3-Minute Business Insights
Almost 1-in-9 Americans are active golfers, whether that’s playing on a golf course, hitting balls at a driving range, or swinging and socializing at golf entertainment venues. More people played golf in some form last year than participated in basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer or skiing.
The latest monthly rounds played report it out and shows a 10% decline in play year-to-date. Is it a sign that golf’s pandemic dividend is eroding?
Less favorable weather in several notable regions hampers early-season play
April rounds were down on a national level, but in several well-supplied regions it’s a change that operators attribute largely to unfavorable golf weather.
Indications are that the overall travel industry has hit an inflection point and is primed for a big summer. So what about golf travel, a $20 billion business in the U.S.?
"I find when all I do is return a phone call, they're shocked"
A record 6.2 million beginners have taken up golf in the U.S. over the past two years of the coronavirus pandemic. Overall participation has grown over that time, but not nearly to that extent.
Over the past two years, as the coronavirus pandemic has gripped the U.S., the number of beginning golfers has been higher than it was back when Tiger Woods was at his most dominant.
A few high-profile fights for the preservation of municipal golf courses have led some to believe that Muni golf is facing an existential threat. It isn’t. Well, at least in 49 out of 50 states it isn’t.
"this legislative initiative is based, at least in part, on inaccurate information"
Municipal golf is under fire in California, misguidedly so. See the attached PDF for NGF's full response.
"We thought we could never keep up with the fall of 2020”
Nationwide, play in 2021 increased by almost 6% over 2020. The biggest gains were seen in the spring given that during 2020 over half of U.S. golf courses were shut down for more than a month. But for the year, it was this category that really spurred rounds increases.
Rounds of golf in 2020 were almost unthinkably high – the industry erased 20 years of decline in about six months. Naturally, we all wondered how 2021 would go. Would demand maintain, or regress as people presumably fell back into old routines? Emphatically, it was the former.
Annual Members-Only Report Summarizes U.S. Play
This summary report provides an overview of the record-setting 2021 play in the world's top golf market.
