Over the past four years, the number of annual golf course closures has dropped 62%. So what does the market look like at the midway point of 2023? And how do course openings compare to recent years?

Golf has remarkable geographic spread, with at least one course in 83% of countries and territories worldwide. In fact, there are more golf courses globally than Starbucks locations.

New golf course openings in the U.S. remain limited, averaging about 13 over the past decade. But the number of “new-to-you” properties in the U.S. market is considerably higher when considering renovations, reconstructions and another category: “resurrections,” or closed courses given new life.

With increases in golf participation, play and popularity in recent years, one of the questions we've gotten recently is whether there’s been a rise in new U.S. course construction since the onset of the pandemic.

Among the U.S. golf courses in construction or in-planning, almost one-third of the projects are located in two states. But as history shows, not every project in golf's developmental pipeline opens for play.

Beyond the exciting (but limited) number of new golf courses we read about, the real industry investment is in upgrades, improvements, renovations and restorations at existing facilities. And it's significant.

There have been far more golf course closures than openings in the U.S. over the past 15 years. But did you realize that almost 740 U.S. golf courses have had openings during that period? That total, during what’s looked at as a “down period” for the industry, is more than the entire golf course supply in nations such as Scotland, Ireland, Spain and South Africa.