Our nationally acclaimed Back to Normal Barometer and recently released NGCOA Golf Business Pulse 2022 report continue to track facility operator and consumer attitudes and behaviors as the golf industry and leisure industry in general, navigate around a myriad of issues thwarting a return to pre-pandemic normalcy.  As we speak with facility owners and operators, the big question continues to revolve around where things will flesh out as the pandemic driven golf boom meets an uncertain economy.

While the midterm elections are over, Americans are far from resolved on the year ahead.  Only 40% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans that we polled in late November, believe that political tensions in the U.S. will ease in 2023.  Independents are even less optimistic.  If these sentiments bear out, it will be interesting to see their impact on potential challenging government regulations and their impact on facility operators.  But legislative gridlock is what the preponderance of consumers are anticipating.

The economy continues to be the most concerning issue for Americans, with half strongly believing that we are currently in recession. Nearly 2/3 strongly agree that they are more budget conscious today than they were two years ago. Both of these measures are up +10 points since April.   In two separate questions, only around a third feel strongly that they or the country are better off now than four years ago. This begs the question of whether we are approaching a tipping point given the pervasive increases in green fees that we observed over the past eighteen months.

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