Jupiter, Florida, United States: The National Golf Foundation (NGF) has conducted an exclusive nationwide poll of golf courses, the results of which are the centrepiece of a new NGF COVID-19 webpage that provides information and key data points on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the golf business.

Accessible through NGF.org and directly at www.thengfq.com/covid-19, the website features the latest national estimates of the percentage of US golf courses that are open for play, broken out by facility type – municipal, daily fee and private – as well in-season and out-of-season geographies.

The most recent telephone poll was conducted on March 24-25 among a sample of 1,006 golf facilities randomly selected from the NGF’s complete database of over 14,000 golf facilities that were operating as of the end of last year. Results are accurate to within plus or minus three per cent.

The website also includes a national tracker that details whether golf is permitted on a state level by various governmental rulings, golf course operators’ perceptions on the volume of play within the past week, and consumer research that reveals how their playing and purchasing behaviours have been affected.

Additionally, the NGF’s special COVID-19 site provides links to useful golf industry and government websites, as well as recent articles of interest, including one by the NGF that provides an overview of the impact of the pandemic on various sectors of the golf industry, from retail and equipment manufacturers to golf management companies and course suppliers.

The research and findings will be regularly updated through on-going national polls and surveys, and are available via www.NGF.org or the organisation’s communications website, www.thengfq.com/covid-19.