More people are searching for ‘golf’ than ‘coronavirus’ in these two U.S. cities

The National Golf Foundation just released results from a recent study on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the golf industry. There are a number of surprising, and some shocking, revelations seeded throughout the report. But one particularly eye-raising finding involved golf-related internet searches in the United States.

Despite all the attention focused on the virus and its spiraling health and economic consequences, the NGF report found that people in two states are making more golf-related internet searches than coronavirus-related searches right now.

The two states shouldn’t be much of a surprise, as they are notable for being havens for golf-crazed citizens. The first is South Carolina, or, more specifically, the Myrtle Beach, S.C. market. As of March 27, golf-related searches had a 57% share of searches compared against searches about the coronavirus in the popular golf destination that’s littered with courses.

Coming in a close second was Palm Springs, California, which saw golf searches outpace coronavirus searches 55%-45%. The sunny region located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California is home to numerous top golf resorts and year-round play.

No other state’s golf searches cracked the 50% mark, but many other markets showed significant golf-related internet activity, including several known golf-obsessed regions in Florida. Other regions betrayed specific golf industry ties with their search results, such as Augusta, Ga. (40% golf searches) and Bend, Oregon, near Bandon Dunes (39%).

But golfers in these traditional hot spots aren’t the only ones desperate to find a drill to do at home, or a tee time at a golf course that’s still open. Regions from all over the country showed up in the study, including Salisbury, Maryland (45%); North Platte, Nebraska (40%); and Sioux City, Iowa (39%).

You can check out the full results from the NGF study, along with helpful visualizations, here.

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