Jupiter, Florida, United States: The National Golf Foundation (NGF) has released the 2020 Golf Industry Report (GIR), a comprehensive overview of the business of golf and the health of the game in 2019.

While the current state of the industry is understandably on the forefront of the minds of everyone who works in and around golf, the 2020 GIR is intended to provide members of the NGF community with a valuable point of reference in planning toward golf’s recovery.

The Golf Industry Report was completed before the on-going Coronavirus crisis and does not include data that relates to the current environment.

The NGF’s state-of-industry overview compiles many of the game’s key data points in a single publication and is intended to provide the most holistic view of the business of golf and the health of the game within the United States to stakeholders.

It features the latest NGF data on golf participation, engagement, rounds-played, latent demand, golf course supply and development, retail supply, golf equipment sales, and golf’s reach.

Golf’s participation base remains stable, with an estimated 24.3 million people (aged six and above) who played golf on a course in 2019. When factoring in those who played only off-course forms of golf, the game’s overall participant pool has increased to 34.2 million.

Other highlights from the Golf Industry Report:

• There were 441 million rounds of golf played in 2019
• Golfers played an average of 18.2 rounds
• With 16,383 golf courses, the US is by far the best-supplied market in the world
• The average price paid for an 18-hole round at a public golf facility was US$36
• 75% of US golf facilities are open to all players
• Golf had an overall reach of more than 108 million
• The number of newcomers is close to an all-time high, as is latent demand
• Juniors (aged six to 17) and young adults (18-34) comprise about 35% of all on-course golfers
• The 65-and-over segment has added more than one million golfers the past two years