British Columbia’s largest golf courses continued to grow significantly during the second year of the pandemic as they more than doubled their business from the previous year, according to data collected on BIV’s list of the province’s busiest public golf courses.
Over the past year, average rounds played increased 14.3 per cent to 62,963 in 2021 from 55,094 in 2020. This compared favourably with the 6.5 per cent growth recorded in 2021 from the 51,711 rounds played in 2019.
The median number of rounds played has closely tracked with the average, suggesting that, golf courses of all sizes are experiencing similar levels of growth.
No. 6 Langara Golf Course had the second largest one-year growth on the list. Its number of rounds played in 2021 jumped 52.8 per cent to 75,736 from 49,563 in 2020. The increase in business pushed Langara up eight spots on the list’s rankings from 14th the previous year. No. 19 Radium Springs Course recorded the largest one-year increase: up 68 per cent to 42,000 rounds played in 2021 from 25,000 in 2020.
The top five have also all reported significant growth over the past five years.
No. 2 Northview Golf & Country Club had the largest five-year growth among the top five: 58.8 per cent to 85,084 rounds played in 2021 from 53,565 in 2017.
The course with the smallest five-year growth within the top five, No. 4 Riverway Golf Course & Driving Range, increased its rounds played to 81,665 in 2021 from 59,750 in 2017 or by 36.7 per cent.
Only three courses on the list suffered a decline in rounds played over the past year, including No. 1 Swaneset Bay Resort & Country Club, where its number of rounds played dropped 17.4 per cent to 95,000 in 2021 from 115,000 in 2020. •
