ncrease in the number of competition events has helped fuel an increase in the number of competition rounds of golf played in August and through the winter months according to new data released by the Australian Golf Industry Council.
The number of rounds played in August increased by 6.7% nationally on August 2012 figures to more than 1.13 million rounds.
The strongest state gains were recorded in Victoria and New South Wales with the number of rounds played up 10.2% and 8.4% respectively on 2012 numbers.
There were slightly softer results in the non-eastern seaboard states which brought the national result back a few percentage points while the Northern Territory recorded a positive result.
With the winter months collectively delivering an increase of 5.8%, on a Year-to-Date basis, the national market is trending up 5.7% on the same eight months last year.
Event data from Golf Link showed that total competition events were up some 4% over the winter period of 2012, with the number of Stableford events, the most regularly played competition event type, increasing by 6%.
Golf Australia CEO and AGIC Chairman Stephen Pitt said more event opportunities had spurred on golfers during the cooler months.
“These are positive results coming out of the winter period as we move into spring and some warmer weather,” Pitt said.
“There’s every reason to anticipate that these figures will continue to trend positively as we move into the warmer months and get closer to the domestic tournament season when people are even more tempted to get out on course.”
The Australian Golf Industry Council (AGIC) was established in late 2006 to provide a forum to help unite the industry on agreed industry wide initiatives.
Membership includes: Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association, Australian Ladies Professional Golf, Australian Sporting Goods Association, Golf Australia, Golf Management Australia, PGA of Australia and the Society of Australian Golf Course Architects.