Rockwood Park appeared headed for the same fate as two other Fort Worth municipal golf courses that closed, with no significant capital improvements over his 80-year history and deteriorating conditions that led to declines in revenue and rounds-played. Today, a $5 million renovation project is paying off — both for the city and golfers in the community.

Rounds-played were up 6.8% in April compared to a year earlier thanks to warmer temperatures in many northern parts of the country. Through the first four months of 2019, total play is up 1% year-over-year.

Latent demand is a measure of “non-golfers” who say they’re interested in playing golf — a number that’s risen to 14.7 million. But how many have some previous experience versus none at all? And how can the industry bring back those who have played before and welcome more beginners?

The NGF’s annual Facilities Report provides a comprehensive overview of golf facility supply in the U.S., the world’s best-supplied golf market.

The terms “facility” and “course” are occasionally used interchangeably both in and out of the golf industry, but they can be quite different. Throughout the years, many media outlets have taken the NGF’s total number for facilities and conflated that with courses even though these two counts are more than 2,000 apart. Why are there two different measures?