The National Golf Foundation reported that same-store rounds played in the U.S. were up 0.6% in October 2005 versus last year. Rounds have been in positive territory for four of the last six months, but not positive enough to bring the year-to-date figure above break-even, coming in at -0.5%. October data was reported by 1,813 golf facility operators across the U.S.
Four regions experienced large swings, Northeast down 18.4%, Central/South Florida down 13.6%, Upper Midwest up 12.8%, and Mountain up 16.7%. The Northeast slump can be attributed to days played, as operators posted an average of 27.6 play days out of 31 during last years October against 22.9 play days this year. For Florida, Hurricane Wilma hit the region on October 24, which obviously took away several play days, if nothing else.
