This industry includes establishments primarily engaged in the operation of golf courses open to the general public on a contract or fee basis. Membership golf and country clubs are classified in SIC 7997: Membership Sports and Recreation Clubs. Miniature golf courses and golf driving ranges are classified in SIC 7999: Amusement and Recreation Services, Not Elsewhere Classified.
713910 (Golf Courses and Country Clubs)
By definition, public golf courses are open to the public on a contract or fee basis. According to The National Golf Foundation, there were 16,365 golf courses in the United States as of December 31, 1998. Of those, only 4,708 were private facilities. The remaining 11,657 courses were privately-owned facilities open to the public or city-owned municipal courses. In 1999, 387 more courses in the United States were finished with construction. Florida, California, Michigan, New York, and Texas boast the greatest number of total courses in America; in all of those states, the number of daily fee and municipal courses available far outnumber those of private club courses.
During the 1990s, the game of golf continued to enjoy a steady growth in popularity that spanned the last few decades. In 1970, most estimations placed the number of golfers in the United States at approximately 11 million. By 1980, that number had increased to more than 15 million. According to the National Golf Foundation, however, the number of golfers in the United States peaked at 27.8 million in 1990 and settled at 25 million in 1995. By the close of 1997, the number climbed to 26.5 million, with Americans playing a total of 547 million rounds of golf during that year.
Although the number of golfers had gone flat, the number of golf courses in the United States continued to grow. In the past, the game of golf was practiced predominantly at country clubs and other membership and recreation clubs. Over time, however, that has changed: the number of private courses increased by only ten in 1998, while 86 percent of the courses built that year were open to the public. All of this growth had some adverse effects on the industry as a whole: what some believe may have been overbuilding has forced many real estate developers and municipalities nationwide to grapple with unexpectedly high debt burdens.
Still, the often expensive fees and dues associated with membership clubs has led many of the sport's practitioners away from traditional country clubs to public golf facilities. Moreover, with the growing number of courses offered and continued enthusiasm to build, many golfers are finding public courses rivaling private clubs in terms of aesthetics and level of skill.
Gargaro, Paul. "Michigan Is at the Forefront of Golf." Crain's Detroit Business, 25 March 1996.
Geer, Carolyn T. "Gold Mine or Sand Trap?" Forbes, 12 August 1996. Available from http://www.forbes.com .
U.S. Department of Commerce. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: GPO, 1996.
National Golf Foundation, 1999. Available from http://www.ngf.org . (including video game) arcades and parlors are also included in this industry.
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