Is golf still booming? Are more people playing in the wake of now years-old COVID-19 gains for the game? How’s the weather? All relevant questions as the golf industry tries to maintain a furious rally in annual rounds played in 2020 and ’21.
The latest: Golf Datatech and the National Golf Foundation reported this week that rounds played in June were up 2.7 percent versus the same month in 2021. But that gain was on the heels of monthly declines in four of the previous five months. For the year, 2022 trails 2021 in rounds played by 5.7 percent, the industry-monitoring Golf Datatech reported.
The weather plays a considerable role, making it difficult for industry trackers to discern if declines in rounds played are because golfers who flocked to courses during the worst of the COVID pandemic have now found other things to do as health restrictions have almost entirely eased.
Industry analyst Pelucid Corp. tracks the days around the country on which weather conditions are favorable for golf, and it has reported a 9-percent decline nationwide in playable hours in 2022. The dip in rounds played, at least in part, might be because of winter weather that stretched well into spring in many areas followed by incredible heat waves and storms through much of the summer.
This all comes after some of the most dramatic increases in rounds played in history. The total number of rounds played in 2020 surged 13.9 percent versus 2019 as the pandemic shut down many alternative entertainment and exercise options. Rounds played increased again in 2021, rising 5.5 percent as the popularity of golf continued.
Is golf’s boom chilling? Yes, and crummy winter weather is largely to blame as rounds have decreased year over year.
If you’ve recently tried at the last minute to book a weekend round of golf just about anywhere in the U.S. – especially if the weather was nice – you know how packed many courses are. Golf has boomed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and wise players have learned to schedule early.
But will the boom continue?
That question has been front and center on the minds of many course operators and industry insiders, and recent numbers provided by industry tracker Golf Datatech and the National Golf Foundation haven’t been entirely definitive on the recreational game’s trajectory. There are many factors to consider, with weather likely chief among them. But based solely on the number of rounds played, the sport in the U.S. is in decline compared to the boom years of 2020 and ’21.
Golf Datatech this week reported that rounds played in April 2022 in the U.S. slipped almost 13 percent versus the same period in 2021. That follows a 14.3-percent decline in rounds played in March 2022 versus the same month in 2021. Golf Datatech reports that total rounds played in 2022 in the U.S. have dipped 9.8 percent through April versus the same four-month period in 2021.
As golfers frequently love to do, you might be able to blame the frequently crummy weather more than a drop in interest.
The NGF reports that golf industry analyst company Pellucid Corp. says bad weather has been a major factor in the decline in rounds played. Pellucid reported that so far in 2022, playable hours dropped 14 percent. Pellucid uses detailed weather data from across the U.S. to determine playable hours, and its research showed that extreme cold, rain and snow kept players off the courses in many regions more frequently than in recent years.
And because fewer total rounds are played annually in the first several months of each year because of winter, especially in northern climates, the recent dip in rounds played likely will have only a small effect on total rounds played for the year. If the weather is better this summer, the game appears to be in good shape to continue its rebound – that assessment is based on the fact that club and golf ball sales have climbed 14 percent versus the same period in 2021.
So apparently there are plenty of players who have been stuck at home waiting for the weather to clear so they can use all those new clubs and balls. Our advice: Book early.
This all comes on the heels of some of the most dramatic increases in rounds played in history. The total number of rounds played in 2020 surged 13.9 percent versus 2019 as the pandemic shut down many alternative entertainment and exercise options. Rounds played increased again in 2021, rising 5.5 percent as the popularity of golf continued.
Are those kinds of numbers sustainable? Time will tell. But in the meantime, keep an eye on the weather and your favorite online tee time booking site.
Want a September or October tee time at one of the top golf resorts in the U.S.? Maybe take a foursome to Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes or any of a handful of bucket-list destinations? You had better book now.
And that’s for 2022.
At many resorts, you can forget about scoring multiple, prime tee times in the fall of 2021. You might be able to get out as a single, and you might even have luck finding a midweek slot for a foursome. Hoping to book a big buddies trip for multiple weekend days anytime over the next three months? Best of luck to you, and plan to cast a wide net.
Many industry observers and managers report that demand for tee times hasn’t been this high in more than a decade, since before the market crash of 2008. With an increasing number of Americans returning to recreational travel after COVID-19 restrictions have eased or ceased, many top golf resorts are packed.
Rounds of golf played in the U.S. surged in the second half of 2020 as golf was seen as a relatively safe activity during COVID-19 lockdowns, and that growth extended into the early months of 2021. June was considered to be a great test of sustained growth, as June 2020 saw a 13.9-percent increase in year-over-year rounds played nationwide versus June 2019, according to the National Golf Foundation and market-research company Golf Datatech. Could that kind of interest in golf be maintained into 2021? The answer is yes, as June 2021 saw a slight increase of 0.4 percent over June 2020. It appears, at least for now, that increased interest in golf might be a new normal.
It follows a tough year for many resorts, some of which were forced to shutter their courses early in the pandemic. When play resumed, many potential guests were understandably hesitant to travel. But now, just more than a year after they fully reopened and with players champing at the bit to play highly rated courses, many of these resorts are booming.
Spyglass Hill at Pebble Beach in California (Courtesy of Pebble Beach Resorts)
“Golf already had a tailwind because of COVID, and then you had people cooped up for the better part of a year, and now people are looking to get out, explore, play golf, take vacations,” said Aaron Flink, the executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Pebble Beach Resorts in California, home to Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and the Links at Spanish Bay. “It’s been nice to see that rebound, nice to see people on property again, and nice to see our hotels and golf courses full.”
Pebble Beach is running on its website a warning about limited availability and long wait times for booking calls. The resort’s main three courses are each inside the top 100 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the country, including No. 1 Pebble Beach Golf Links. Flink said that famous course – host of six previous U.S. Opens – never has a real lack of players on its tee sheet. But even with that in consideration, the course – which Flink said typically hosts more than 60,000 rounds a year – is having its busiest season since the 2008 recession. The resort is also home to a newly renovated short course, the Hay, which features a design by Tiger Woods.
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“We keep telling people, if you want to come to Pebble, get your trip booked now,” Flink said. “If you want to be here in the summer or fall, now is the time to start your planning for ’22.”
The resort operates 495 guest rooms in its three hotels – The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay and Casa Palmero – enough to accommodate all the players at its three main courses. But availability in one of those rooms with an accompanying weekend tee time is extremely limited, based on the resort’s online booking calendar.
One open spot is around the winter holidays. There are rooms available the last two weeks of 2021 and first two weeks of 2022, and Flink said the resort’s location on the Pacific Ocean provides reasonable and consistent winter weather. The period from December 22 to January 5 might be the best option to play Pebble Beach for months.
Calling it a “post-COVID gold rush,” Flink said all the demand for rounds at the resort’s three main 18s includes an increased percentage of first-time guests. And it’s almost entirely domestic travelers filling the tee sheets – in a normal year Pebble Beach might have 10 percent or slightly more of its guests from other countries, Flink said, but now the resort is drawing almost entirely U.S.-based players. If international recreational travel picks up, demand at Pebble Beach is likely to spike even higher.
The new Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes)
It’s a similar story up the Pacific coast at another top golf destination, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon. Like Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes has on its website a warning about extremely high call volumes from people looking to books golf vacations. Bandon Dunes is home to five of the top 10 courses on Golfweek’s best list of top resort layouts in the U.S.
“We’re experiencing record-breaking occupancy rates and golf rounds throughout 2021, even with the addition of 24 new guest rooms that we opened on August 1,” said Don Crowe, general manager of Bandon Dunes. “This demand continues into 2022 based on early booking trends and high call volume in our reservations department. For larger groups with multiple night stays, we recommend that groups start the booking process at least a year in advance.”
The same is happening around the country at top resorts. For a Midwest example, Destination Kohler in Wisconsin – host of this month’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and home to four top-ranked courses in all – is running a website warning about unprecedented call volume and advising guests to use its new online booking system.
Streamsong Red in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)
The same is true in the Southeast. Craig Falanga, the director of sales and marketing at Streamsong Resort in Florida, said that destination’s three courses already are experiencing strong demand for April of 2022, following month after month of record amounts of play. Streamsong is home to three courses – the Red, Blue and Black – that all rank inside the top 25 on Golfweek’s Best resort courses list.
“I would definitely agree with you that people need to book earlier than they might normally as buddy golf trips seem to be more popular than ever,” Falanga said in an email.
The message is clear: If you want to take a group of players to a top golf destination with great accommodations in 2022, you need to plan now.
The number of rounds of golf played in the United States in 2020 climbed 13.9 percent as people flocked to courses to escape COVID pandemic.
Consider this more evidence that you should book your tee times early: Golf Datatech reported Monday that total rounds of golf played in the United States in 2020 were up 13.9 percent over 2019, largely due to golfers seeking recreational opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That annual increase in rounds set a record for percentage increase since Golf Datatech started tracking rounds played in 1998. The previous record had been a 5.7-percent surge in rounds played in 2012.
Retail sales of golf equipment also surged in 2020, Golf Datatech reported, with $2.81 billion in revenue. That was a 10.1 percent increase over 2019. It gave 2020 the third-highest annual total since Golf Datatech began tracking the industry, trailing only $2.91 billion in 2008 and $2.87 billion in 2007.
“While the global pandemic wreaked havoc on many segments of our economy, the golf industry experienced a significant boost in rounds played and equipment sales,” John Krzynowek, a partner at Golf Datatech, said in a release announcing the surge in rounds played. “On the equipment side, sales increased by low single digits in both 2018 and 2019, but the double-digit gains in 2020 can only be attributed to the pandemic and golf being a respite for so many.”
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Those year-long gains happened despite golf being shut down in many states as the pandemic took hold of the nation in March and April. Rounds played in March fell 8.5 percent versus the same period of 2019, and rounds in April were down 42.2 percent, based on reports by Golf Datatech and the National Golf Foundation.
Then came the surge, as golf was recognized as a relatively safe escape during the pandemic. Rounds played were up 6.2 percent in May of 2020 versus May of 2019, followed by gains of 13.9 percent in June, 19.7 percent in July, 20.6 percent in August, 25.5 percent in September, 32.2 percent in October and 57.5 percent in November. Information for December was released Monday, with rounds played for the month up 37 percent over December of 2019, which no doubt was helped by good weather in winter golf settings such as Florida, Arizona and California.
“Golf Datatech started collecting and projecting monthly rounds-played data in January 1998 and has been the industry’s exclusive monthly metric since that time,” Krzynowek said. “We’ve never seen an annual increase remotely close to this, as the previous record increase occurred in 2012, a year when we had nearly perfect weather across much of the United States and rounds played grew by 5.7 percent. While there is no doubt that the pandemic provided a positive jolt of energy to the golf business in 2020, a warmer and drier climate across broad swaths of the U.S. also generated more potential tee times, which the golf community passionately consumed…and continued to ask for more.”
Increases in rounds played varied greatly by region. The area defined as West North Central by Golf Datatech – Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota – saw a 23.1-percent increase in rounds played in 2020 over 2019. That compares to only a 4.8-percent annual rise – the smallest of any region in the U.S. – in the Pacific Region of California, Oregon and Washington.
It’s important to note that gains aren’t spread evenly across the industry. Some resorts that rely on air travel have been hit particularly hard in the wake of the pandemic as golfers choose to drive to more local and regional destinations. And the percentage increases in rounds played don’t necessarily mean equal increase in revenue, as many clubs have lost income tied to food and beverage as well as events such as weddings.
On the retail side, as well, gains were not even across categories. While revenue for clubs, balls and other hard goods soared, with many equipment makers struggling to fill demand as inventories dwindled, some soft goods categories lagged in sales.
For example, Golf Datatech reported that sales of apparel dropped 14.2 percent in 2020 versus 2019, largely because access to green-grass pro shops was limited by the pandemic and more public-access golfers were booking rounds online. The loss of rounds played at resorts that rely on air travel also diminished total apparel sales, as fewer players were onsite to purchase logo merchandise. Meanwhile, online sales of apparel rose, and despite the overall annual drop, the last two months of 2020 saw an 11 percent increase in apparel sales versus the same period in 2019.
Across the board, Golf Datatech reported that total consumer demand across the golf industry as measured by dollars spent increased 3.2 percent versus 2019.
“Given the state of the golf economy in late spring, anything in positive territory had to be considered a big win,” Krzynowek said, “and December data continues to impress and suggest the business may still have room to run in early 2021. …
“Golf has fared better than many other U.S. industries during the pandemic, as on-course and off-course facilities effectively adapted their operations to accommodate customers while adhering to CDC, local and national health departments guidelines. Overall, the golf industry can be proud of how it has handled the adversity brought on by the pandemic thus far but must always be aware that until a vaccine is distributed, and broad-based immunity is present, we must all continue to be on guard.”
Rounds played in the U.S. this year are estimated by the NGF to climb 50 million higher than in 2019, with October seeing the largest surge
The number of rounds of golf played late in 2020 have seen enormous surges versus 2019 as all kinds of golfers – from novices to past enthusiasts reentering the sport – have sought escape from the coronavirus pandemic. But that doesn’t mean 2020 will set the growth record.
Turns out, even this year’s flood of golfers can’t beat Tiger Woods in his youth.
The National Golf Foundation and Golf Datatech, both industry observers tracking rounds played and trends, estimate in a report released this week that 2020 will end with about a 12-percent increase in rounds played in the United States over 2019’s total round played. That equates to 50 million more rounds played in 2020, the second-highest increase of any year reported.
The highest? That would be 1997, when Woods grabbed international fame with his record-breaking Masters title at the age of 21.
The U.S. saw a jump in rounds played of 63 million in 1997 over 1996, according to Golf Datatech. That year spawned what became known as the “Tiger Effect” as players flocked to the game in the wake of Woods’ inspirational April performance.
Tiger Woods celebrates after sinking a 4-foot putt to win the 1997 Masters with a record-low score of 18 under. He became the youngest winner at 21 years, 3 months and 14 days old. (Photo by Stephen Munday/Allsport/Getty Images)
Not that 2020 has been anything to scoff at, considering the pandemic and the fact that many courses – and the sport in entire states – were shut down for much of the spring and early summer as coronavirus cases first surged.
Since June, not only have rounds played increased each month versus the same periods in 2019, the rate of increase has climbed significantly. In October 2020, rounds played in the U.S. were up 32.2 percent over the same month in 2019. That followed increases of approximately 14 percent in June, 20 percent in July, 21 percent in August and 26 percent in September.
U.S. golf courses had lost approximately 20 million rounds as courses were closed in the spring, according to Golf Datatech, which at the start of May put total rounds played in a 16-percent hole compared to the same period of 2019. But the increases since June have resulted in an increase of 50 million rounds year to date. October 2020 alone saw an increase of 11 million rounds over October 2019.
There are other factors besides the pandemic. Good weather certainly has played a role. But the NGF reported that typical fluctuations in rounds played in the U.S. have averaged less than 5 percent per year for more than 20 years, so golf’s position as a relatively safe recreational activity during the pandemic appears to have played the starring role in 2020’s surge.
Despite all the good news, there is still uncertainty about any long-term gains. A large portion of the surge in rounds played has been by juniors and novices, and it is yet to be seen if those players will continue in golf for years to come or if capture rates will decrease. The NGF also points out that not all business segments are equally enjoying the “V-shaped” recovery and boom in rounds played. For example, resorts that require travel, especially air travel, have not seen the same spikes as locally favored destinations.
And while rounds played at private clubs have soared, that doesn’t necessarily equate to increases in revenues. Dues typically have remained static for existing members, so basically the average cost per round has dropped at many private clubs while maintenance requirements have increased. Meanwhile, food and beverage revenue has dropped for many clubs because players are reluctant to linger in a clubhouse after a round.
Still, all things considered in what has been a terrible year for so many, golf as a whole has proved to be a silver lining as the pandemic continues to storm.
If you have trouble finding a tee time, know it’s because rounds played in the U.S. are soaring as the coronavirus pandemic lingers.
Golf as a recreational sport is skyrocketing in the United States during the pandemic, as players across the country look to escape in the outdoors as the coronavirus pandemic rolls on.
For the fifth month in a row, rounds played in the U.S. have climbed past their monthly totals from 2019, according to a report from the National Golf Foundation and Golf Datatech.
In September, rounds played were up 25.5 percent over the same period in 2019. That represents an increase of about 12 million rounds just for that month.
That increase came on the heels of steady climb in which May saw a 6.2 percent increase over May 2019, June was up 13.9 percent, July was up 19.7 percent and August soared 20.6 percent. Those gains followed decreases of 8.5 percent in March 2020 versus March 2019 and 16 percent in April, as many courses were closed in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every state in the U.S. saw at least a 2 percent gain in September, the third straight month for such widespread gains.
Before the pandemic, January (11 percent) and February (19.1 percent) also had seen gains over 2019. For the year through September, rounds played in the U.S. were up 8.7 percent over the same nine-month period of 2019, despite the depressed months of March and April.
The NGF cautiously projects that total rounds for 2020 could be up as much as 15 percent over 2019, but the organization also points out that the increases in rounds haven’t benefitted all courses equally. The “V-shaped” recovery has been a lifesaver for many local daily fee and private facilities, but many resorts – especially those to which players typically fly – have not seen such as boost as travel overall has diminished during the pandemic.
The NGF also reported that decreases in rain have helped, as good fall weather in many states has boosted rounds played.
Golf gear is hot, too
It’s all in keeping with a Golf Datatech report that golf equipment is flying off the shelves.
The market research company said total sales for July, August and September topped $1 billion, the first time the U.S. market has achieved that height in the third quarter.
It marked a nearly 32 percent jump over the same period in 2019, and it also made that three-month period the second highest quarter in sales ever, trailing only the second quarter of 2008, which logged $1.013 billion in equipment sales.
