Down 5.9% for the year.
That’s the latest figure from Golf Datatech on the decrease in the percentage of rounds played in Northeast Ohio in 2017.
Nationally, rounds dropped 2.7%. Rounds at public courses dipped 3.6% in 2017 nationwide, while private courses were up fractionally at 0.8%.
Cleveland’s year-over-year drop closely matched the drop for the state of Ohio, down 5.8% for 2017.
The East North Central region, which includes Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, was down 5.3% for 2017. It was the second-largest drop for any region in the country.
Was the decline weather related? Perhaps. 2017 rainfall totalled 43.20 inches; the average is 39 inches. There were a number of Saturday and Sunday rain-outs during the heart of the summer, too.
But is blaming the weather shifting the blame? Let’s see what happens in 2018…
