Golf club membership drops again in England

KPMGs Golf Participation Report for Europe has revealed that golf club membership in England has dropped again. In total England has 661,805 members of golf clubs according to KPMG, a figure that has been dropping every year for several years.

Between 2014 and 2015 England lost 16,567 members. Germany saw its membership increase and is closing the gap on England; the country now has 640,181 registered golfers, a figure that has been rising steadily over many years. Between 2014 and 2015 it grew by 1,044. The closing of the gap between the two countries is all the more remarkable given that England had 1,923 golf courses in 2015. Germany had just 727.

In terms of participation, 30 per cent of countries saw a decline, 37 per cent had stable levels of participation and 33 per cent of countries in Europe saw participation decline.

“According to the survey, which is based upon statistics compiled from local golf associations in 46 European countries, the continent’s golf markets are displaying positive signs of stability and growth in 2015,” said a KPMG spokesman.

“In fact, when taking a closer look at Europe’s golf markets, 67 percent of local golf associations indicated in 2015 that their level of participation had either stabilised or increased. The remaining 33 percent of European markets still experienced some decline, including key markets such as England, Spain and Ireland.”

To view the report click here. The next issue of GOLF RETAILING will look at the survey in more detail. 

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A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.