GOLF IS COOL: Golf Shows Positive Growth For First Time In 10 Years

Alarm bells have been ringing about how popular golf is as a sport, with many believing that the game is on the decline. But recent stats show that golf is actually on the rise.

Many of the people that have been claiming that golf is losing popularity worldwide usually point to the stats that showed people playing the game and those who had an interest in playing have been going down since 2004. That isn’t the case now, as new reports are pointing towards the sport having an increase in participation and interest for the first time in 14 years.

The National Golf Foundation recently reported that the number of people who played at least one round of golf in 2018 increased by almost 500,000 people. The NGF doesn’t just measure golf interest by this metric, however, as they also look at off-course participation. Off-course participation can best be described as those who are interested in going out to hit balls at a driving range or at places like Topgolf.

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When you consider the off-course participation metric, the NGF is reporting a 10% increase in golf participation, which no doubt has been lifted because of places like Topgolf. “When combining those who played on a golf course with the 9.3 million others who played exclusively off-course, golf’s overall participant base has climbed to 33.5 million,” the NGF report stated. “This is a gain of 1.4 million participants from 2017, a 4% increase mostly driven by off-course gains.”

While this is an exciting development for the golf world, which has been working hard to increase its appeal on a worldwide scale, there are still some stats that should temper their expectations. For example, 81% of those who played a round in 2018 make up for 95% of all rounds that were played in 2018, meaning that most of those who are playing are regulars.

No matter how you look at this report, it is obvious that golf is still a sport of great popularity for people around the world. And if the game continues to spread to international communities, that interest should continue to increase in coming years.

…also, the Tiger effect has something to do with it.

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