What happened to American Golf Courses and Golfers

What happened to American Golf Courses and Golfers.

Article provided by golfexperience.com
An estimated 800 golf courses have closed in the last decade, freeing up many acres of space.There are more golf courses in the U.S. than anywhere in the world - about 2 million acres. But there aren't enough golfers to keep them all in business.
So what are the consequences? To understand what's happening today, you need to understand what occurred about 30 years ago. In the late 1980s, golf was surging, and the National Golf Foundation encouraged the industry to build a course a day for 10 years. So the developers all they heard and they did it. Golf course architects was in high demand and many came into play. The best designers was able to command big bucks and was able to create some on the best American Golf Courses in the world.
Over two decades until the early 2000s, they built more than 4,000 new golf courses. There was expensive to build, expensive to maintain, and charged high green fees. What caused the problem with closures was the homebuilding industry that really drove much of the boom. Homebuilders made new golf courses as the lure for home owners to buy around the golf course in America.
This industry did not know much about running a golf course nor really cared, they was making big bucks by selling the home. Most developers either had Golf Management companies running the course or they sold the course. Also, adding to the golf course downturn was many municipalities were also getting this exuberance around golf and wanted to add to their parks and recreation divisions. But soon, there was too much supply and too little demand. The number of golfers and rounds played began to decline in the 2000s. And across the U.S., courses began to close - 10% of them since 2006. And for the remaining 14,000 courses, competition for players is fierce, especially for the almost 11,000 courses that are open to the public - whether daily fee courses owned by companies or municipal courses run by cities.
Another reason is the mentality of the change in peoples lifestyle. Many generations have changed the way people live their lifestyle, golf became too expensive, too time consuming and not enjoyable to their other hobbies. Barring some overnight explosion in golf's popularity, we're not likely to see the construction that we saw in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s ever again. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Golf course restoration and renovation has become another side of the business. Golf courses are constantly evolving and require periodic freshening. Changing the way we play. For example, they made family tee boxes for all their siblings to play from They also added new designs so you can play faster. The industry needs to improve in many areas as the generations of people are living and spending Their free time to enjoy life. So we will see how this evolves in American Golf.
The golf America has made proposals at "growing the game," some of which have hopes to inspire the game like Tiger Woods. But some are calling for the great game to prepare for even tougher times ahead. Check out www.golfexperience.com for the best web site in the world.
For those of us who still enjoy the game, here is a list of the top 50 American Golf Courses to play...

1 Cypress Point
2 Pine Valley
3 Shinnecock Hills
4 Sand Hills
5 National Golf Links of America
6 Oakmont
7 Augusta National
8 Pebble Beach
9 Pacific Dunes
10 Friar's Head
11 Merion Golf Club
12 Fishers Island
13 Ballyneal
14 Prairie Dunes
15 Crystal Downs
16 Bandon Trails
17 Pinehurst – No 2
18 Somerset Hills
19 Chicago GC
20 Essex County Club
21 Old Macdonald
22 San Francisco GC
23 Winged Foot – West
24 LA Country Club – North
25 Pasatiempo
26 Seminole
27 Old Sandwich
28 White Bear Yacht Club
29 Eastward Ho!
30 Myopia Hunt Club
31 Riviera CC
32 Kingsley Club
33 Colorado GC
34 Sebonack
35 Country Club – Brookline
36 The California Golf Club
37 Whistling Straits – Straits
38 The Golf Club
39 Boston GC
40 Yeamans Hall
41 Streamsong – Red
42 TPC Sawgrass – Stadium
43 Quaker Ridge
44 Plainfield
45 Wolf Point
46 Bandon Dunes
47 Rock Creek Cattle Co
48 Oakland Hills – South
49 Old Town Club
50 Essex County CC
Candidate courses