When golf fans talk about the people who shaped the game, the conversation usually turns to major champions, famous architects, or legendary clubs. Yet few did more to build the modern golf industry than Herb Graffis — the writer, editor, publisher, advocate, and visionary whose career stretched across most of the 20th century. This Chicago Golf Report piece takes a closer look at the remarkable story of the Chicago journalist who helped create the NGF and champion golf as a business as well as a popular pastime.

The National Golf Foundation reports between 70 million and 80 million Americans have shed their negative view of golf in the past decade. The publisher of Golf Course Industry’s recent interactions with non-golfers back the data.

Golf participation is booming across the United States, but the game’s next challenge is clear: turning new interest into lasting players while protecting reasonably priced public access.

Greg Nathan joined Golfdom’s Seth Jones at Shinnecock Hills during the 126th U.S. Open, making the case that more people are playing golf in more ways than ever in American history, and that the industry’s financial health is creating a virtuous cycle for the entire golf economy.

Greg Nathan joins NGCOA President & CEO Jay Karen on Golf Business Live for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of the golf economy, from the supply-and-demand dynamics driving record rounds to the cultural shifts reshaping how the game is discovered and experienced. Greg makes the case that golf’s greatest external threats are geopolitical and macroeconomic, but flags an internal one that the industry’s booming business climate tends to obscure: the persistent intimidation that keeps millions of interested would-be golfers from ever walking through the door.

National Golf Foundation CEO Greg Nathan joins Golf Channel’s Golf Today hosts Damon Hack and Eamon Lynch in a discussion about the positive trends in recreational golf being tracked and reported by golf’s definitive source for data, insights and the state of the golf business.

Certainly, the Covid boom has propelled golf to higher prices, and while the perception is that the effect of the top tier’s pricing has trickled down to impact the game’s cost at all levels. But according to a report this week from the National Golf Foundation, the facts say otherwise. Believe it or not, golf’s average green fees have increased since 2019 pretty much right in line with inflation.

Jodi Reilly has been promoted to Senior Manager of NGF's Consulting Services, recognizing her longstanding impact on the organization’s advisory work and her growing role in leading client-facing engagements across the golf industry.

For the National Golf Foundation’s consulting team, the recent reopening of Hollywood Beach Golf Club in South Florida represents the successful culmination of a years-long collaboration on the restoration of a century-old Golden Age public course – an extensive effort driven by city officials and supported by residents.

There’s a lot of business being done on the golf course, and women are being left out. Here’s how to close the gap.