Tag: course openings

NGF report: More than half of U.S. golf courses now open

58 percent of U.S. golf courses are now open during coronavirus pandemic, up from 49 percent the week before, according to NGF report

More than half the golf courses in the United States are now open for the first time in more than a month, according to this week’s Covid-19 update by the National Golf Foundation.

As of the week ending April 26, 58 percent of U.S. courses were open, based on a survey of more than 1,200 courses. That’s up from 49 percent open the week before.

Eleven states currently are closed entirely for golf during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the NGF’s report done in cooperation with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. They are Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington. Illinois will allow its golf courses to reopen May 1.

Many courses are still closed despite having the option of opening. Those include the courses at several top resorts where golf might be allowed but hotel operations have been shuttered – with nowhere for guests to stay and amenities such as spas and restaurants closed, there wouldn’t be enough traffic to keep the courses open.

Some states such as California, Texas and Florida have counties or cities where golf courses are closed by local mandate despite no statewide ban.

Percentage of courses open by region (Source: National Golf Foundation)

Regionally, the West Coast and the Northeast have the most closed courses (see map).

Based on several factors such as multiple counties and municipalities in California allowing courses to reopen in the past week and some municipal courses in New York, including Bethpage, coming back online, the NGF anticipates that the total number of courses nationwide to be open to soon rise as high as 68 percent.

Contributing to the greater percentage of courses open are those northern tracks just coming online based on seasonality. Alaska’s golf season hasn’t started because of seasonality, and that state isn’t included among the closed states.

Percentage of courses open based on course type (Source: National Golf Foundation)

The report showed that nationwide 44 percent of municipal courses were open April 26, up from 40 percent the week before. The number of public daily-fee courses increased from 51 percent on April 19 to 62 percent on April 26, and the number of private clubs open increased from 52 percent 60 percent in that time span.

[lawrence-related id=778041595,778041474]

NGF report: Nearly half of U.S. courses were open last week

A national survey conducted by the NGF found that 49 percent of courses were open for play and that number could soon surge to 57 percent.

The number of golf courses open for play last week in the United States has increased, according to the latest national survey of golf facilities by the National Golf Foundation.

Its fourth survey revealed that 49 percent of courses in the U.S. were open for play last week. This figure, which is based on phone surveys of 1,271 golf facilities, has risen slightly over the past weeks and the NGF expects it to continue to do so as warmer weather creeps further north, Wisconsin allows walking-only play, some private clubs re-open to members in New York, and golf operations resume in a few California counties.

Last week, the NGF said the percentage of open U.S. courses had climbed from roughly 44 to 48 percent. For the week ending April 19, that number moseyed up one more percentage point, meaning just under half of all courses in the U.S. are open for play.

The biggest optimism in the coming weeks is a potential surge in openings at courses located above 45 degrees latitude — namely in states such as Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North and South Dakotas and Wisconsin.

The NGF projects that the percentage of open courses could climb to 57 percent in the immediate future — and potentially higher — as long as there is no further action from state and local governments or voluntary closures.

“At this time we don’t expect to see the percentage of courses open for play to significantly increase until more states begin to ease restrictions or grant exceptions for golf,” the NGF report said. “Once that gains some momentum then the tracking will become very dynamic and you’ll be able to see the numbers really begin to rise.”

The survey also found that daily-fee (51 percent) and private facilities (52 percent) are slightly above the 50 percent threshold while municipal courses are lagging behind (40 percent, but up from 33 percent a week ago).

The majority of golf facilities in the South remain open for play, with more than 70 percent of courses open to players in golf-rich states such as Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The biggest increase came in the Midwest region, even with polling conducted before Minnesota golf courses were given approval to open as of April 18.

The most noteworthy drop could be found in the Mid-Atlantic, where most New York golf courses that had been open suspended operations in response to an updated executive order that said golf is a non-essential business. While this remains true, private clubs have been told they are permitted to allow members access to the property with strict social distancing guidelines in place.

The full report can be accessed here.