Golfers at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on the Oregon coast. (Photo by Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America via Getty Images)
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As golfers have flocked to resorts and destinations in record or near record numbers in recent ‘post-Covid’ years, KemperSports CEO Steve Skinner has witnessed something of a youth movement.
“I tell everyone that the biggest change from 2018 to today is that 18- to 34-year-old group. They weren’t playing at the same rate as their fathers and grandfathers pre-Covid and now they’re the fastest growing segment,” says Skinner, who oversees an expansive and still-growing management portfolio that includes more than 200 properties nationwide, among them multicourse bucket list facilities like Bandon Dunes on the Oregon Coast, Sand Valley in Wisconsin, and Streamsong in Central Florida.
“We see young people are getting married later. They have good jobs, for the most part, the ones that are playing, and they're paid well,” Skinner adds. “They have this disposable income, and this is where they want to spend it.”
The numbers bear it out. More than 12 million Americans played golf while traveling in each of the past four years, the highest levels on record, according to the National Golf Foundation. And the age group that had the most golf travelers last year: young adults, those between the ages of 18 and 34, according to the NGF.
For Skinner, one of the top-of-mind Kemper facilities getting visitors – and the aforementioned “spend” – is Tidewater Golf Club in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which in April tallied the highest revenue and occupancy month in its 20-year history.
Tidewater GC in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., is coming off a month with the highest revenue in its history.
Tidewater Golf Club
As far as golf destinations go, there aren’t many bigger than Myrtle Beach, where the game is a $1.6 billion industry that supports more than 13,000 jobs along a 60-mile stretch that’s earned the nickname “Golf Capital of the World.’ This week, the region is playing host to the PGA Tour’s ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
Destination rounds are up almost 20% in Myrtle Beach compared to pre-Covid years, according to Jeff Monday of Golf Tourism Solutions, which aggregates play data across 64 courses as part of its efforts to promote and advance the area. And Myrtle’s momentum from recent years continues to show an upward trajectory, with booking data for this spring and fall trending ahead of 2025.
“The biggest thing that we see is it's the younger people,” said Monday, Golf Tourism Solutions’ Director of Technology and Research. “There are so many young people that are traveling to play golf. We all know that the buddy golf trip is still moving the needle, but you now have the surge of YouTube golf and young people consuming content in a way that really focuses on the experience of the trip. That's what people are now wanting. The focus is strictly on experience and value.”
Garrett Clark during the 2025 Tour Championship Creator Classic, presented by YouTube. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
PGA TOUR
Skinner knows full well the impact of YouTube golf. A video produced by the ‘Good Good’ brand from the Kemper-owned Streamsong Resort several years ago got millions of views. It bears mentioning that Good Good is the title sponsor of a new PGA Tour event in November, the first major partnership between the tour and a YouTube channel/brand.
Skinner got another taste recently during a family trip to Streamsong. He recalls his 28-year-old son walking down the fairway and talking to their caddie (of about the same age) while recounting Grant Horvat’s play in one of the YouTube content creator’s recent videos.
Incidentally, Horvat more recently lost in the 36-hole final of an event called The Q to fellow YouTube content creator Ryan Ruffels, who with the victory last week at Pawleys Plantation earned a spot in the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach event. The two videos, which aired on different YouTube channels, pulled in more than 4 million views.
“It's where the younger people are consuming their content, right? It’s not always sitting down to watch the PGA Tour event on Sunday afternoon,” said Skinner. “Today, those great shots they might see on social media, or they're talking about Bryson (DeChambeau) hitting balls over his house, or having LeBron James on one of the (golf) shows, or the Good Good guys. It's really fascinating to watch. It's just creating this broad base. And it’s great to see because we had those lean years of really working hard to get people to come play.”
The average age of American males getting married for the first time is now over 30. And the age for first-time homeowners continues to climb thanks to rising home prices and mortgage rates. As a result, some have more discretionary time and money to devote to things like experiential golf travel with like-minded friends.
“Undoubtedly, YouTube golf content, golf content in general, and social media is contributing to that,” said Monday of Golf Tourism Solutions. “That's what people consume, and that's what they want to do. These guys go to a destination and they’re all hanging out there. They’re kind of carefree. So that’s why what we see, I think, is a byproduct of that.”
And strengthening that connection with the game – whether social or competitive -- is likely only good for the industry looking ahead.
“That bodes well for us going forward, especially destinations, but also golf as a whole,” added Monday. “You're creating habits with somebody now. There's an expectation that ‘I'm gonna take a golf trip with my friends,’ and that may not end, right? So, it's just something that we're creating a habit now that hopefully lasts for life.
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