The National Golf Foundation is reporting that total golf rounds played in the U.S. were up 2.5% for the first six months of the year when compared to the YTD period last year, but increased just 0.9% in the second quarter after a nice start in April.
National rounds played in April were up 4.9% and fell from there, decreasing 0.1% in May and 0.8% in June. The declines were driven by a decrease in rounds played at “value” public courses. Private courses saw a 2.3% increase in rounds played for the quarter, but also saw declining gains, with April registering a 3.7% gain and June posting just a 0.4% increase for the month. Second quarter last year had declined nearly 3% versus Q2 2002.
The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions saw the biggest gains for the latest quarter, posting 10.5% and 8.8% increases in rounds played, respectively, while the Upper Midwest (-5.5%), the Gulf Coast (-4.5%), Lower Midwest (-2.5%), and Mountain (-2.0%) regions saw the only significant declines. The Upper Midwest and Gulf Coast regions “suffered from above average precipitation during the quarter”, according to the NGF.
