How much longer do Michigan golfers have to let it fly?
“Until the snow flies,” said Zach Szawara, the head golf pro at Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti.
The golf industry in Michigan, which set round records in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to flourish, and this year, it’s getting a big boost from some unseasonably warm weather. Many golf courses across Metro Detroit, including Washtenaw, are keeping the tee sheets open as long as they can, already deep into November, and with forecasted temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s ― albeit, with rain ― as far as the eye can see, for now.
Combined with great weather for golfing back in February, Michigan again is on track to set a record for play ― for a fifth consecutive year. Through September, the most recent statistics available from the National Golf Foundation, rounds played across the state were up 4.7% in 2023, well ahead of the national increase of 1.7%. In September 2024, Michigan rounds increased by 11.6% over September 2023, according to the NGF, and that’s before Mother Nature was extraordinarily kind in October and November. Those stats and season-ending numbers are due out in early 2025.
Clearly, though, it’s been another boon for a golf industry whose economic impact throughout the state is more than $6 billion, and an industry that employs more than 60,000 people at more than 850 courses throughout the state, according to the NGF.
“I think a lot of people say to each other, ‘I don’t know if it can get much better,'” said Chris Whitten, the executive director of the Golf Association of Michigan. “People forget in Michigan that we have so many more golf courses than in other states, so we’ve got the inventory and we’ve got the golfers, and we’ve got the golfers from other states traveling to Michigan to play.
“We don’t see any indicators that this is like a temporary blip.”
The golf business had its first major spike back in 1998, the year after Tiger Woods won the Masters. Its second came amid COVID, when folks were forced to work from home, and were looking for fun socially distanced activities. The game captured the attention of nearly every demographic, with play among females and juniors soaring, and the average age of golfers dropping.
The GAM next summer will reach 100,000 members for the first time; it’s at 97,320, Whitten said. Juniors participating in the GAM’s Youth on Course initiative ― where they can play for $5 at select courses across the state, with the GAM subsidizing courses through its charity foundation ― numbered 11,500 in 2024, a record, Whitten said. Female golfers now make up more than 25% of golfers in the country, a record, according to the NGF. The average age of golfers is now 43.5, down more than a year, from five years ago, according to the NGF.
“After COVID, golf just boomed,” said Brad Stedry, general manager of Tanglewood Golf Club in South Lyon, where there were two hearty golfers out playing through the rain Tuesday. Even with 27 holes, Tanglewood has a league waiting list in the hundreds. “We’re still seeing a lot of that, absolutely.
“It’s definitely been a good year.”
Weather has been a big reason why ― thanks to the “shoulder” (colder) months, the typical late fall, winter and early spring months when golf courses don’t bank on revenue, but are grateful when it’s there for the taking. Through March, Tanglewood did almost 1,900 rounds, compared to zero in the same time frame in 2023, Stedry said. October had increased 850 rounds from 2023, and November had increased 200 rounds from 2023. A few big rain and thunder storms in the summer impacted play a bit during peak times, but the shoulder months more than made up for it.
Tanglewood will stay open as long as it can, Stedry said, at a time of year when golfers can really score if they’re willing to shiver ― rates are typically discounted, often significantly, at a time when golf has never cost more. He has to be at the course anyway, so if anyone wants to come play, it’s easy for him. Washtenaw will close when it snows, Szawara said, but will open back up when the snow melts; it will make cart determinations on a day-by-day basis. Some courses, meanwhile, already have closed, many figuring the cost of staffing isn’t worth the revenues. Some courses, like Huron Hills Golf Course in Ann Arbor, long have had an honor system during the shoulder months, letting players play the first seven holes as they wish (Nos. 8 and 9 are slopey, and will close); just don’t forget to drop cash in a box.
John Retzer, a retired social-studies teacher and member at Washtenaw, is always looking at the weather. If it’s 40s and cloudy or 30s and sunny, he’s always ready to play. In fact, Retzer has golfed in 117 consecutive months, in Michigan! He’s golfed on Christmas Eve, and he’s golfed on his birthday in November. He was out at Washtenaw on Monday, a day that was quite busy at the club, with it looking like possibly the last good chance to get in a round.
“I don’t know how many rounds I’ve gotten in (in 2024),” said Retzer, who runs the Golf Blogger website, and has played nearly 300 different courses in Michigan. “But it’s an obnoxious number.
“February had to be the most unreal February I can remember. This February, I must’ve played half-a-dozen times, and every time I went out there, there was like two dozen people on the course.
“Then March, the weather turned bad. March was actually worse than it was in February.
“Since then, this has been a great year.”
Golf courses, public and private, certainly agree. When COVID brought out all the golfers, it stuffed the tee sheets so much that many golfers finally took the leap and joined private clubs. Most private clubs in Metro Detroit now are at capacity and have waiting lists, after many had spent years offering discounted initiation fees to get younger golfers ― the lifeblood for any private club ― to join. Public and private clubs are on a building bonanza now, too, reinvesting much of their flush revenue streams on construction and course projects. Most private clubs in Metro Detroit have undergone major renovations in recent years, or are doing them now or in the near future.
Metro Detroit in 2024 also saw the opening of the area’s first new-course design in decades, in The Cardinal at St. John’s in Plymouth, nearly two decades after the golf-course building bubble burst in Michigan. Many up-north and resort courses, including Boyne as well as Arcadia Bluffs on Lake Michigan, recently announced plans to build short courses, keeping up with the game’s latest trend ― as more and more younger golfers like that lessened time commitment fits better into their schedule than a traditional 18.
Lindsey Boyle, 42, a sales rep in Grand Rapids, played a lot of golf when she was younger, but didn’t play as much after she graduated college and got into the so-called “real world.” Then COVID hit, and she found herself playing more ― and she has barely slowed down since, especially this month, which has provided an added bonus. Because many courses aerate greens and fairways in late August or early September, in anticipation of season’s end, golfers are finding excellent course conditions right now, as the process has long healed.
“If this is global warming, I’m all for it,” Boyle joked. “Oh my gosh, I love this weather.
“If I could play every day, I would.”
And she’s got a whole lot of company in Michigan, maybe, just maybe, even for the holidays.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
