The R&A Global Golf Participation Report 2023 estimates that, excluding the USA and Mexico, the total number of adults in the world who engage with golf is 61.2m.
The report went on to say: “This may seem a small percentage when compared against the total population represented by this report – nearly 8 billion people – but in reality, it highlights golf’s global appeal. Few other sports are played in such number in so many countries, by people of all ages, genders, demographic and socio-economic backgrounds. Even fewer can say that they have grown participation so rapidly over the past decade."
The R&A calculates that in 2023 there were 42.7 million on-course golfers (9- and 18-hole) in R&A-affiliated markets (so excluding USA and Mexico), an increase of 3.1 million on-course golfers from the year before.
According to the National Golf Foundation, golf is now played in 206 out of the 251 countries and territories in the world. How long can the remaining 45 hold out against the global spread of golf?
Well in some cases, forever. Vatican City, the world's smallest country, has a land area of under half a square kilometre, which will rather limit the scope for a golf course.
Tuvalu, with its population of 10,645, is the second-least populous country, behind Vatican City. In the Pacific Ocean, it consists of islands and atolls. It has poor soil and its total land area of about 10 square miles makes it the fourth smallest country.
It nevertheless has the Tuvula Golf Association, whose strapline is: “Never let the fear of failure keep you from playing the game of golf. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
The Tuvula Golf Association was the body behind the Tivalu Matchplay Championship 2024, a golf tournament designed to find the 2024 matchplay champions between the 8 islands of Tuvalu. The event was due to have taken place at Waitakere Golf Club in New Zealand, about 2,300 miles away, as Tuvula has no golf courses, but sadly, the event was cancelled.
Lichtenstein is another country where enthusiasm for the game is not matched by local provision of golf courses. It has 3,000 golfers, but no courses. Fortunately, unlike Tuvula, it has close neighbours who do have golf courses.
A small population doesn't mean there is always a lack of courses, however. The Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, about 33 miles by 13 miles in size, has a population of around 85,000 which supports eight courses, seven of which are of 18 holes.
A fine collection they are, too. This beautiful island is great for a golf trip as the lack of people practically makes it 'millionaire’s golf', with Castletown and King Edward Bay perhaps the pick of the island’s courses.
Jersey, another self-governing British Crown Dependency, is 46 square miles and has a population of just over 100,000. It hosted the Jersey Open on the European Tour from 1978 to 1995, with its winners including Tony Jacklin, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam. Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, who share nine Major titles between, both came from Jersey.
While some small countries and dependencies have golf courses, some large, sprawling nations do not. This is changing in some cases, however, especially as golf is seen as a way of attracting tourists and foreign money to some countries.
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov of Turkmenistan, the 52nd-largest country, was keen to introduce golf courses to Turkmenistan, seeing sport as a way to raise the country’s profile. In 2017, a government-funded course opened, designed by Jack Nicklaus, with both the President and The Golden Bear attending the opening ceremony.
The Benin government are introducing golf to their country as a part of efforts to diversify an economy dependent on agriculture, with cotton alone accounting for 40 per cent of Benin’s GDP. A course is being built in Avlékété, a town around 100 miles west of Lagos, Nigeria.
Lagos has a population of around 15 million. “It’s a tourist development,” explains the course’s designer Jeremy Pern, “and as well as Europeans, one of the main sources of visitors will be the burgeoning West African middle class."
The growing popularity of golf, and the economic benefits it may bring local economies, should continue to facilitate and drive golf course building across the globe. We should therefore see the number of countries who are without golf courses drop further in the coming years.
