From Washington Post's The Reliable Source

How are golf courses like massage parlors? Both have bad reputations with a certain segment of our lawmakers, or so we learned at National Golf Day on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Under current law, golf is lumped in with massage parlors, liquor stores, tanning salons and casinos — all excluded from post-Katrina disaster relief and the stimulus bill.

This Op-Ed by Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (NC-2) appeared in The Hill newspaper

Check out this article from Bill Pennington, writer for the New York Times' golf blog, On Par

Wednesday is National Golf Day, and a chief goal of the day is to explain golf in all its forms, not just those typically envisioned by non-golfers.

167,000 Floridians work in the golf industry. The PGA Tour, PGA of America and World Golf Hall of Fame among others are headquartered here.

Florida golf isn't just the army of northerners that descend on towns from Milton to Miami each winter, hitting every public, semi-private and resort course for precious rounds they can't get at their snow-covered homes.

Golf fans will long remember the PGA Championship's return to Wisconsin's Whistling Straits for the way it ended, but the state's golf industry will no doubt savor memories from the way it began: with the release of a study detailing the sport's economic impact on the Badger State.

During my year as ASGCA President I am proud to be working with our members and other partners in promoting the 'value of the golf course,' an effort to demonstrate the benefits individuals and communities provided by the course. The three pillars of this value - environmental, social and financial - cannot be emphasized enough.

The golf industry has a profound, positive impact on America's economic, environmental and social agendas. With one million jobs directly connected to golf, our sport has a substantial impact beyond the competitive and recreational benefits of participation. Job creation, tax generation and tourism activation are all impacted by your local golf course. Yet many people are unaware of golf's major contributions to the American economy.

Oregon's golf economy represents an estimated $1.2 billion in direct annual economic activity in the state, according to a study to be issued Wednesday.

The state's golf industry supports nearly 27,200 jobs with $703.6 million in wage income, according to the study conducted on behalf of the Golf Alliance of Oregon, a consortium of trade and consumer groups...

...The study, paid for in part by the World Golf Foundation, estimates that golf had an overall economic of impact of $1.2 billion that year, owing to a multiplier effect used in similar economic impact studies.

The Golf Channel today reported on the formation of We Are Golf.  In a media roundtable earlier today, the author quoted CEO of The PGA of America Joe Steranka: