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Golf’s Rebound: Play Still High; Equipment Sales Up

By Kathlene Bissell

PORTLAND, OREGON - JUNE 27: Lara Tennant hits her tee shot on the seventh hole during the 111th Oregon Senior Amateur Championship at the Columbia Edge water golf course on June 27, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OREGON - JUNE 27: Lara Tennant hits her tee shot on the seventh hole during the 111th Oregon Senior Amateur Championship at the Columbia Edge water golf course on June 27, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images) /
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When COVID hit in the US, people found out that outdoor activities were safer than  anything else they could do, except hide in a cave for 12 to 18 months.  Some people are still burrowed away, but not golfers. They emerged and took to the course in record numbers, according to Golf Datatech, a company that tracks both rounds and retail sales.

“The question everyone was asking coming into 2021 was whether golf could continue to sustain its upward trajectory as the U.S. economy heated up and golfers had access to alternative activities,” John Krzynowek, Partner at Golf Datatech said in a prepared statement. “Through the first six-months of 2021, the results are very encouraging, as all segments of the golf economy continue to prosper, even in the face of supply issues, particularly for products made abroad.”

Joe Beditz, CEO of the National Golf Foundation (NGF), noted in a press release that the reversal of this year compared to last year is in where rounds are being played.

According to the NGF, rounds for 2021 are up 26 percent at public courses compared to 13 percent at private clubs. Beditz said that in 2020, there was a bigger rounds increase at private courses than public courses.

Last June, July and August, golf rounds, overall, rose as an astonishing rate.  They were up 13.9 percent in June compared to 2019, 19.7 percent in July, 20.6 percent in August.  It didn’t stop there.  In September 2020, golf rounds rose 25.5 percent; in October, 32.2 percent.  Even November and December of 2020 had monster gains, 56.6 and 37.3 percent, respectively.

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The golf industry expected this year’s comparisons to 2020 be tough to achieve, that there was little room for improvement. But golfers proved once again how dedicated they are. Across the entire US, rounds are up 22.8 percent from 2020.  If golf just held its own from 2020, that would have been considered really good.  But people are continuing to play, and in some places they are playing more.

June was up a smidge, nationally, just slightly higher than last year, .4 percent, across the entire country.  That means that golfers have not left the sport and that those who were players in 2020 continued to enjoy it.

Certain areas outpaced that for 2021. The Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, was up 11.5 percent for June.

Some areas declined.  There was an 8.1 percent drop in the South Central region which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana; and there was a 4.6 percent decline in the South Atlantic states including Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

However, in context, really crazy numbers were posted comparing 2021 to the spring of 2020.  For instance, March was up 45 percent from 2020. April was up 81 percent from 2020, and May, up 18 percent from 2020.  That’s because that’s because nearly everything in the U.S. was closed after mid-March and for most all of April.  Some courses opened up in May.

Still, the fact that golfers, nationally, played 22.8 percent more golf in 2021 is fairly astonishing.

In addition to rounds being up for the first six months of 2021, retail sales are also on the rise.  Equipment sales, which includes balls, clubs, shoes, bags, gloves and distance devices, were up 78 percent compared to 2020 and 41 percent compared to 2019.

ORLANDO, FL – JANUARY 30: Exhibitors, buyers and golf professionals attend the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show at the Orange County Convention Center on January 30, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL – JANUARY 30: Exhibitors, buyers and golf professionals attend the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show at the Orange County Convention Center on January 30, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /

Golf Datatech felt it was important to compare to 2019 since that was the last “normal” sales year. Even golf apparel is up in 2021, increasing 10 percent compared with 2019 and 68 percent compared with 2020.

In April of 2021, golf equipment sales reached a new benchmark in excess of $425 million.  Both May and June have also been above $400 million.

Those golf clothing shops, pro shps and retailers that were closed during the lockdowns of COVID were particularly affected in 2020.

Now, retail golf clothing is rebounding. Sales were $552 million for the first half of 2021.  According to Golf Datatech, that is the biggest number since the company began tracking retail sales. It beat the previous high of $536 million in apparel sales which was set in 2015. The company began tracking retail sales in 1995.

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