how many rounds of golf are played in the US each year?

According to a news release from the National Golf Foundation dated
March 29, 2004, 495 million rounds of golf were played in the U.S.

Excerpt

"Rounds played in the U.S. decreased from 502 million in 2002 to 495
million in 2003, it was announced today by the National Golf
Foundation and GOLF 20/20; the decrease of 1.5% is half of the 3%
decrease between 2001 and 2002. The two most frequent reasons provided
by those facilities reporting a decrease in rounds were weather (62%)
and the economy (55%). Given the severity of the weather in
traditionally strong play areas of the country, expectations were that
the decrease would be greater."

National Golf Foundation 
http://www.ngf.org/cgi/whonews.asp?storyid=147

According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), more than 600 million
rounds of golf were played in the United States in the year 2000.
http://www.theclubpolisher.com/pages/P2366-9.html


Search terms:
"million rounds of golf" 

I hope this helps!

Best regards,
Bobbie7

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Request for Answer Clarification by srascoff-ga on 19 May 2005 10:19 PDT

Do you also know how many courses there are in the US?

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 19 May 2005 10:27 PDT

There are about 15,827 golf courses in the U.S.


Excerpt:

"Last year, 594 million rounds were played in the United States at
approximately 15,827 golf courses. Unbelievably, over 40,000 golf
courses can be played worldwide, a golf market estimated at $38
billion."

Source:
CBS SportsLine: April 8, 2005
http://cbs.sportsline.com/general/story/8367355

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 19 May 2005 10:28 PDT

Another source states that there are roughly 17,000 golf courses in the U.S.

"Roughly 17,000 golf courses in the US serve 26 million golfers who
spend about $25 billion annually on equipment, cart rentals, food, and
clothes, including $11 billion on playing fees. The largest owners of
golf courses are ClubCorp and National Golf Properties. A large number
of multi-course companies have sprung up in recent years, but most
courses are owned and operated by a single company."
http://www.firstresearch.com/Industry-Research/Golf-Courses.html

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Request for Answer Clarification by srascoff-ga on 19 May 2005 11:38 PDT

Can you find out what % of shots at a par 3 course result in a hole in 1?
I'd be OK just knowing how many holes in 1s there are per year in the US.
Trying to figure out how likely it is that someone will hit a hole in 1.
Will give additional $2 for this answer.

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 19 May 2005 12:43 PDT

American golfers shoot about 300,000 holes-in-one every year.

The odds of shooting a hole-in-one are about 30,000 to 1.


Both of these statements are (roughly) true. The golf industry
estimates that there are 26 million golfers in America and they play
an average of 21 rounds per year. That's 546 million rounds, or 9.8
billion holes. So 300,000 holes-in-one amounts to about one for every
30,000 holes played.

http://calpundit.blogspot.com/2002_11_17_calpundit_archive.html

srascoff,

You said "Will give additional $2 for this answer."

In order to pay me for this additional answer you will have to post a
new question directed to me as the tip feature can only be used once.

Here is an example:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=401701


I hope this helps!

Best regards,
bobbie7

This person rocked.

Thank you for the five stars and tip!
--Bobbie7

I would disagree with the odds to shoot a hole-in-one as based on the
number of holes-in-one made vs. the total number of holes played. That
logic is highly flawed. Your odds of making a hole in one are
infinitessimally small on a 490-yd par 5, for example, as opposed to a
142-yd par 3. You need more information to answer the question. You
have to base the answer on the number of holes-in-one made vs. the
number of Par-3's played + the number of "reachable" short Par-4's.
You don't need to consider Par-5's because if you can reach a Par-5
green in one shot, then it ain't a true Par-5. I'm not talking about
your "Long Drive" contest hitters who could reach a short Par-5 on a
windy day in the winter where they get a lot of roll; I'm sure some
can. I'm talking your average golfer who can reach 99% of Par-3's in
one shot, and maybe some short Par-4's in the 280-330 yard range. Your
odds of making a hole-in-one on a straight "par-3 course" playing, say
a round of 9 par-3's, are much better than making one playing twice as
many holes (18 holes) on a standard Par-72 course). On a typical
course, there are maybe four reachable greens out of 18 holes (that's
22%). Throw in a reachable par-4, and then factor in the number of
rounds played on Par-3 executive-type courses (relatively fewer) and
maybe 30% of all holes played on all courses are "reachable" so out of
9.8 billion holes, maybe 3 billion are reachable by your average
golfer (note, the odds of a hole in one made by a touring PGA pro are
much higher than one made by your average golfer, so skill is
absolutely a factor). Really, the problem should be what are my odds
of making a hole in one in a typical 18-hole round of golf. That would
be closer to 10,000-to-1 against, since there's no point in
considering the long holes in the analysis (as the 30,000-1 figure
does). It can be done though, I had one 16 years ago and have played
far less than 10,000 rounds in my life..

actually, I'll amend my response slightly. Since you typically
encounter four Par-3's in a typical round on a typical 18-hole course,
the odds of making an ace in a round are closer to (10,000/4) =
2,500-to-1. You should typically be able to make one hole-in-one for
every twenty-five hundred rounds of golf that you play. Just look in
the sports section of the paper; you typically see dozens of them made
every week. The whole point of this is don't be discouraged by the
30,000-to-1 odds that were posted earlier. That may be true for the
situation of "any given tee-shot on any given hole" but we already
know that 70% of tee shots carry zero (0%, zip, nada) chance of
reaching the green, much less reaching the green and having the ball
roll in the cup, while on 30% of holes you at least stand a chance
that's greater than zero..