Rounds of golf in July, historically the highest-volume month of the year for play, were down 3.6% on a national level, with some of the biggest year-over-year declines in golf-rich states such Arizona, California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
Overall play through seven months of 2026 continues to trend 2.5% ahead of last year’s record-setting rounds trajectory.
Given that July typically accounts for around 12% of annual rounds played in the U.S., the YOY changes are usually fairly tame, regularly falling within the expected plus or minus 3% weather-related variability. This was the most significant YOY adjustment for the month of July since 2021.
While states such as California (-6%), Arizona (-7%), Michigan (-9%) and Nevada (-9%) all fell outside the typical weather-related variability range, they weren’t among the prominent ‘fallers’ that experienced above average precipitation for the month: New Jersey (-8), Texas (-11%) and New York (-13%). Consider that a 1-inch change in rain results in an average monthly decline of 2.2%.
In total, five of the eight geographic regions had July play declines of 4% or more YOY. None of the eight saw YOY rounds increases.
This was the first month of 2026 to show a notable year-over-year decline. While March’s numbers were flat and June was up only about 1%, every other month had been up at least 5%.
NGF provides confidential, facility-level rounds data to Circana’s 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.
Click image for full 3-page PDF of July 2026 rounds report
For an archive of rounds played data — or to learn more about how you or your facility can contribute to our vital research on behalf of the industry — click here.
