It was a terrible year for almost everything related to tourism.
Hotel occupancy has declined and attractions have seen visitors cut in half. Air travel plummeted and restaurants that depended on visitors lost revenue.
But on many of South Carolina’s golf courses, business was booming.
Golfers who already played a round or two a week before the pandemic started playing twice as much. People who have not played for a while have picked up their clubs again, and newcomers have managed to enter the field for the first time, brought in by parents, friends, spouses, a desire to leave the house and – probably in some cases – boredom.
People needed something to do, and at one point, golf courses were one of the few open places.
Like beaches and food, golf is considered by South Carolina’s tourism leaders to be one of the pillars of the state’s travel offerings and was one of the few outliers in 2020, along with the success of state parks and vacation rentals. short term.
“Golf has shown promising growth,” said state tourism director Duane Parrish, speaking to industry members at the Columbia Convention Center on February 15 for the SC Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Travel.
“This is encouraging news for a state that has more than 300 golf courses,” he continued.
To further drive this success, total golf advertising spend during the current fiscal year is almost four times that of the last fiscal year, according to PRT.
The Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism of SC increased its spending on advertising in golf as the sector began to record numbers, a difference of a year marked in large part by reductions in revenue from activities related to tourism. Provided.
Back to golf
The golf boom was not unique to South Carolina. It happened across the US
Although the rounds plunged in April, the return was so strong that the positive growth in the year was achieved in July. In November, golf had its best month compared to 2019, with an increase of almost 57%. December was not far behind, with around 40%.
At the end of 2020, the total number of rounds played increased by about 14%, despite the deficit of around 20 million rounds in the spring, according to research firm Golf Datatech.
The only other time in the past two decades that there was an increase of more than 3 percent – the limit to what, according to the National Golf Foundation, can be attributed to typical climate fluctuations – was in 2012, when there was an index much more modest than 5.7 percentage increase.
At the beginning of the pandemic, industry professionals were quick to publicize golf as an activity conducive to social detachment.
A big part of that was Back2Golf, a coalition of golf organizations in the United States that created standardized COVID-19 safety guidelines and put pressure on governors and other officials to keep the courses open.
The three-phase approach, assessed by the Centers for Disease Control, was first adopted in early May.
A smaller version of this type of industry-wide collaboration was happening in South Carolina as well, and when Back2Golf was launched, it made it easier for state and regional golf organizations to take a coordinated approach, said Terry Sedalik, executive director of South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association.
“If we all had different messages, we would not be very reliable,” said Sedalik. “When the plan (Back2Golf) was launched, we could all be singing the same hymnbook.”
In the fall, Sedalik said members shared reports of record numbers and robust reserves. One course said that while the heat and humidity of August usually meant that golfers would leave in the afternoon, they kept players busy all day.
From July to December, the golf courses in Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head made gains year by year in rounds played each month, except one, according to Golf Datatech reports. Courses in Myrtle Beach declined by about 8% in August, but Charleston and Hilton Head still surpassed the 2019 total for that month.
The biggest single-month increase in Charleston was in December, almost 56%.
Hilton Head saw the biggest gains overall, with monthly increases of up to 63%. Myrtle Beach did not do so well, with its biggest monthly increase reaching 18%.
Golf accounted for about 35 percent of all state tax revenue in 2019, Sedalik noted, a percentage that is likely to be substantially higher in 2020, given the industry’s record year and relative setbacks than other taxpayers. of admission experienced during the pandemic.
Making the game grow
At Kiawah Island Golf Resort, which has five courses, every month since June has broken records, said Brian Gerard, the resort’s golf director.
“I think golf gave a lot of people freedom during the pandemic,” said Gerard. “And now, I think one of the big things for people in the golf industry is how we can keep the game going.”
Gerard said he saw growth in three segments of golfers. There were “essential golfers” who played two or three rounds a week and increased it to four or five. Players who had taken a break were brought back into the game, and new players started playing the sport.
Younger and more women were seen in South Carolina courses last year, Sedalik said.
This is also a national trend. The National Golf Foundation predicted in mid-2020 that there would be a “COVID-related bump of half a million junior golfers” by the end of the year.
Another observed result from COVID, said Gerard, is that more golfers appear to be walking the courses. And while this probably started because of safety guidelines against sharing golf carts with people outside the home, Gerard predicts that it has become a new habit for some, for the benefit and enjoyment of health.
“I think what happened was that once people started doing this, they really liked it and said, ‘I’m going to keep doing this,'” said Gerard. “I hope it continues, and I think it will continue.”
Kiawah has always allowed walking on his courses, Gerard said, and one of them, Ocean Course, is just for walking.
The Ocean Course is expected to host the 2021 PGA Championship on May 20 and 23, the largest golf event on the agenda for South Carolina.
Both the championship and the RBC Heritage Tournament, sponsored by planemaker Boeing Co. and hosted on Hilton Head Island, were cited by tourism director Parrish as reasons why there is “even more to expect when it comes to golf in 2021.”
The RBC Heritage Tournament was canceled last year because of COVID-19, and the PGA Championship was postponed to August and played without spectators. They are still in the air this spring.
In a statement on February 18, the PGA Tournament said it was “carefully monitoring developments in COVID-19” related to championship planning in Kiawah.
“We are in close coordination and communication with representatives from South Carolina and will continue to follow the guidance of state and public health officials,” said the statement. “Our team is working on logistics around the Championship and will communicate all necessary updates at the appropriate time.”
Major events aside, golf professionals in the U.S. are forecasting a strong 2021. Based on golf equipment sales data for the third quarter, golfers are investing in the sport: Golf Datatech set a record $ 1 record billion in sales, with golf bags, wedges and irons driving those purchases.
Looking ahead to next year, the biggest problem, Sedalik said, may just be getting a tee time.