Destination Golf Creates Micro Economies
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Hey Golfers —
There’s a small town that sits in eastern Nebraska with a population of 517. Just a few miles north of Homer, Nebraska, is Landmand Golf Club. Landmand opened its tee time reservations for the 2024 season on December 31st — they sold out all 11,000 tee times in under three hours.
For context — it took Landmand two and a half months to sell out of its tee times for the 2023 season. At $150 per round — that is around $7 million in green fees for the 2024 season.
And it wasn’t just Landmand that has seen a surge in demand.
Jake Gordon, CEO of Noteefy — a tee time software company, posted they are powering the Cabot Citrus Farms property in Florida. Tee time demand for Cabot Citrus Farms was record-setting.
Golfers are flocking to destination golf course resorts. And it just so happens that most of them are in rural areas — creating a significant economic impact on local counties.
Destination golf resorts have created micro-economies that have become essential to the community — filling the void for declining industries, such as lumber and mills.
Coos County, Oregon is home to Bandon Dunes — it has a population of 65,000. In the 1950s and 1960s, the lumber industry employed more than 8,000 people. Fast forward to today — that number is around 1,400, a decline of 83%.
In 1998 — a year before Mike Keiser opened his first golf course in Coos County the unemployment rate was 11.5% — nearly 7% higher than the national average. Today — the unemployment rate of Coos County is 3.9%.
Bandon Dunes has seen explosive growth since 1999, when it opened with one golf course, 69 rooms, and one restaurant.
When the 25th anniversary arrives in May — Bandon will have:
Five 18-hole golf courses
Three short courses
Ten restaurants
Over 200 rooms
Bandon had around 200 employees in 2004. They now have around 700 — not including peak season totals of 500 caddies. The resort expects to have more than 800 full-time employees in 2024.
While Bandon hasn’t replaced all of the jobs lost in the lumber industry in Coos County — it has made an incredible impact.
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort isn’t a particularly easy place to travel to, but that hasn’t stopped golfers from traveling to the remote part of Oregon. The nearest commercial airport is North Bend, Oregon, 25 miles away.
Over the last two decades — the airport has made significant multi-million dollar improvements. And United Airlines has added non-stop service to two cities since Bandon built its first course.
2008 — San Francisco
2015 — Denver
The growth of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is backed up by commercial air traffic data, which has seen a 37% increase since 2019.
Pinehurst, North Carolina, is located in Moore County. With a population of 100,000 and over 40 golf courses — it is the golden child of destination golf.
Over 1 million visitors play golf in Moore County annually. The county is ranked 10th out of 100 North Carolina counties in regards to tourism. And there was an estimated $750 million economic impact by visitors in 2022 — an 11% increase from 2021.
Pinehurst Resorts has over 1,000 employees — and is one of the largest employers in Moore County.
The USGA recently built a facility in Pinehurst and added Pinehurst #2 as an anchor site for USGA Championships.
The USGA Research Science and Innovation Center is a 38,000-square-foot facility that will have an estimated economic impact of $15 million with 190 jobs.
The USGA also built an 8,300-square-foot museum along with the new facility. The museum is expected to bring over $45 million in annual revenue.
By adding Pinehurst as an anchor site for USGA Championships — the USGA estimates it will have an over $600 million economic impact on the area over the next two decades.
The economic similarities between Adams County, Wisconsin, and Coos County, Oregon, are not too dissimilar. Adams County is the home of Sand Valley — which opened in 2017. Adams County has struggled in recent decades as paper mills have closed down.
In the 1990s, there were as many as 40 paper mills in Central Wisconsin — now only five remain in the area. Over 10,000 jobs have been erased.
A few months before Sand Valley opened, the unemployment rate of Adams County was 7.2%, but it now has an unemployment rate of 4.3%.
Sand Valley initially started with two golf courses — they now have:
Four 18-hole golf courses
One short course
100 rooms
Sand Valley is the largest employer in Adams County, with 500 employees.
Sand Valley has revitalized Adams County — and has been the largest economic development project in the last 50 years.
To be fair — although I touched on three golf destinations, the newsletter doesn’t do it justice. Dozens and dozens of golf resorts have created a micro-economy or revitalized their area. From Cabot in Nova Scotia to Streamsong in rural Florida.
Destination golf isn’t only fun to play but has become intertwined with its local community — a staple and identity that residents are proud of, just like the old mills.
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
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As always an interesting read. Another out of the way destination course here in the PNW is Gamble Sands near Brewster, WA. Pretty amazing that ownership took the risk to build so far out from any urban center (I suppose Wenatchee would count as the closest). It’s an excellent, fun course with views to die for. I prefer it over Chambers. Thanks again for your fine work.
Tim C
Jared,
Great insight as always. One thing you really did not delve into is the course aesthetics and conditioning, playability or challenge. These too are major draws that can set a premium on the golf experience that people crave. So I would also include the why. Why are these rural Mike Keiser built and managed courses thriving. Sand Valley now has the mighty Lido which is a huge story in itself but it is the Lido in tip top shape with greens that put like Heaven. The course and all Keiser course are as close to Augusta conditions that you will find on a course you can actually play. So the routing, conditions, challenge and story or each venue would be the WHY?