January got 2025 off to a weather-impacted slow start for national play. And yet it was the least volatile January in six years, at least in terms of year-over-year rounds given that 2024 also had a sluggish opener.
Average temperatures for January 2025 were even colder in all eight geographic regions than they were last year, when weather and unplayable conditions in northern parts of the country contributed to a -17% YOY January decline. This year, January rounds were 2.9% lower vs 2024.
There’s typically fairly significant volatility in January, a low-volume month with approximately two-thirds of U.S. states still in their offseason for golf.
- January 2025 (-3% YOY)
- January 2024 (-17% YOY)
- January 2023 (+7% YOY)
- January 2022 (-12% YOY)
- January 2021 (+21% YOY)
- January 2020 (+11% YOY)
January rounds in the South Atlantic region were down about 16% compared to the year prior, while play in the Pacific region was up about 14%, boosted in part by more opportunities for play in Oregon and Washington.
NGF provides confidential, facility-level rounds data to Golf Datatech in helping compile the free, monthly play reports on behalf of the golf industry.
Click the image below to see the full report. ⬇️
Click image for 3-page PDF of January 2025 report
