Maine has become a national golf leader because players are ‘a little tougher’ here

By Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily News Staff

The passion and hardiness of golfers in Maine has earned the state the title of America’s “Golfiest State” by the United States Golf Association.

It was based on 2025 data compiled by the USGA.

According to the USGA, Mainers played 523,883 rounds of golf despite having only 200 playable days a year. That was more rounds per golfer, per course and per day than any other state in the country.

The USGA analyzed handicap index data across all 50 states. It factored in course count, rounds posted, total golfers and seasonal playability.

Maine has 17,831 handicap index holders among its 112 courses.

“It speaks to the fact that we have limited days so Mainers will play when conditions aren’t perfect,” said Brian Bickford, executive director of the Maine State Golf Association and a Cumberland native. 

He noted that Mainers are a “little tougher and put up with a little more” than golfers in some other states.

“We play in more diverse conditions. “We’re okay with that. It’s just another element of the game instead of it being a barrier,” said the Maine Golf Hall of Famer.

Bickford said golfers in other states may see that the temperature is 45 degrees and elect to wait until the next day to play.

But Mainers will go out and play when it’s 45 degrees “because it could be 40 degrees the next day.”

The COVID pandemic ended up being a boon to the golf industry in the state, Bickford said. 

“Since the pandemic, we have grown in rounds every year and, based on what I have for numbers, we have more than doubled the number of rounds from 2019 to 2025,” said Bickford. “And that’s with the loss of 10 percent of our golf courses.”

He said the influx of tourists in the summer has elevated the numbers of rounds being played.

Bickford said one thing the state offers is a wide variety of golf courses including island courses, mountain layouts, courses along the coast, and courses near the potato fields in Aroostook County.

“It’s pretty cool,” Bickford said of that range. 

He considers the “Golfiest State” designation a significant honor and said he’d like to see golf featured more prominently in how the state of Maine markets itself to tourists.