About

Golf in Arizona is not only a popular sport and recreational activity it has become a major industry contributing over 3 billion dollars to the economy in 2004.  Some key items of interest are:

• There are 46 nine-hole courses, 268 eighteen hole-courses, 11 twenty seven hole-courses, and 13 thirty six-hole courses in Arizona.
• The overall economic impact of the golf course industry on the state of Arizona was estimated to be $3,437,838,055 in 2004. This impact consists of three parts: (1) revenue collected by golf course facilities; (2) revenue generated through additional tourism activities undertaken by golfers who visited Arizona from outside the state; and (3) additional residential housing premiums for those homes located in a golf course community and built in 2004.
• The economic impact attributed to direct, indirect, and induced golf course revenues was $1,449,831,733. This included revenue directly collected by Arizona golf courses of $806,357,856, indirect revenues of $252,294,393 for those businesses that supply the golf course facilities, and induced revenues of $391,179,669 spent by employees of the golf course facilities and employees of its suppliers.
• Sixty-eight percent of those who played golf in Arizona were Arizona residents, 29 percent were U.S. visitors from outside the state, and 3 percent were international visitors.
• The total revenue collected by all Arizona golf courses in 2004 was $806,357,856. Total revenue includes: (1) green and cart fees equal to $396 million; (2) food and beverage sales equal to $143 million; (3) membership fees equal to $122 million; (4) retail sales equal to $66 million; (5) initiation fees equal to $30 million; (6) driving range fees equal to $17.8 million; (7) tournament revenue equal to $8.9 million; (8) revenue collected for private lessons given by facility personnel $4.8 million; and (9) $17.8 million from other sources.
• Arizona golf course facilities employed 19,481 full-time and part-time workers in 2004, 55 percent of whom were full-time and 45 percent of who were part-time.
• Arizona golf course facilities occupied an estimated 44,454 acres in 2004 (excluding resort and residential space).
• The golf course itself occupied 42,555 acres, irrigation water was applied on an estimated 30,749 acres, and the total area of turfgrass was 28,793 acres.
• The total amount of irrigated water used on all Arizona golf courses in 2004 was 145,982 acre/feet. Of this amount, 61,591 acre/feet was ground water, 56,022 acre/feet was reclaimed water, 23,129 acre/feet was Central Arizona Project water, and 5,241 acre/feet was surface water.

Source of information: http://agb.poly.asu.edu/workingpapers/0501.pdf