that word."

Fay said it's unclear how the economic slowdown will affect the number of rounds played.

"There have been some times in the past where the impact on golf hasn't been that great," Fay said. "I think that even in down times people are looking for leisure-time outlets, and perhaps even more so."

Golf participation in the U.S. fell to 26 million in 2005 from 30 million in 2000, according to the most recent study conducted by the Florida-based National Golf Foundation. About 3 million golfers quit playing each year and several hundred of the 3,000 new golf courses built in the U.S. between 1990 and 2003 have closed, according to the NGF.