March might have finally brought the first real break from winter weather, but apparently it wasn't the early season window golfers were looking for.
Although favorable weather conditions throughout the month gave golfers plenty of opportunity to play, they did not take advantage of those opportunities like they could have in many parts of the country, according to two industry reports.
According to Pellucid Corp., the number of hours acceptable for playing golf, termed Golf Playable Hours, increased by 2 percent in March compared with the same month in 2013. However, rounds played were down nationwide by 4.8 percent during that time, according to Golf Datatech's National Golf Rounds Played Report.
Golf Playable Hours is an inventory of all the daylight hours in which one could play golf factored against climatic influences, such as wind, rain, snow and severe cold.
Rounds played were down in 32 of 49 states in the study that does not include Alaska. The biggest loser was Connecticut where play was down by 70 percent, followed by Michigan (46 percent); New Jersey (40 percent); Massachusetts and Rhode Island (35 percent); Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania (34 percent); Washington (28 percent); New Mexico (22 percent); North Dakota and South Dakota (20 percent); Oregon (16 percent); Louisiana (14 percent); Texas and Virginia (13 percent); Idaho, Montana, North Carolina and Wyoming (11 percent).
Public access facilities took it hardest, with a 5 percent reduction in rounds play, while play was off by 3 percent at private clubs, according to the report that includes data from 3,280 courses nationwide.
Year-to-date rounds played are down by 4.5 percent.
There was some good news in March, however, with rounds played taking a jump in 13 states. There were no results to post from four states, so the actual news about rounds played might be worse or better than reported.
Missouri saw the greatest increase in rounds played (58 percent). Next were Kansas (up 47 percent); Indiana and Tennessee (35 percent); Colorado (30 percent); Nebraska (22 percent); and Iowa (19 percent).