Midyear Momentum: Course Openings & Closures

Golf has changed significantly since 2019 – pre-pandemic – in many ways. From a supply (and demand) standpoint, the U.S. market has shown signs of achieving equilibrium in recent years after more than 15 years of needed correction. In the span of four years, for example, the number of annual golf course closures has dropped 62% after reaching its highest total on record in 2019. Last year, there were approximately 105 closures, as measured in 18-hole equivalents (18-HEQ). That’s the fewest recorded by NGF’s database team since 2005 – prior to the Great Recession and the year before U.S. course closures first started outweighing openings. ...