With the rush of new product introductions, it may seem like the golf business is on a never ending push upward. However, some sobering news recently from the National Golf Foundation has indicated that the business of golf is not immune to today’s economic forces.
According to the NGF, 46 18-hole equivalent golf courses opened in 2010 while 107 similar courses closed, for a net negative total of 61. This was fifth consecutive year that closures have outpaced openings. In that time, there have been 220 courses that have shut down, which represents roughly 1.5% of the total supply in the U.S.
On the bright side, the 46 courses that opened for business last year were spread over 29 states. The National Golf Foundation has also indicated that more than 60% are daily fee business models, open to the public to play. States with the most openings in 2010 were Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, it said. The NGF reported there are currently more than 80 U.S. golf course projects under construction (excluding renovations) and the South Atlantic region possesses the most of that figure with 16.5 courses. The total facility count in the United States at the end of 2010 stood at 15,890, 167 less than the all-time high of 16,057 in 2004.
