NGF Short Game: Golf’s Course Correction is Over

Over the past two years, the total number of open and operating golf courses in the U.S. is virtually unchanged.

Even with the game’s post-pandemic trajectory and notable participation and play gains in recent years, it is a departure from the supply correction that the U.S. golf market has experienced for much of the past two decades. Since 2022 there’s actually been a net gain in the number of facilities (+6) and courses (+17).

With 15,962 courses at 13,952 facilities spread from Alaska to the southern tip of Florida, the ubiquity of golf exceeds that of one of the country’s leading chain restaurants, as there are more courses than McDonald’s locations nationwide. NGF members can download the annual Golf Facilities in the U.S. report here for a deeper dive into supply.

The stocks and flows reveal annual course closures still outnumber new openings. And given the demand for land, especially around urban areas seeking additional residential and commercial real estate, closures will continue to outpace the number of brand-new debuts in the years ahead. So, how has the supply gap closed?

For a more holistic view, our researchers also look at re-opened courses, i.e. facilities that underwent a renovation or a reconstruction that shut down operations, whether for a short period or an extended stretch. Resurrections are a newer category, an example being a course that’s been closed for more than a year but is given new life, most frequently following an ownership change. When factoring these kinds of investment, the net change in annual supply has been minimal for the past couple years. 

As indicated in the graphic above, a perfect storm of conditions precipitated the rightsizing that began in 2006, when annual course closures first outnumbered openings.

The U.S. golf market had become oversaturated by the addition of more than 4,000 golf courses over a 20-year span from 1986 through 2005. That building boom was driven in large part by real estate, with many golf courses built to sell homes. When the U.S. housing bubble burst in the mid-2000s, the golf market followed, a correction accelerated by the Great Recession. Since 2006, over 2,000 facilities have been culled from the U.S. supply total.

But conditions have changed in recent years, with record play and on-course participation at its highest levels since the Great Recession hit. General facility health is drastically improved, and operators are investing in existing courses, including an increased number of renovations, reconstructions and resurrections. The number of annual course closures has decreased for five straight years, with the 2024 number of shuttered courses dipping to its lowest levels since 2004. Meanwhile, new course openings and development are both up.

The current momentum suggests the trend in supply stability has legs.

This balanced state is an indication the industry has matured beyond its boom-and-bust cycle into a more sustainable phase of measured growth, though this equilibrium doesn’t eliminate the need for courses, operators and related businesses to continue focusing on strategic positioning and evolving with changing consumer preferences.