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The colder the state, the more popular golf is.

It's an interesting stat, but there are more people in Los Angeles County than the entire state of Minnesota, and I'm going to guess that there are more golfers in Southern California than the state of Minnesota. I think you will find golf courses in the greater Los Angeles area are well-used.
 
tahoebum said:
Well, to be fair, it was Minnesota. After four years at the top of the heap, Minnesota has dropped to No. 3, according to the annual survey of the National Golf Foundation. But don't jump to any conclusions. The two states that edged it out were North Dakota and Wisconsin.
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No surprise. Wisconsin always beats Minnesota. :bananadance:
 
fracisco said:
It's an interesting stat, but there are more people in Los Angeles County than the entire state of Minnesota, and I'm going to guess that there are more golfers in Southern California than the state of Minnesota. I think you will find golf courses in the greater Los Angeles area are well-used.
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I don't understand why everyone is so focused on dismissing per capita comparisons. Yes SoCal has more golfers than Minnesota. They also have a lot more gas stations, cars, dogs, grocery stores, garbage cans, millionaires, and child molesters. Makes sense, California's population is 38 million vs. 5 million for Minnesota. The total number of anything is meaningless when trying to determine how popular or common something is. Hawaii only has 33,000 millionaires while California has about 750,000. Does that mean you are less likely walking down the street to meet a millionaire randomly in Hawaii than in California. No, it's more likely to bump into a millionaire in Hawaii because it ranks second in millionaires per capita and California ranks 9th.

The bottom line is if you were to attend a event like a wedding with a random sample of 200 people, the wedding in a place like Minnesota is likely to have about twice as many golfers attending than a wedding in California. Come to think of it, a big chunk of the wedding receptions I've been to in Minnesota were at club houses and only I've only attended 1 wedding reception at a golf course in my 16 years in California. The fact that people from states with cold weather are more likely to be golfers than people from many warm weather states seems counter intuitive to me, that's all.
 
JB said:
I dont get it.
MN has the riches, the education and the amazing golf.
Why on earth would you want to come to FL with the obese, disgusting and mid tier golf? :alien:
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Certainly the climate isnt a reason. I mean, who wants 80 and sunny when you could have -30 and snow?
 
tahoebum said:
Simple, I feel much smarter and fitter in places like Florida and California, and my declining golf skills will only be able to handle Florida mid-tier golf in retirement.


Seriously, we just spent a week in Florida on spring break and will be going back for 10 days in June and a week without the kids for our anniversary in November. We love Florida! I'm just starting to play some of the amazing golf courses in Naples. Damn bermuda!:beat-up:
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I hear ya. I was in Tampa last fall and it was awesome. Id go back any time. From what I hear, as far as Florida goes, Tampa isnt even the best there is.
 
Badger_Golfer said:
I hear ya. I was in Tampa last fall and it was awesome. Id go back any time. From what I hear, as far as Florida goes, Tampa isnt even the best there is.
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Yeah definitely not. Certainly not a bad place but go over any of the 4 bridges nearby and its better in my opinion.
 
JB said:
Yeah definitely not. Certainly not a bad place but go over any of the 4 bridges nearby and its better in my opinion.
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Seriously, I loved that weekend we spent in Tampa. Good food, good beer, nice weather. The hotel we stayed at even had a little Oktoberfest that day. For me, if they wanted to roll out the red carpet and make a badger feel at home, there isnt much more they could have done other than having fried cheese curds on the menu.
Like I said, I had had a great time and look forward to checking out what else Florida has to offer in the near future.
 
Otis32 said:
Don't understand the need to address the per capita aspect since measuring golf participation on average per person was the whole point of the study. Coastal states with large populations will certainly have more golfers in total but that isn't what the study is measuring.

The view that northern states have fewer options for outdoor recreation and things to do in general would be incorrect. MN & WI in particular also have really high participation rates in activities like fishing, camping, hiking, hunting, skiing etc. etc. and an enormous wealth of natural resources & public land in which to pursue them.

Have lived all over the Midwest including the Chicago area over the last 20+ years and I suspect the primary reason MN & WI participate in golf (and other outdoor rec.) at such a high rate is the combination of wealth, high education levels, opportunity and culture. People up here want to be outside, are generally more healthy and more health conscious than the rest of the country and they do want to make up for lost time after the long winters.
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I've been a Wisco resident all my life. The fact that you assume Wisconsiners are generally healthy makes me smile.
 
blugold said:
I've been a Wisco resident all my life. The fact that you assume Wisconsiners are generally healthy makes me smile.
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I always that Cheese Curds was just another name for Wisconsin folks. Then I learned that it was a type of cheese or something. However, I still think Wisconsinites should be called Curds.
 
The colder the state, the more popular golf is.

War Eagle said:
I always that Cheese Curds was just another name for Wisconsin folks. Then I learned that it was a type of cheese or something. However, I still think Wisconsinites should be called Curds.
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I've been called worse. Cheese curds are amazing. Not just the deep fried cheese. But actually squeaky curds. Amazing.

Healthy Wisco is not. It sure as shat not better than Florida for golf.
 
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blugold said:
I've been called worse. Cheese curds are amazing. Not just the deep friend cheese. But actually squeaky curds. Amazing.

Healthy Wisco is not. It sure as shat not better than Florida for golf.
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I love deep friend cheese.
 
War Eagle said:
I always that Cheese Curds was just another name for Wisconsin folks. Then I learned that it was a type of cheese or something. However, I still think Wisconsinites should be called Curds.
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I believe you are thinking, "cheeseheads". If you don't know what a cheese curd is, then I feel sorry for you because that is one of the finest guilty pleasures there are when it comes to food.
 
blugold said:
I've been a Wisco resident all my life. The fact that you assume Wisconsiners are generally healthy makes me smile.
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That is pretty funny. I'm not sure how you could think people are healthy in a state where the 3 major food groups are beer, brats and cheese.
 
JB said:
Come on now...No reason to get defensive. As has been explained, since it was done "per capita", the title is misleading and wrong, is all people have been saying on why they brought it up.

As to the stats about income and wealth, it does not support Michigan (as was noted), therefore it truly does not fit.
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Detroit is the most economically unhealthy major metropolitan area in the country. Ground zero for rust belt decay. All of the other states mentioned have economically healthy metro areas. It makes a difference.
 
moosejaa said:
Sorry, didn't mean to come across like I was trying to pick a fight. Thanks for the info.
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No trouble. Didn't exactly mean for my post to come off as strong as it did either.
 
tahoebum said:
I don't understand why everyone is so focused on dismissing per capita comparisons. Yes SoCal has more golfers than Minnesota. They also have a lot more gas stations, cars, dogs, grocery stores, garbage cans, millionaires, and child molesters. Makes sense, California's population is 38 million vs. 5 million for Minnesota. The total number of anything is meaningless when trying to determine how popular or common something is. Hawaii only has 33,000 millionaires while California has about 750,000. Does that mean you are less likely walking down the street to meet a millionaire randomly in Hawaii than in California. No, it's more likely to bump into a millionaire in Hawaii because it ranks second in millionaires per capita and California ranks 9th.

The bottom line is if you were to attend a event like a wedding with a random sample of 200 people, the wedding in a place like Minnesota is likely to have about twice as many golfers attending than a wedding in California. Come to think of it, a big chunk of the wedding receptions I've been to in Minnesota were at club houses and only I've only attended 1 wedding reception at a golf course in my 16 years in California. The fact that people from states with cold weather are more likely to be golfers than people from many warm weather states seems counter intuitive to me, that's all.
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Still confused as well. I doubt the National Golf Federation thinks population growth is a valid strategy to grow the game. Figuring out why some states have higher participation rates than others might help them towards that goal though and my guess is part of the reason they do the study.

As for quality of golf in different areas of the country. I can't really comment because I've never played outside the Midwest. I can say that many of the CA, TX & FL courses I see on the telecasts look amazing and probably beat the pants off the Le Claire, IA 9-hole muni I chopped my way around last night.
 
you know another thing here is that golf takes both time and money together. Perhaps the general populations in certain areas simply has more of both the "time and money" "for golf" vs other places.
 
Otis32 said:
Still confused as well. I doubt the National Golf Federation thinks population growth is a valid strategy to grow the game. Figuring out why some states have higher participation rates than others might help them towards that goal though and my guess is part of the reason they do the study.

As for quality of golf in different areas of the country. I can't really comment because I've never played outside the Midwest. I can say that many of the CA, TX & FL courses I see on the telecasts look amazing and probably beat the pants off the Le Claire, IA 9-hole muni I chopped my way around last night.
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You be amazed at how poor most of the greens are here in California, including private and top notch courses that you can play like Pebble Beach. Most muni course in the midwest have better greens than the best private courses in California.
 
tahoebum said:
You be amazed at how poor most of the greens are here in California, including private and top notch courses that you can play like Pebble Beach. Most muni course in the midwest have better greens than the best private courses in California.
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This is not even close to accurate.
 
tahoebum said:
You be amazed at how poor most of the greens are here in California, including private and top notch courses that you can play like Pebble Beach. Most muni course in the midwest have better greens than the best private courses in California.
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Oops, hit Thanks by accident.

I disagree and don't see how that is even possible. When I was in California recently the greens were so freaking amazing I wanted to roll them up and take em home with me.
 
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