With the ski season now upon us in Summit County and the depths of winter on the horizon, most local golf courses have closed their doors for the season.

During the 2020 golf season, the nation was seeing a 20% increase in golf course demand in large part due to people wanting to escape the strongholds of COVID-19 shutdowns. The same piqued interest in golfing was reflected in Summit County during the 2020 season.

This summer, when shutdowns appear to be gone for good and the vaccine allows people to gather once again, things didn’t slow down for outdoor recreation in Summit County.

According to Scott Reid, the director of recreation with the town of Breckenridge, the Breckenridge Golf Club saw an even bigger craze for golfing than last year.

“Our numbers were significantly up in terms of number of rounds,” Reid said. “We had an all-time high number of rounds that were purchased and executed for the season at the Breckenridge Golf Course.”

Other Summit County courses saw a similar trend, including the River and Ranch courses at Keystone Resort.

“Golf courses across the country continued to see the momentum from 2020, (and) this was also true for our two courses at Keystone,” Keystone Resort PGA Director of Golf Philip Tobias wrote in an email. “We were thrilled to offer full-service offerings at both courses.”

Breckenridge Golf Club Director Patrick Clary said Sept. 10 that “COVID gave us the greatest opportunity in the world to socially distance from everybody and get outside.”

Reid and Clary noted that golf’s pandemic craze rolled over for an even bigger year in 2021. Reid contributes this to some of the best golfing conditions Breckenridge Golf Club has ever seen.

“Our golf maintenance crew did a fantastic job with getting the greens in great shape early in the season and continued to keep them in good condition despite the high number of rounds,” Reid said.

“Last year, we were somewhat affected by ice impact on our greens, so we had some challenges charging lower rates for a period of time,” Reid said. “In 2021, the strong demand continued, but the conditions were much better.”

The only problem Breckenridge Golf Club ran into during the 2021 season was tee time availability because of the increased demand.

Clary contributes the new record numbers to people still wanting to be outside and socialize while engaging in an activity.

“We don’t expect the demand for golf to diminish anytime soon, and we are actively taking reservations for the 2022 season,” Tobias said.