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Winter golf states
Every state ranked by listed indoor golf venues per 100,000 residents. Utah leads with 3.48; Louisiana has the fewest, at 0.43. The ranking leans north: the northernmost quarter of states has 1.32 venues per 100,000 residents, against 0.71 in the southernmost quarter.
Indoor golf leans north
We sorted the 50 states and DC by the average latitude of their listed venues and split them into four groups of about equal number. Venues per 100,000 is each group's total venues over its total population.
| Group | States | Venue latitude | Venues | Per 100k | In top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northernmost quarter | Alaska, North Dakota, Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Idaho, Oregon, Vermont, Maine, South Dakota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Michigan | 42.9°N–62.2°N | 568 | 1.32 | 6 |
| Second quarter | Wyoming, Massachusetts, Iowa, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Illinois, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Utah, Indiana | 40.2°N–42.5°N | 1,223 | 1.28 | 4 |
| Third quarter | Colorado, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, Nevada, Tennessee, Oklahoma | 35.6°N–39.7°N | 465 | 0.88 | 0 |
| Southernmost quarter | Arkansas, North Carolina, California, New Mexico, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Hawaii | 21.3°N–35.5°N | 1,050 | 0.71 | 0 |
What the data shows
- The northernmost quarter has 1.32 venues per 100,000 residents, 1.9 times the 0.71 in the southernmost quarter.
- All ten states with the most venues per person have their venues, on average, at or north of 40°N. Their average is 43.5°N; for the bottom ten it is 35.1°N.
- Across all 50 states and DC, a state's average venue latitude and its venues per 100,000 have a correlation of 0.43: a moderate link, with plenty of exceptions.
- Per person is not the same as total. Texas has the most listed venues of any state (277) but ranks 32 of 51 per person.
What it doesn't show
It doesn't show why. Many of the states near the top have long, cold winters, and it is easy to guess that indoor golf fills the off-season there. This data can't prove that. Population, local golf culture, the cost of space, and how many venues list themselves on Google could all play a part, and there are exceptions on both ends of the ranking.
Indoor golf venues per 100,000 residents, every state
| # | State | Venues | Population | Per 100k | Residents per venue | Venue latitude | Avg rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Utah | 122 | 3,503,613 | 3.48 | 28,700 | 40.3°N | 4.87 |
| 2 | Idaho | 39 | 2,001,619 | 1.95 | 51,300 | 44.8°N | 4.80 |
| 3 | South Dakota | 18 | 924,669 | 1.95 | 51,400 | 43.9°N | 4.79 |
| 4 | Iowa | 59 | 3,241,488 | 1.82 | 54,900 | 41.9°N | 4.79 |
| 5 | North Dakota | 14 | 796,568 | 1.76 | 56,900 | 47.4°N | 4.69 |
| 6 | Michigan | 173 | 10,140,459 | 1.71 | 58,600 | 42.9°N | 4.81 |
| 7 | Nebraska | 33 | 2,005,465 | 1.65 | 60,800 | 41.1°N | 4.86 |
| 8 | Minnesota | 94 | 5,793,151 | 1.62 | 61,600 | 45.0°N | 4.84 |
| 9 | Montana | 17 | 1,137,233 | 1.49 | 66,900 | 47.1°N | 4.86 |
| 10 | Ohio | 175 | 11,883,304 | 1.47 | 67,900 | 40.4°N | 4.79 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 99 | 7,136,171 | 1.39 | 72,100 | 42.3°N | 4.76 |
| 12 | Colorado | 81 | 5,957,493 | 1.36 | 73,500 | 39.7°N | 4.79 |
| 13 | Wyoming | 8 | 587,618 | 1.36 | 73,500 | 42.5°N | 4.66 |
| 14 | New Hampshire | 19 | 1,409,032 | 1.35 | 74,200 | 43.3°N | 4.85 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | 79 | 5,960,975 | 1.33 | 75,500 | 43.6°N | 4.85 |
| 16 | Connecticut | 48 | 3,675,069 | 1.31 | 76,600 | 41.5°N | 4.72 |
| 17 | Vermont | 8 | 648,493 | 1.23 | 81,100 | 44.2°N | 4.84 |
| 18 | New Jersey | 115 | 9,500,851 | 1.21 | 82,600 | 40.4°N | 4.77 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | 150 | 13,078,751 | 1.15 | 87,200 | 40.5°N | 4.81 |
| 20 | Illinois | 143 | 12,710,158 | 1.13 | 88,900 | 41.4°N | 4.79 |
| 21 | Rhode Island | 12 | 1,112,308 | 1.08 | 92,700 | 41.7°N | 4.69 |
| 22 | Alaska | 8 | 740,133 | 1.08 | 92,500 | 62.2°N | 4.95 |
| 23 | Maine | 15 | 1,405,012 | 1.07 | 93,700 | 44.0°N | 4.76 |
| 24 | Missouri | 66 | 6,245,466 | 1.06 | 94,600 | 38.5°N | 4.81 |
| 25 | Kansas | 31 | 2,970,606 | 1.04 | 95,800 | 38.7°N | 4.80 |
| 26 | South Carolina | 56 | 5,478,831 | 1.02 | 97,800 | 33.8°N | 4.85 |
| 27 | Arizona | 74 | 7,582,384 | 0.98 | 102,500 | 33.3°N | 4.86 |
| 28 | Oklahoma | 40 | 4,095,393 | 0.98 | 102,400 | 35.6°N | 4.88 |
| 29 | New York | 192 | 19,867,248 | 0.97 | 103,500 | 41.9°N | 4.78 |
| 30 | Indiana | 67 | 6,924,275 | 0.97 | 103,300 | 40.2°N | 4.80 |
| 31 | Nevada | 30 | 3,267,467 | 0.92 | 108,900 | 37.2°N | 4.90 |
| 32 | Texas | 277 | 31,290,831 | 0.89 | 113,000 | 31.5°N | 4.83 |
| 33 | Kentucky | 40 | 4,588,372 | 0.87 | 114,700 | 38.1°N | 4.83 |
| 34 | Delaware | 9 | 1,051,917 | 0.86 | 116,900 | 39.4°N | 4.47 |
| 35 | North Carolina | 93 | 11,046,024 | 0.84 | 118,800 | 35.4°N | 4.82 |
| 36 | Alabama | 43 | 5,157,699 | 0.83 | 119,900 | 33.4°N | 4.78 |
| 37 | Tennessee | 58 | 7,227,750 | 0.80 | 124,600 | 35.8°N | 4.81 |
| 38 | Arkansas | 24 | 3,088,354 | 0.78 | 128,700 | 35.5°N | 4.81 |
| 39 | Oregon | 32 | 4,272,371 | 0.75 | 133,500 | 44.7°N | 4.88 |
| 40 | Florida | 165 | 23,372,215 | 0.71 | 141,600 | 27.7°N | 4.85 |
| 41 | West Virginia | 12 | 1,769,979 | 0.68 | 147,500 | 39.4°N | 4.84 |
| 42 | Virginia | 59 | 8,811,195 | 0.67 | 149,300 | 37.9°N | 4.83 |
| 43 | Georgia | 74 | 11,180,878 | 0.66 | 151,100 | 33.6°N | 4.76 |
| 44 | Washington | 52 | 7,958,180 | 0.65 | 153,000 | 47.4°N | 4.81 |
| 45 | District of Columbia | 4 | 702,250 | 0.57 | 175,600 | 38.9°N | 4.65 |
| 46 | Maryland | 35 | 6,263,220 | 0.56 | 178,900 | 39.2°N | 4.74 |
| 47 | New Mexico | 12 | 2,130,256 | 0.56 | 177,500 | 34.4°N | 4.69 |
| 48 | Hawaii | 8 | 1,446,146 | 0.55 | 180,800 | 21.3°N | 4.80 |
| 49 | Mississippi | 15 | 2,943,045 | 0.51 | 196,200 | 32.0°N | 4.76 |
| 50 | California | 189 | 39,431,263 | 0.48 | 208,600 | 35.3°N | 4.83 |
| 51 | Louisiana | 20 | 4,597,740 | 0.43 | 229,900 | 30.6°N | 4.72 |
How we count
Venue counts include only venues listed in this directory: places that rent simulator bays or indoor hitting space to the public, checked against their Google listing, customer reviews and own website. Mini golf, golf retail and fitting-only stores, lesson-only studios, outdoor-only ranges and simulator sellers are left out. Population is the US Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 population estimates (July 1, 2024).
A state's latitude here is the average latitude of its listed venues, so it follows where the state's indoor golf actually is rather than the middle of the map. The four groups split the states and DC by that latitude into groups of about equal number; a group's rate is its total venues over its total population, so large states weigh more. The correlation is a plain Pearson correlation across states, each state counted once. Data as of 2026-11-08. More on our method on the stats page.
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