Arizona places second in Golf Magazine’s ranking of “Golfiness”

Arizona earned the second spot in a recently released rating by Travelin’ Joe Passov titled “The United States of Golf: All 50 States Ranked by Their Golfiness.”  Posted on Golf.com July 2, Passov calls out the four criteria he used to define “golfiness” as: avidness of golfers; quantity and quality of courses; legacy/vibe and Travelin’ Joe’s personal rating. Each state was given a ranking from 1-50 for each category and the combined score determined the state’s golfiness. In the end, Arizona finished with a score of 175, sandwiched between No. 3, California, at 171 and No. 1, Florida, at 187. 

“Pairing National Golf Foundation data with some subjective analysis from yours truly (I’ve played golf in all 50 states and at more than 1,500 U.S. courses), we calculated a golfiness rating for every state in the union,” said Passov.

Passov further elaborated that each category includes both subjective and objective measurements.  In his words:

Avidness of Golfers. Using data supplied by the National Golf Foundation (NGF), we factored in Household Participation Rate (the percentage of a state’s population that plays golf) and Rounds Per Golfer (the frequency of rounds among regular players). Combining those two metrics, each state emerged with a point value of 1 to 50.

Quantity and Quality of Courses. We gave equal emphasis to two statistics: (1) Total number of courses, and (2) Number of GOLF Magazine Top 100 courses (private and public).

Legacy/Vibe. This category accounts for the caliber of a state’s native players and the prestige of its tournaments, plus its overall golf  “vibe”—admittedly somewhat subjective metrics, but important nonetheless.

Travelin’ Joe’s Rating. The final judgment was left up to me and my golf experiences in all 50 states. When I holed out at Hot Springs (Ark.) Country Club’s Park course in October 2011, I completed my quest to play golf in every state. Having now crisscrossed the country countless times, I’ve developed my own opinions of each state’s golfiness.