How Many Golf Courses Are in Iowa?
According to US Golf Course Registry's registry, Iowa has 375 golf facilities (380 courses): 179 public, 34 municipal, 215 nine-hole and 135 eighteen-hole — the oldest established 1889.
| Metric | Count | Share of courses |
|---|---|---|
| Public | 179 | 47 % |
| Private | 56 | 15 % |
| Semi-private | 126 | 33 % |
| Resort | 6 | 2 % |
| Municipal | 34 | 9 % |
| 9-hole | 215 | 57 % |
| 18-hole | 135 | 36 % |
Course construction by decade
| Decade | Courses built |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 1 |
| 1890s | 3 |
| 1900s | 12 |
| 1910s | 12 |
| 1920s | 39 |
| 1930s | 19 |
| 1940s | 16 |
| 1950s | 19 |
| 1960s | 87 |
| 1970s | 53 |
| 1980s | 18 |
| 1990s | 33 |
| 2000s | 23 |
| 2010s | 1 |
FAQ
How many golf courses are in Iowa?
Iowa has 375 golf facilities with 380 courses in the registry: 179 public, 34 municipal, 215 nine-hole and 135 eighteen-hole.
Why does this differ from the National Golf Foundation's count?
Industry figures such as the National Golf Foundation's are built from membership and survey data and usually report facilities or 18-hole equivalents. This registry counts golf facilities mapped in OpenStreetMap and lists their courses separately (a 27-hole club is one facility, three nine-hole courses), so the two totals are not directly comparable — treat ours as a verifiable floor, not a competing estimate.
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