{"id":545105,"date":"2026-04-22T18:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545105\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:41:14","slug":"the-ra-aims-to-open-golf-to-the-world-as-participation-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545105\/","title":{"rendered":"The R&#038;A aims to open golf to the world as participation rises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The strategy has been introduced against the backdrop of continued global participation growth in 2025 with research\u00a0soon to be published by The R&amp;A\u00a0showing that 112.2 million adults and juniors are now playing golf in all its forms worldwide\u00a0outside of the\u00a0USA and Mexico.\u00a0<br \/>\nThis marks an increase of 4.2 million golfers year-on-year, underlining the sport\u2019s growing appeal and providing a strong platform for long-term development. The research also shows that 65 million adults are now playing golf, up\u00a01\u00a0million on 2024, while 47.1 million juniors are participating in the sport, an increase of 3.2 million in just one year.\u00a0Off-course golf continues to experience strong growth with\u00a068.3 million\u00a0adults and juniors\u00a0engaging in a range of formats including driving ranges and simulators.\u00a0<br \/>\nMark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&amp;A, said, \u201cGolf is in a strong position and these new figures show that participation continues to\u00a0boom\u00a0around the world, especially among younger audiences. Our task now is to convert this momentum into long-term growth by reaching more people, creating greater impact and ensuring golf continues to\u00a0grow\u00a0in every part of the world.\u00a0<br \/>\n\u201cThis strategy is about building on that momentum.\u00a0Given The R&amp;A\u2019s purpose to open golf to the world, it sets out how we will enhance the sport in a way that is ambitious and measurable by increasing participation, expanding the reach and impact of our championships and demonstrating more clearly the social and economic value golf brings to communities worldwide.\u00a0<br \/>\n\u201cWe have a responsibility to uphold the values and traditions that make golf special, while ensuring the sport continues to evolve and connect with modern audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The strategy has been introduced against the backdrop of continued global participation growth in 2025 with research\u00a0soon to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-545105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}