Golf Business Indicators

The GOLF 20/20 Executive and Research Committees recognized a need to establish a mechanism by which the business of golf could be better evaluated. While research is being released at different times by various sources, there has not been a single source for a report on the state of the industry. The Golf Business Indicators (GBI) report is designed to collate several key metrics into one easy-to-understand report released on a regular basis.

The GOLF 20/20 Research Committee determined that there were five key metrics that will comprise the GBI report: annual participation; annual rounds played; annual golf fee revenue per round; golf course openings and closings; and fan interest.

The following are the Golf Business Indicators, with the 2009 and 2010 results indicated:

ANNUAL PARTICIPATION (ACCORDING TO NATIONAL GOLF FOUNDATION (NGF)
  • 2009 Participation was 27.1 million
  • 2010 Participation was 26.1 million
ANNUAL ROUNDS PLAYED (ACCORDING TO NGF)
  • 2009 Annual Rounds Played were 486.2 million
  • 2010 Annual Rounds Played were 475.0 million
ANNUAL GOLF FEE REVENUE PER ROUND (ACCORDING TO PGA PERFORMANCETRAK)
  • For All Facility Types in 2009 the Average Fee was $27.47
  • For All Facility Types in 2010 the Average Fee was $27.15
GOLF COURSE OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS (ACCORDING TO NGF)
  • In 2009 there were 49.5 Course Openings and 139.5 Closings
  • In 2010 there were 46.0 Course Openings and 107.0 Closings
ANNUAL NUMBER OF FANS OF PROFESSIONAL GOLF (ACCORDING TO ESPN SPORTS POLL, ESPN KIDS POLL, US CENSUS)
  • The number of fans in 2009 were 103,389,410
  • The number of fans in 2010 were 101,714,967

GOLF 20/20 will update the Golf Business Indicators report quarterly with new data on rounds played (from NGF) and golf fee revenue per round (from PGA PerformanceTrak). These updates will be included in the quarterly report we are now distributing to all GOLF 20/20 Executive and Working Committee members. The research on participation, golf course openings and closings, and fan interest will be updated annually.

Our intent in communicating this report is to provide the golf industry's key stakeholders with an annual snapshot of the health of the game. We only intend to communicate this report to the GOLF 20/20 Executive and Working Committees. The GBI report is not intended for widespread distribution, including the media.