States 88 golf facilities generate an estimated $1.242 billion to economy

The Nevada Golf Alliance, made up of the Southern Nevada Golf Association, the Northern Nevada Golf Association, the Nevada State Golf Association, the Nevada Golf Course Owners Association, the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Southwest Section of The PGA of America, the Northern Nevada Chapter of the Northern California Section of The PGA of America and the Southern Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, recently announced the release of “The Economic Impact of Nevada Golf” study. 

The study, conducted by TEConomy Partners, LLC, in agreement with GOLF 20/20, uses IMPLAN, an economic impact modeling software, to perform the economic impact analysis to estimate the golf industry’s total economic impact on Nevada’s economy.

The study highlights four core industry segments including Golf Facility Operations, Golf Facility Capital Investments (course construction and renovations), Golf-Related Supplies (production and retail sales), and Golf Tournaments, Associations, and Charitable Events ,as well as two enabled industry segments: Golf Real Estate (new home construction and premiums related to the sale of existing homes in golf communities) and Golf Tourism.

In 2018, the states 88 golf facilities (which managed 98.5 18-hole equivalent courses) generated $1.242 billion of direct economic activity, generated secondary and tertiary activity that resulted in $1.981 billion of direct, indirect, and induced economic output; 17,505 direct, indirect, and induced jobs; $701.3 million in wages and benefits; and $138.6 million in state and local tax revenue.

Nevada’s direct golf economy is comparable to other major industry sectors in the state including Agriculture ($664.9M), Performing Arts ($883.7M) and Computer Programming ($1.316B). 

The state is home to two PGA TOUR events (The Shriners Hospital for Children Open and The Barracuda Championship) and golf continues to be a driver of tourism to the state with travelers visiting Las Vegas, Reno and other parts of the state spending an estimated $744.3 million.

Additionally, the Nevada golf industry hosted charitable events that generated $37 million in net proceeds and in-kind contributions for beneficiary organizations. These range from smaller, but highly impactful charitable golf events that raise money for local hospitals, youth development organizations, medical research, and college scholarships to major events raising millions of dollars. 

The Nevada Golf Alliance would like to thank GOLF 20/20 for their financial assistance as well as CMAA, GCSAA, LPGA, NGCOA, PGA of America, PGA TOUR, and the USGA for providing supporting documents and the TEConomy team of Jennifer Ozawa, Peter Ryan, Marty Grueber, and Dylan Yetter for their efforts to finish the study. 

See the full copy of the report along with an executive summar.