What a difference a year can make.
By Thanksgiving Day in 2014, much of the upper Midwest was paralyzed after a Nov. 21 storm left more than a foot of snow in places like Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit. Fast forward to just a couple of months ago, and Detroit flirted with 60-plus-year record highs and golfers throughout much of the country headed to the golf course in droves - at least compared to the same time in the previous year.
A month ago, golf industry analyst Jim Koppenhaver hinted that warmer-than-average conditions might result in a year-over-year boom in November, and he was right. Rounds played in November were up nationwide by 19.5 percent compared with the same month in 2014, according to the Golf Datatech Monthly Rounds Played Report that surveyed 3,560 private and public-access courses in 49 states (sorry, Alaska).
In all, rounds played were up in 38 states and down in 11. The exceptions to Mother Nature's benevolence were the mountain states, Pacific coast and small pockets of the sun belt.
Predictably, the states that were hit hardest in 2014 led the way a year later, with rounds played up by 227 percent in Wisconsin, 202 percent in Minnesota and 194 percent in Michigan.
Triple-digit increases also occurred in North and South Dakota, where rounds were up by 169 percent; Ohio (149 percent); Iowa (126 percent); Illinois (125 percent); Indiana (123 percent); Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont (122 percent); and West Virginia (113 percent).
The gains were felt by both public-access and private facilities alike, with increases of 21 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
Despite the huge numbers across much of the country, year-to-date rounds played were up just 1.5 percent when compared with the first 11 months of 2014. The biggest losses in November were in Utah, down 17 percent, and New Mexico (10 percent).