In 1990, the NGF pronounced that a golf course needed to be built daily to keep up with surging demand. That prognostication turned out to be false. They have done it again.
On Page 27 of the Binder Golf Course report, the NGF “hypothesized that the best predictor of a public golf course’s success was the number of golfers per 18 holes within a 10-mile radius, with 4,000 identified as the key number for projected financial stability.” Download
If that is true, there are only 859 golf course they would consider economically viable: 280 daily fee courses, 322 municipal venues and 257 private clubs. One has to view this statement with amazement as to the wounds they inflict on themselves. Their credibility as an independent research firm has to be in question.