Click image to download full three-page PDF of the March 2022 National Rounds Played Report
March 2022 rounds dropped 14% compared to a year ago, when the industry saw continued nationwide surges in its first real “comp month” to the coronavirus impacts of spring 2020.
Rounds this March were down in all eight geographic regions tracked by Golf Datatech, which incorporates facility-level data collected by NGF in its monthly reports.
The biggest year-over-year drop was seen in the East North Central (-46%), which includes golf rich-states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois, and experienced delays to the start of the spring golf season due to colder temperatures and a 64% increase in precipitation compared to March 2021.
Other regions/states in the Frost Belt saw noteworthy declines compared to last year that were at least in part weather-related:
- -41% — New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont)
- -30% — West North Central (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota)
- -22% — Mid Atlantic (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania)
Through the first quarter of 2022, play is down just over 7% compared to last year, when there were more rounds played at U.S. golf courses than any other time in history.
