Faster, ‘Fun-to-Do’ Golf Is Driving Record Numbers to the Game

More than 500 million rounds of golf were played in 2020, and the early returns from 2021 indicate that this year will be even better. Preliminary data from the National Golf Foundation estimates that the number of rounds played will finish up to 5% higher than last year’s figure—and nearly 20% higher than the three-year, pre-pandemic average of 2017, 2018, and 2019. 

The explanation for this continued resurgence in popularity can be attributed to a few factors: Schedules remain more flexible than prior to the pandemic, the weather this year has been good, and many of the new golfers from last year kept playing.