After several years of positive gains, it appears golf may finally be headed for flat demand growth this year.
Year-over-year rounds played were down by 6 percent in August, compared with the same month last year, and were flat through the first eight months of 2026 in relation to the same period a year ago, according to the Golf Datatech Monthly Rounds Played Report that tracks rounds at a selection of private and public access courses in 49 states.
Rounds played were up in August in only four states — North Carolina, up 4 percent, and Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, where demand was up in all three states by 2 percent.
The greatest losses in August were in Hawaii (down 29 percent); Oklahoma (23 percent); Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico (down 15 percent); New Jersey and Wisconsin (-12 percent); Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Texas (-11 percent); and Minnesota (-10 percent).
Rounds played for the first eight months of the year compared with the same period a year ago were flat at plus-0.1 percent nationwide.
The flat growth comes in on the heels of a record 540 million rounds played nationwide in 2025.
