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Article: Expansion of golf courses in the United States.(Report)
- Article from:
- The Geographical Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 American Geographical Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Few sports leave an imprint on the land as large or distinctive as golf. Golf courses are highly visible from the air and are easily distinguishable in remotely sensed satellite imagery because of their large size, distinctive patterns, and normally bright green, irrigated grasslands. Golf is the eleventh most popular sport in the United States, and during the last quarter of the twentieth century the number of golfers increased four times faster than the nation's population, from 10 million to more than 25 million. These golfers played nearly 600 million rounds annually (U.S. Census Bureau 2002).
Golf courses are an important national land use. The nation's ...