Golf Facility Capital Investment

In 2019, Colorado golf facilities invested more than $92.6 million in capital improvements for new facilities and renovations to greens, fairways, bunkers, infrastructure, equipment, and structures (compared to $40.82 million measured for 2002[7]). This included a large-scale capital project at City Park Golf Course in Denver that totaled more than $45 million ($11.4 million in 2019). Research found that 35.7 percent of all Colorado golf facilities began or continued large-scale capital projects in 2019 (defined as new construction or major renovation to the course and/or related facilities) that were not funded directly from operating expenses.

Approach

What is measured

Capital investments are major improvements by golf facilities that are outside of normal maintenance and operating expenditures for turf maintenance and grounds upkeep. Golf facilities periodically make major investments to improve greens and tees, renovate clubhouses and other buildings, and purchase turf maintenance equipment and irrigation systems. In addition to capital investments by existing facilities, construction of new golf courses constitutes the other major type of capital investment.

How it’s measured

Golf facility capital investment data comes from the 2020 Colorado golf facility survey conducted by NGF (n=71), which included a question about specific large-scale capital projects undertaken in 2019 outside of normal operating expense. For this study, reported average capital investment by facility type was used, with outliers removed, and the appropriate averages were applied to the total golf facility census for the state. The unique outliers were then added back in as they represented significant individual projects as noted above. The findings are summarized in the tables below:

[7] Steve Davies*, Phil Watson, Amanda Cramer and Dawn Thilmany, Ned Prosser and E. Peter Elzi, Jr. The Economic Contribution of Colorado’s Golf Industry. June 2004