December 2022 National Rounds Played

One year after an unseasonably warm December yielded strong end-of-year play totals, national rounds to close out the final month of 2022 were down 26% year-over-year.

As a result, overall play for 2022 finished 3.7% shy of the previous year’s record-setting numbers.

With U.S. courses having logged more rounds of golf in 2021 than any other year in history, 2022 still ranks as one of the top four years for play on record.

The shoulder months on the calendar — January and December — are far more likely to show major YOY swings due to weather impacts and a lower volume of rounds. This was the case for December 2022, which saw average temperature declines in all eight geographic regions. Most notable were the cooler temps (and therefore less golf-friendly weather) in regions like:

• -9 degrees lower avg. temp — West North Central (Seven states, including Minnesota) / -71% YOY rounds decline
• -9 degrees lower avg. temp — South Central (Eight states, including Texas) / -32% YOY rounds decline
• -7 degrees lower avg. temp — Mid-Atlantic (Three states, including New York and Pennsylvania) / -45% YOY rounds decline
• -7 degrees lower avg. temp — South Atlantic (Eight states, including Florida and the Carolinas) / -26% YOY rounds decline
• -6 degrees lower avg. temp — East North Central (Five states, including Illinois and Michigan) / -61% YOY rounds decline

The corresponding year-over-year rounds declines are even more significant in states further north into the nation’s Frostbelt.

It’s also important to note that the swings in average temperature came a year after 24 U.S. states, almost half the country, experienced their warmest or second-warmest December on record, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That unusually warm weather to close out 2021 helped cap what was a record-setting year for play.

NGF provides 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. 

 For a historical archive of Rounds Played reports, click here