3-Minute Business Insights
It's the 25-year anniversary of Tiger's "Hello, World" introductory press conference. His impact on the game and business of golf was almost instantaneously felt and it continues to reverberate today.
The most frequently asked question since the beginning of the year was whether the elevated level of golf activity would maintain in 2021. Well, we’ve had our first real test – comparing peak season months in 2020 and 2021.
App use is becoming prevalent in all walks of life, including the golf world. There are now hundreds of golf-centric apps available and usage continues to climb.
Check out these numbers
You often hear golf referred to as the game of a lifetime. But is it? Unlike virtually every other sport, golf participation actually holds steady across the ages.
Just seven years ago, the proportion of all golf participants (on/off-course combined) who were women was 27%. Since then, the volume of female participants has grown by 43%, and there's even greater potential.
Golf’s overall participation base in the U.S. – combining on- and off-course players – rose 8% in 2020 to 36.9 million. This leaves us with three closely-sized and mutually-exclusive groups of Americans.
And it probably won’t be long before traditional, “green grass” participants are out-numbered. Perhaps as soon as this year.
A return to the friendly skies means more golf trips and destinations back in consideration. Core golfers, on average, are now expecting 1.8 golf trips in 2021 -- an increase of more than 60% over 2020.
Limitations on golf trips in 2020 have created a bottled-up demand to return to golf travel. Here's what golfers are saying and operators are seeing.
Working remotely has provided greater schedule flexibility for many people over the past year. It's also had a significant impact on golf.
12 Months, 1 Pandemic and 1,234 Rounds
As golf provided an escape from daily coronavirus anxiety for millions of Americans in 2020, nobody played more than 61-year-old Texas resident Barry Gibbons.
The flood of new faces on U.S. golf courses in 2020 was noteworthy, even if some gains were offset. Who were these new people? And who wanted “in” last year?
