{"id":463667,"date":"2026-02-09T11:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/463667\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:50:11","slug":"golf-business-news-national-golf-foundation-reports-continued-participation-growth-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/463667\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf Business News &#8211; National Golf Foundation reports continued participation\u00a0growth in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Data captured by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ngf.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">National Golf Foundation<\/a>,\u00a0the\u00a0primary trade association for the golf industry in the US,\u00a0shows momentum across the recreational US golf industry remained broadly positive in 2025, with participation and play settling into a higher, sustainable baseline rather than a post-pandemic spike.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the NGF\u2019s annual\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ngf.org\/graffis-report\/the-graffis-report-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Graffis Report<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a holistic \u2018state of the industry\u2019 overview covering participation, rounds played, and facility supply \u2013\u00a0on-course participation exceeded\u00a029 million players last year, marking an\u00a0eighth consecutive year of growth\u00a0and a net increase of around one million golfers year-on-year. The figure approaches the all-time record of 30.6 million set in 2003 during the Tiger Woods era.<\/p>\n<p>Total golf participation \u2013 combining on-course play with technology-enabled ranges, simulators and entertainment venues \u2013 reached an all-time high of 48.1 million, up 50 percent over the past decade. Off-course formats now account for 37.9 million participants in the US, with 19 million playing both on-course and off-course.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Rounds-vs-supply.2026-1300x868-1-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-178965\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The NGF\u2019s latest Graffis Report shows that the participation surge that began before the pandemic has stabilised at an elevated baseline rather than reverting to pre-2017 levels. This trajectory supports continued demand for golf equipment, footwear and apparel as participation gains convert into increased buying across these categories. <\/p>\n<p>Rounds played reached another all-time record in 2025 \u2013 the fourth time in five years \u2013 according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfdatatech.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Golf Datatech<\/a>. This was achieved despite operating with roughly 2,000 fewer facilities than existed during the 2003 participation peak.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/54431_golfparticipationvenn2026_184299.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-178967\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Key data points from the 2026 Graffis Report<\/p>\n<p>Total participation exceeded 48 million, up\u00a050% over the past decade, with on-course play at its highest level since the late-1990s\/early-2000s peak.<\/p>\n<p>National rounds played hit a record for the fourth time in five years, despite around\u00a02,000 fewer facilities\u00a0than two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>More than 8 million women and girls\u00a0now play on course, a\u00a046% increase since 2019, alongside record diversity levels with\u00a028% female and\u00a026% people of colour\u00a0participation.<\/p>\n<p>Around\u00a0two-thirds of green-grass beginners\u00a0now start via\u00a0off-course formats, which NGF says complement rather than replace traditional golf.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly\u00a070% of operators\u00a0rate their financial condition as \u2018good\u2019 or \u2018excellent\u2019, supported by stronger demand, utilization, and a\u00a029% rise in average 18-hole fees since 2019, broadly in line with inflation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Data captured by the National Golf Foundation,\u00a0the\u00a0primary trade association for the golf industry in the US,\u00a0shows momentum across&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-463667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}