The rise of midweek golf

Golf is no longer a sport for casual weekend warriors, as more players are hitting the links during the week.

The big picture: A Stanford study tracked geolocation data near 3,400 golf courses across the U.S. and found an 83% spike in midweek trips between August 2019 and August 2022.

• Golf enjoyed a pandemic-fueled boom as its wide-open spaces made it suitable for social distancing.

Why it matters: The rise in midweek golf suggests yet another way Americans working from home are leveraging their flexible schedules, Kendall Baker writes for Axios Sports.

By the numbers: Columbus' six municipal courses tallied a combined 81,863 rounds last year between Mondays and Thursdays, per Recreation and Parks Department data shared with Axios.

• That's a 19% increase in midweek rounds from 2019.

Zoom in: The bulk of this increase was recorded at the Champions and Airport golf courses.

• Champions' midweek total more than doubled in that timespan, though that is partially due to it being closed for clubhouse renovations during the final few months of 2019.

What they're saying: "I think my colleague was taking his Zoom call from the golf course," an anonymous tech executive told the Stanford researchers. "He was on mute and video off, but once when he was talking I heard somebody talking about the fairway and strokes."

The bottom line: Whether you're a golf pro or a duffer, just make sure your boss doesn't catch you slacking off at the links. We won't tell.

• 😉 We totally didn't file this story from the fairway.