Still Swinging

"Today I’m going to read more, get some sun by the pool and wander," Randant said while sitting on the patio at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples. "Tomorrow morning I’m getting a facial and a massage. After that I’m doing nothing but relax."

At $500 per day plus taxes for the Wisconsin couple’s stay, Southwest Florida could use more visitors like Randant and Huiras. An uptick in golf tourism would be a boon to Southwest Florida’s housing industry—and, by extension, the regional economy as a whole.

Directly and indirectly, the sport has pumped millions of dollars into Southwest Florida’s economy through tourism, real estate, capital expenditures, golf course operations, merchandise and other outlets. A University of Florida study titled "Economic Dimensions of the Florida Golf Course Industry" cites golf tourism in Collier and Lee counties as producing $672 million in revenues in 2000—$476 million in Collier and $196 million in Lee, the most recent information available for the state.

But the industry has suffered here in recent years. Anticipating an onslaught of golfers, developers carved numerous new golf courses out of the region’s woods and wetlands in the 1990s and first few years of this decade. The economy took a turn, though, and new generations of golfers are approaching the sport with different demands than their predecessors. As lifetime memberships and weekends at the golf club go the way of the three-martini lunch, golf courses and golf-course communities are forging new strategies to adapt.

Golf For The Masses Florida claims more golf courses—about 1,216—than any other state, and it topped the nation in 2006 in the number of new courses opening. Now we have a golf-course glut.