With more than 300 golf courses in the state of Arizona and an annual tour stop that draws the most fans of any tournament on the PGA Tour, it’s of little surprise the Grand Canyon State is among the most golf-crazed in the U.S.
Arizona ranked among other golf hotbeds, such as Florida, South Carolina and Ohio overall, but ahead of a number of other states that have deep connections with the PGA Tour and the sport in general.
But unlike Florida and South Carolina, Arizona sports betting allows for wagering on PGA events.
With National Golf Day arriving May 10 and the excitement around golf over the past year (due to the PGA vs. LIV conflict), BetArizona.com decided to look at which states across the United States are the most interested in the PGA Tour.
BetArizona.com — home to Arizona sportsbook promos for all your golf bets — utilized three combined data points to develop the ranking of the 50 U.S. States from most to least into the PGA Tour.
We utilized World Population Review’s ranking of “Golf Courses Per Capita,”, Google Trend’s search interest of the “PGA Tour” over the past 12 months and extra points for the states with the most Top 30 ranked PGA events based on Stadium Talk.
States That Love Golf and PGA Tour Most
How Arizona Matches Up
Overall, the Grand Canyon State ranked seventh — between Pennsylvania and Kentucky — when it came to the three metrics BetArizona.com used to determine our national rankings.
Arizona’s lack of golf courses per square mile (12 points) tanked the state’s ranking, finishing well behind Pennsylvania’s total of 42 points. Arizona ranked ahead of the Keystone State in terms of PGA Tour search interest (47 to 28) and top PGA events (42 to 39).
In the end, Arizona finished with 101 total points, well behind No. 1 Florida (139 points), as well as South Carolina (133), Ohio (130), North Carolina (118) and Illinois (114).
Nationally, Arizona finished ahead of Kentucky (98 points), New York (96) and Georgia (93). Arizona finished well behind those three in points for courses per square mile but ahead of the trio in PGA Tour search interest.
Arizona’s PGA Tour search interest ranked second overall, behind South Carolina (50), while the state’s score for top PGA events ranked in a tie with Ohio, Kentucky and New York for the fifth most overall.
The Waste Management Phoenix Open is one of the most well known PGA Tour events, featuring large and loud crowds. The tournament was a huge Arizona sports betting apps presence and by next year will have a DraftKings Sportsbook retail location on site.
In the end, the biggest downfall for the state on this list was the lack of courses per capita, with Arizona being the sixth-largest state in America while ranking outside the top five in terms of the number of courses in the state.
