Golf Datatech estimated golf rounds on a national level were down 3.8 percent in December and up 5.7 percent for all of 2012.
Public access play was down 3. 5 percent for the month and up 6.5 percent for the year, while play on private courses was down 4.5 percent for the month and up 2.8 percent for the year.
Rounds were up a whopping 39.6 percent in the East North Central and 12.9 percent in the Mountain region thanks in large part to warmer weather that a year ago. In South Central, where the month was warmer and drier, round were up 8.4 percent. The biggest decline came in the Pacific where rounds played declined 18.0 percent in the wake of three times as much precipitation as a year earlier.
