January rounds of golf jumped almost 19% year-over-year on a national level, the strongest start since 2021 for a low-volume and often volatile month for play.
With approximately two-thirds of U.S. states in their offseason for golf, January 2026 play rebounded – relatively speaking – from weather-related declines the previous two years. Although the Northeast U.S. has been hit by winter storms and heavy snow in February, average temperatures in January were only below average in six states – and there was a clear geographic divide between the Eastern and Western parts of the country. In addition, only four states had higher-than-average precipitation in January.
Source: National Center for Environmental Information
The YOY increase in January play — which accounts for less than 5% of annual play — came after two consecutive years of declines.
- January 2026 (+19% YOY)
- January 2025 (-3% YOY)
- January 2024 (-17% YOY)
- January 2023 (+7% YOY)
- January 2022 (-12% YOY)
- January 2021 (+21% YOY)
- January 2020 (+11% YOY)
While some Snowbelt states (like Illinois and Pennsylvania) saw huge YOY jumps in their very limited January play – after being even more limited in 2025 – perhaps more impactful to the big-picture number were increases in states such as Florida (+12%), Georgia (+28%), North Carolina (+42%), South Carolina (+44%), and Texas (+48%).
NGF provides confidential, facility-level rounds data to Golf Datatech in helping compile the free, monthly play reports on behalf of the golf industry.
Click the image below to see the full report.
