Aussie golf boom continues post-lockdown

Despite the ongoing issues with COVID, a slice of good news for the golf industry indicates that the last two years of growth may continue now that the worst of the pandemic is over.

The 2020-21 Golf Club Participation Report, which amalgamates data from Golf Australia and Sport Australia’s AusPlay, shows that across the past year more than 24,000 new Aussie players joined a golf club, which was the largest yearly increase in terms of percentage (6.4%) since records began in 1970.

Aussie golf boom continues post-lockdown

Surprisingly, Victoria showed the way in terms of membership growth at 8.9 per cent followed by South Australia (7.2 per cent) and Western Australia (7 per cent).

This a marked turnaround from the declines experienced over the past two decades since 2000.

And with the average age of club members in Australia hovering in the mid-50s, the impressive 16 per cent increase in junior players shows that the future of the game remains bright.

“Our purpose is simple – we want more Australians playing more golf. There are many different forms of golf making it truly a game for everyone,” said Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland.

“It’s fun, it can be played at any age, and it’s proven to be good for your health. These are just some of the factors driving this phenomenal growth.”

“Interestingly, these latest figures tell us there are far more casual golfers that are not members of a club than there are club members. This suggests we have a fantastic launching pad to continue to grow our sport and bring new people to our game.”

The report estimates the total number of people playing golf at 1.2 million, an increase of 21 per cent on the previous year while the total number of rounds increased 12 per cent to 11.8 million.