The Wire by Golf Press Association

• Available tee times based on estimate of 16,000 golf courses with six tee times an hour for eight hours a day [last tee time being at 2:30 p.m.] multiplied by four golfers for 30 days a month and nine months a year of full usage on average equals 830 million available times a year. The industry has reported about 500 million rounds played annually, or about 60 percent of available times.
• Club Corp announced [reported in Golf Inc., May, 2005] that it had plans to spend $80 million, which is equivalent to 10,000 single rider golf cars by SoloRider.
• There are 78 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964, a 20-year period or about 3.6 million annually, or on average, 10,000 a day. We estimate that 10 percent of the U S populations play golf, so 1,000 of the boomers play golf, on average.
• There are approximately 4.5 million seniors who play golf out of 27 million golfers according to the National Golf Foundation, and average 55 to 60 rounds annually. According to the Frequent Golfer Study of NGF, 145,000 seniors who were retired played 4,154,000 fewer rounds in 2002 versus 2001. According to the NGF, golfers over 60 play almost twice as many rounds annually as golfers under 60.
• Estimates of the number of mobility impaired golfers are based partly on the fact that there are 6.8 million Americans who use assistive devices to help with mobility. About 1.7 million of them use wheel chairs or scooters, and this number does not include people confined to institutions. These numbers come from the Disability Statistics Report of the year 2000. AARP says there are 20 million Americans with mobility impairments. The NGCOA says that 10 percent of disabled people would play golf. Statistics about disabled people in the U S were also provided by the National Organization on Disability in Washington, D C.
• The east coast operator who has 21 SoloRider single-rider golf cars is Monmouth County, N.J.
• Ten to fifteen million rounds of golf is based on 10 to 20 rounds for each of 700,000 mobility impaired golfers plus 20 rounds for each of 75,000 seniors who gave up golf in 2002. Fifteen million rounds at $30 per round for golf and car fees is $450 million and related revenue of food and beverage and golf shop apparel and equipment and balls, at $10 per round, would add another $150 million. This is based on NGF averages spent by golfers.
• Two-room nights a month is estimated to be $1,000 for room and golf or $12,000 a year, one senior playing 10 times a month at $30 per round is $3,600 per year, and the annual cost of a SoloRider on a five-year lease is about $2,300 annually, and at a private club, the difference between social membership and golf membership is estimated to be about $8,000.