Golf Industry Facts

45 Million Americans age 6+ played golf – BOTH on-course and off-course – in 2023.

A record number of people who played on a golf course for the first time in 2023.

The industry has had 10 straight years with more than 2 million beginners, with the past four topping 3 million. Prior to the pandemic-boosted totals of recent years, the previous recorded-high of 2.4 million was set in 2000, when Tiger Woods was at the height of his popularity. Off-course forms of golf — such as entertainment golf venues — are proving a valuable on-ramp for introductions, helping participants build confidence and comfort before visiting a golf course for the first time. Retention and conversion of newcomers remains an industry focus, and obstacle.

The category of young adults (18-34 year olds) is the sport’s biggest customer age segment.

The engagement within this demographic has remained steady for nearly a decade. Interest in playing among non-golfing young adults is high, with more than 7 million saying they are “very interested” in taking up the game.

3.5 Million juniors played golf on a course in 2023. This segment is more diverse than the overall golf population and has seen a 40% increase since 2019, the largest gains of any age group.

More than one-third (37%) of today’s juniors are girls compared to 15% in 2000. More than one-quarter of juniors are non-Caucasian while just 6% were minority participants just over 20 years ago.

There were approximately 7 million female on-course golfers (age 6+) in 2023. The number of female golfers (adult and junior) has surpassed 6 million the past four years for the first time since prior to the financial crisis in 2007. Since 2019, the net gain in female golfers is 1.4 million, a 25% increase.

26% of on-course golfers are women. Females represent a disproportionately higher percentage of beginners (41%), juniors (37%) and off-course participants (41%) than they do in the overall golf population.

22.4 million people didn’t play golf in 2023 but indicate they are “very interested” in playing golf on a golf course. This is a measure NGF terms “latent demand.”

The 45% increase in this pool of potential golfers since 2019 is attributable in part to the growth and popularity of off-course golf. Almost half of this untapped demand is comprised of “lapsed golfers” who played on a course previously, but not within the past year, while the rest are those who never played golf on a course before.

There have been more than 500 million rounds played in the U.S. each of the past four years.

There were a record 531 million rounds played in 2023, surpassing the previous high of 529 million set in 2021.

Rounds are trending more than 10% ahead of the five-year, pre-pandemic average from 2015-19.

Since our start in 1936, we’ve kept tabs on every golf course in the U.S. As the go-to source of golf supply information, our team verifies golf courses every day, identifying which are open, which closed and any new projects in development. Not only do stakeholders benefit from knowing how many golf courses there are, they also get insight into the balance of public and private golf in the U.S., playing fees and more.

There were nearly 16,000 golf courses at 14,000 golf facilities in the U.S. at the end of 2023. That’s more golf courses nationwide than Starbucks or McDonald’s stores. (A facility is defined as a business location where golf can be played on one or more golf courses).

Golf remains broadly accessible, with about 75%of facilities open to the public (2,500+ Municipal, 7,700 Daily Fee+).

Prior to 2006, there was a 20-year expansion cycle where U.S. golf course supply grew by 44%.

Since 2006, there has been a cumulative contraction of approximately 12%, which has been disproportionately concentrated in value-priced courses (less than $40 greens fee).