While golf has been declining in popularity for years, the pandemic has reversed the trend as a lack of leisure time options sent players new and old back to the links. Renowned golf writer Tom Coyne, a Devon resident, commented on the trend, as reported by Frank Fitzpatrick for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

As Coyne notes, golf clubs across the region are seeing membership and course activity rise. French Creek Golf Club in Elverson, for example, has seen its membership increase for the second year running and on-course activity is already surpassing 2020′s sky-high totals.

Coyne — who spent 2019 playing 295 courses throughout the country for his new book, A Course Called America — believes that “being locked up for a few months made people appreciate golf in a whole new way.”

Coyne, a member of Waynesborough Country Club in Paoli, noticed this renewed fervor for golf already in April 2020, when Pennsylvania’s 665 golf courses reopened after being shuttered for over a month.

“It was like New Year’s Day,” said Coyne. “You felt like having a parade. I played at Waynesborough and everybody was there.”

More on Tom Coyne and his observations on the current golf renaissance is in The Philadelphia Inquirer.