3 minute read
The Rob Report
Bump and Run
THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC MAY
have created the “COVID Bump” that the golf industry dearly needed, but there was always a litt le voice in the back of people’s minds … worrying about retenti on.
The world shutti ng down produced one heck of a 2020 in terms of rounds played, even with many golf courses being forced to close for a month or two in the early stages. Club professionals did everything they could—spaced out tee ti mes, went to single-rider carts or created plasti c dividers within the carts to allow double occupancy. Contrapti ons were created to keep the balls from fi nding the bott om of the cups and bunker rakes/ball washers were removed from the course. Everything worked bett er than expected and clubs that struggled to fi ll tee sheets for years were suddenly thriving.
But how could the industry sustain this success? People were eventually going to go back to the offi ce and other acti viti es that were completely shut down began to start back up again. Pessimists feared 2021 would see a return to pre-2020 numbers. Thankfully, they were wrong.
The Nati onal Golf Foundati on (NGF) recently released its Graffi s Report—a holisti c overview of the golf industry for 2021. It compiles many of the game’s key data points on the business of golf and the health of the game: golf parti cipati on, engagement, rounds-played, golf course supply and development, golf equipment sales, retail supply, and the game’s reach.
The overriding theme of the NGF’s report was “renewed engagement,” whether that’s committ ed golfers playing more, interested non-golfers giving the game a shot for the fi rst ti me, or lapsed golfers returning aft er an extended ti me away. Among the notable numbers from 2021: • The number of traditi onal, on-course golfers rose for the fourth straight year to 25.1 million
• Overall golf parti cipati on (on/off course combined) increased 2% yearover-year to 37.5 million parti cipants; • The 600,000 gain in golf’s consumer base was evenly split between on- and off -course players; • The number of junior golfers has increased by almost 25% over the past three years, to more than 3.1 million; • Women comprise 25% of golfers and people of color 21%, both groups increasing meaningfully over the past fi ve years; and • The number of beginners hit a record high, at more than 3 million.
In summary, the increases in play of 2020 conti nued in 2021, with the total number of rounds played across the United States increasing about 5% over the year prior, and around 20% over recent pre-pandemic years.
The good news didn’t end there. The American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) also released numbers that are painti ng a positi ve picture about the industry as a whole.
The upswing in all areas of the golf industry since June 2020 is impacti ng facility decision making, from architects leading master planning and renovati ons to facility owners and operators adjusti ng to att ract and maintain staff . Those are the top-line results of the latest “Golf Facility Market Trend Watch” report, commissioned by the ASGCA.
The online study, conducted and analyzed in late 2021, was distributed to more than 35,000 people, including ASGCA members. Respondents included golf course architects, superintendents, general managers, facility owners/operators, golf professionals and industry leaders.
More than 80 percent of ASGCA members have worked on a Master Planning project in the past two years, while practi ce area improvements and green complex renovati ons are also prevalent projects, the study concluded. Architects have also never been more opti misti c about expected renovati on work. Nearly 90 percent expect their work volume to maintain current levels or grow in the next two years, with more than 50 percent anti cipati ng a signifi cant increase.
Rob Thomas • Editor
rthomas@wtwhmedia.com
