Golf Industry Facts

A total of 47.2 million Americans age 6+ played golf – BOTH on-course and off-course – in 2024.

The number of golf trials has hit record or near-record levels in recent years, with 3 million or more on-course beginners every year since 2020.

The number of annual newcomers had hovered around 2.5 million from 2016-2019 prior to the pandemic-fueled rise in recent years. 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 largest customer age segment, even if they don’t play the most.

Engagement among this cohort has continued to rise as younger participants play golf in a variety of ways. There are over 7 million young adults only hitting golf balls with a club away from the course, creating a deep well of future prospects. In addition, interest in playing among non-golfing young adults is high, with more than 7 1/2 million saying they are “very interested” in taking up the traditional game.

3.7 million juniors played golf on a course in 2024, more than in any year since 2006. This segment is more diverse than the overall golf population and has seen a 48% increase since 2019, the largest gains of any age group.

More than one-third (35%) of today’s juniors are girls compared to 15% in 2000. More than one-quarter (29%) of junior golfers are People of Color while just 6% were minority participants just over 20 years ago.

There were nearly 8 million female on-course golfers (age 6+) in 2024. The number of female golfers (adult and junior) has surpassed 6 million the past five years for the first time since prior to the financial crisis in 2007. Since 2019, the net gain in female golfers is 2.3 million, a 41% increase.

Over one quarter (28%) of on-course golfers are women, the highest proportion on record. Females also represent a disproportionately higher percentage of beginners (39%), juniors (35%) and off-course only participants (43%) than they do in the overall golf population.

Over 24 million Americans didn’t play golf in 2024 but indicate they are “very interested” in playing golf on a golf course. This is a measure NGF terms “latent demand.”

The 55% 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 five years.

There were a record 545 million rounds played in 2024, surpassing the previous high of 531 million set in 2023.

Rounds continue to trend 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 2024. That’s more golf courses nationwide than McDonald’s or Dunkin’ Donuts locations. (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 (2,580+ Municipal, 7,600+ Daily Fee).

Prior to 2006, there was a 20-year expansion cycle where U.S. golf course supply grew by 44%, a building boom driven primarily by real estate sales.

Since 2006, there has been a cumulative contraction of approximately 13%. This industry rebalancing of supply and demand saw closures disproportionately concentrated among value-priced courses (less than $40 greens fee).