It's beginning to seem like a lifetime ago when gains in rounds played dominated golf industry news in 2012.Year-over-year rounds played are down every month this year, including 5.5 percent in May, according to Golf Datatech's National Golf Rounds Played Report that surveys 3,530 private and daily fee facilities nationwide. The drop marked the sixth consecutive month in which play was down compared with the same month the previous year, according to Golf Datatech.
The last month in which play was up was November 2012, when participation jumped 2.6 percent.
Although play was down overall nationwide, there was an increase in demand in 18 states, including Hawaii, which led the country with a 7.3 percent bump in participation.
Year-to-date rounds played are down 12 percent nationwide, compared with the first five months of 2012. Dailey fee and private facilities both are feeling the pinch, with year-to-date play down 11 percent at public access facilities and 16 percent at private clubs.
The biggest losses in May were felt in the northern plains states, including North and South Dakota (down 31 percent), Iowa (24 percent) and Kansas (20 percent).
The news could have been much worse. Golf playable hours, a statistic compiled by Jim Koppenhaver's Pellucid Corp. that measure of the total number of daylight hours compared with factors that influence play such as precipitation, humidity, daylight variances, etc., were down 3 percent for May. The year-to-date measure for golf playable hours is down 17 percent compared with the first five months of 2012, according to Pellucid.