Golf in Michigan Provides $6.1 Billion Impact, Study Reveals

The Michigan golf industry’s total economic impact is $6.1 billion, yes billion, in part because the state is home to 859 courses, including the most public golf courses in the nation, stands as the top winter-interrupted golf tourism destination in the country and provides 61,000 jobs according to a recently completed study by the National Golf Foundation (NGF).

Among the NGF study’s notable findings:

·       The NGF said outside of the coastal, warm weather states of Florida and California, it can be argued that no U.S. state has a more substantial footprint in the world of recreational golf. Michigan is 10th in the U.S. in size and 11th in population but ranks third in the total number of golf courses.

·       More than 1.85 million golfers travel to Michigan for golf and spend more than $1 billion annually with non-residents playing about three of every 10 rounds in the state each year. 

·       Only Florida, California and Texas with golf facilities open the year around have a higher volume of annual rounds played than Michigan, which had approximately 16.42 million rounds played in 2023.

·       Golf facilities in Michigan had a charitable impact of $104.3 million in 2023 by hosting an estimated 4,880 dedicated charity events with 467,400 participants.