Extended Season Boosts Golf Rounds in Minnesota in 2024

MGA

EDINA, Minn. (December 23, 2024) – On behalf of its allied golf associations and its member golf clubs across the state, the Minnesota Golf Association has completed an annual facility rounds study to more accurately track golf participation in the state.

For the fifth time in the last six years of collecting data, golf facilities in Minnesota reported an increase in golf rounds over the previous year, by an average of 5.6 percent.

Jeff May, director of enterprise operations for the Three Rivers Park District and general manager of Baker National Golf Course in Medina, attributed a longer golf season and “the almost-perfect weather after Labor Day” for the 5.5 percent bump in rounds played year-over-year across all TRPD facilities (Cleary Lake, Eagle Lake, Glen Lake and Hyland Greens, in addition to BNGC).

"The most exciting trend relative to the growth in golf we are seeing is the demographics that represent that growth,” said Jon Mays, executive director and COO of the MGA. “Female, youth, and people of color continue to account for a significant portion of our growth, which is important to see from populations that have historically been underrepresented in golf.”

Likewise, the MGA, whose membership surpassed the 100,000 mark for the first time in its 123-year history, saw an increase in rounds posted of nearly 5 percent. †

The MGA surveyed 358 golf facilities around the state, with 108 facilities reporting rounds over the last six years in the following categories: municipal, (51.2 percent reporting); private, (55.8 percent); public daily fee, (27.8 percent); and resort, (36.4 percent).

† The MGA has 102,000 adult and youth individual members for the period ending Oct. 31, 2024; MGA members posted 1,708,935 rounds for April through October of 2024, a 4.9 percent increase YOY (the MGA score-posting season for handicap purposes begins April 1 and runs through October).