By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman
The R&A reports increase of three million adults playing the sport around outside US and Mexico
New participation figures revealed today by The R&A show a staggering increase of more than three million adult golfers playing the sport.
According to new research undertaken for the St Andrews-based governing body, there are now 42.7 million on-course golfers - those playing nine and 18-hole layouts - outside the USA and Mexico.
The research figures for 2023 indicate a growth of 3.1 million on-course golfers since 2022. The growth trend began before the onset of Covid-19 and is now accelerating faster than the 2020-2022 pandemic period when there was an average of 2.5 million new on-course golfers per annum.
Despite one golf club in Scotland closing recently and another shutting its doors next week, the sport continues to increase in popularity, now up 44 per cent from 29.6 million on-course players in 2016.
Phil Anderton, Chief Development Officer at The R&A, said, “Golf’s popularity continues to grow with a significant increase in the number of people playing the sport both on and off the course.
“There are now 13 million more golfers playing on the course since 2016 in R&A affiliated markets, while there are also millions of others enjoying alternative formats of golf, such as driving ranges, adventure golf and simulator golf, which are vital to the growth of the sport.
“New golfer participation programmes with appealing propositions, promotion and imagery are important for encouraging more people into the sport and retaining them in greater numbers.
”This is why we continue to work collaboratively with our affiliated national federations and stakeholders to build on this momentum and ensure golf continues to thrive.”
The top five on-course adult golfer markets overall reported are in Japan (11.4 million), Republic of Korea (8.7 million), Canada (6.3 million), England (4.2 million) and Germany (2.4 million).
There was a decrease in those adults who only played formats other than nine or 18-hole golf – 21.6 million in 2022 to 19.6 million in 2023 – but it is thought that this is likely to positively reflect on those moving instead to full-length on-course golf.
The Hirsel in Coldstream closed overnight a fortnight ago after a decision was taken to seek bankruptcy while Torrance Park in Motherwell is closing on 1 October.
