From play to purchases, tournaments to travel, and retail to real estate, golf is big business. The game has a direct impact of about $102 billion annually in the U.S. and, when accounting for indirect and induced effects, has a broader economic impact of $226.5 billion and enables over 1.65 million jobs.
NGF’s team of researchers and consultants produced the most recent Economic Impact Study, which was commissioned by the American Golf Industry Coalition, and has also conducted a growing number of in-depth, state-level reports. In addition to the economic side, also detailed are the game’s philanthropic, societal and environmental impacts.
These more granular studies are essential for communicating golf’s profound and wide-ranging effects. They provide size, scope, and detailed data that’s imperative to know when talking with legislators or other industry stakeholders. Along with the usual supply and demand, direct spending, charitable impact, real estate, and travel, what’s also quantified is the tremendous economic ripple that golf triggers far beyond the courses themselves.
For those interested in what’s happening at a state or more local level, we encourage you to connect with us and see about engaging the most experienced research team dedicated to the golf industry. We’re happy to talk through the process, options for funding, and share ideas of how others have reached out on a local level to help finance this valuable state-level research.
Click HERE to access the full National Economic Impact Report
In addition to the national size and scope of golf on the U.S. economy, a selection of state-level reports are also available below.
These economic impact studies are a comprehensive census of “everything golf” in a given state, from golfers and courses to businesses, stores and organizations. They delve deeply into golf’s core industries: facility operations and investment, golf-related retail, supplies and manufacturers, as well as golf tournaments, associations and endorsements. They also capture enabled industries, from golf tourism to real estate.
The past few years have shined an even brighter light on golf as both an essential recreational activity and an engine that generates spending and jobs across multiple business sectors and up and down the economic value chain — the tourism golf brings in, the jobs it creates, the money it raises for charity, the homes it helps sell, and the taxes generated. There’s also the wealth of non-economic benefits: environmental, social, and physical and mental wellness among them.
We’re excited to talk with more groups about possibly undertaking these state-level reports.
Interested? Please contact Jodi Reilly, NGF’s Business Research Manager, at jreilly@ngf.org or 561-354-1640.
