OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Looking forward to more evening sunlight thanks to daylight saving time this weekend?
Many in the golf industry like the time change, too, and they are pushing to make that annual switch permanent.
The move is intended to encourage more evening golf and to stave off efforts to establish permanent standard time, which would leave less time for an evening on the links. And it is those late afternoon players who tend to buy food and drinks in the clubhouse.
“We would lose 100 tee times a day if daylight saving time goes away,” said Connor Farrell, general manager of Stone Creek Golf Course in Omaha, Nebraska. “Switching to permanent standard time would cost us $500,000 a year.”
Golf played a big role in daylight savings time
Golf has deep roots in the history of daylight saving time, which begins for most states at 2 a.m. Sunday when clocks “spring forward” by one hour. Some credit goes to William Willett, a British builder and avid golfer who in 1905 published a pamphlet advocating for moving clocks ahead in April and returning them back to their regular settings in September. The U.S. adopted a version of that during World War I and again in World War II.
Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966 that set up the biannual time change, and lobbying efforts by the golf industry are largely credited for Congress expanding daylight saving time by a month in the mid-1980s.
Lawmakers try to make standard time permanent
But for as long as it has been around, the constant clock adjusting has drawn the ire of Americans weary of losing an hour of sleep in the spring only to be faced with the early onset of darkness in the fall. That exhaustion has led to hundreds of bills introduced in nearly every state over the years to halt the practice.
The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that in the last six years, 20 states have passed measures calling for a switch to year-round daylight saving time, many at the cajoling of golf industry lobbyists. But while states could switch to permanent standard time — as Arizona and Hawaii have done — Congress would need to change the law to allow permanent daylight saving time.
That hindrance — along with arguments that permanent standard time would improve sleep quality and foster safer morning commutes — has seen more states consider opting out of daylight saving time. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced bills this year to make standard time permanent.
Nebraska is among several states considering competing bills to make either standard time or daylight saving time permanent. That drew Joe Kohout, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Golf Alliance, to testify in favor of year-round daylight saving time.
Late afternoon golf leagues account for up to 40% of the annual revenue of some Nebraska courses, Kohout said, while a majority of golf instructors reported that nearly 50% of their lessons are taught after 4 p.m.
Under permanent standard time, “Nebraska’s golf courses will lose revenue, be forced to raise prices, and in some cases could be driven out of business,” he said.
The Utah Golf Association is also fighting a bill to make standard time permanent.
“The argument that changing clocks twice a year is an inconvenience does not outweigh the year-round benefits of having more usable daylight hours in the evenings,” it posted on social media.
In Indiana, golf course owner Linda Rogers succeeded in lobbying the Legislature to institute daylight saving time in 2006. Now a state senator, Rogers is fighting an effort to return to permanent standard time.
“Daylight savings time allows someone that, you know, worked until 5 o’clock to come out and still play at least nine holes,” she said. “And it’s not just golf. There are so many outdoor activities that people want to be outside for and enjoy later in the summertime.”
Golf course owners like the status quo
The National Golf Course Owners Association, which has about 4,000 members, recently polled stakeholders on the matter. The vast majority favored either permanent daylight saving time or the status quo of changing the clocks, said CEO Jay Karen. Only about 6% backed a change to permanent standard time.
“If standard time was to be made permanent, thousands of courses would be harmed by that,” Karen said.
Even so, Karen’s group is not advocating for a change to permanent daylight saving because it could hurt hundreds of courses that cater to early morning golfers, he said. Those include courses in retirement communities, vacation resorts where late tee times interfere with dinner plans and Sun Belt courses where extreme late-day heat sees golfers favoring early tee times.
“We feel like status quo is no harm, no foul,” Karen said.
Republican Iowa state Rep. John Wills introduced a bill this year to make the change to permanent daylight savings. But he has been under pressure to amend the bill to permanent standard time.
Wills was considering it until he heard arguments on how that change could affect golf.
’“I think I might push back in the future and say, you know, the golf industry needs this,” he said.
