Is Padel About To Steal Golf’s Future? Why The Traditional Game Needs To Act Now

In the last few years I’ve seen an absolute explosion of padel tennis courts popping up all over the place near where I live in Poole, Dorset. The old Covid test site in Creekmoor - three giant marquee-style white tents that were erected in a disused car park for drive-through testing - has been converted to an indoor Cross Court Padel centre.

The David Lloyd Racquets & Health Club has invested in building three new outdoor courts, the East Dorset District tennis club has done the same, with a massive expansion of padel courts, there’s a big new Avantage Padel indoor centre in Christchurch… the list goes on. These are just a few examples local to me, but if you take a deeper look into what’s happening nationwide, you’ll find the same thing in every county around the country.

This isn’t just a flash in the pan sporting craze that’s taking over our spare time. People are investing big money in it. Padel tennis is becoming so popular that places to play are popping up everywhere to cater for the demand.

Compared to other sports, padel is still relatively new (it originated in Mexico in 1969) but in terms of participation numbers its popularity has really exploded in the last five years (see the startling US numbers trend in the table below). Playtomic's booking data shows the same trend: the number of players booking courts rose about 125% during 2025, and total courts more than doubled from 529 to 1,130.

According to the International Padel Federation participation numbers passed 35 million players in 2026 and it’s growing fast. Padel is still a long way behind golf global participation numbers, which according to The R&A exceeded 112 million in 2026, but it’s catching up. If the current upward trend continues, the gap between the two sports will narrow over the next decade.

The One-Hour Alternative

Personally, I’m seeing more and more friends who I play golf with choosing to play padel in their spare time, rather than try to squeeze in a game of golf, because it just takes much less time. They unanimously say it suits their busy lifestyle better.

Workers who struggle to fit a round of golf into their busy schedule, parents for whom squeezing a four plus hour round into the day is virtually impossible with so much going on with the kids, see padel as the perfect alternative.

It’s active, it’s competitive, courts are outdoors and indoors (so you can play all year round) and it only takes an hour. It’s fast and it’s fun. You can play it at any age. It’s also sociable too. Played in either pairs (singles) or teams of two vs two, you can join a club and meet like-minded people or just pay to hire a court and play.

In many ways, padel is the perfect participation sport. It’s great exercise and it’s less strenuous than full court tennis, which means you don’t have to run as far and as you get older, you can still play it with your peers at a slower pace. That’s where I always felt that golf was the winner.

When people retired from playing more vigorous sports like football, rugby, running and so on, they still wanted something to stay competitive and active to throw themselves into that was sociable, great exercise and fun. With padel, they now have a much cheaper choice. If you split the cost of booking a padel court between four players it’s less than a tenner. Compare that to a green fee and golf simply can’t compete. Even a basket of balls on the driving range can cost a tenner.

I’ve spoken to colleagues in corporate jobs who say that padel is really starting to take golf's place in some social business settings. In terms of networking, executives argue that padel is more convenient, thus carving out a similar role for a new generation of executives and entrepreneurs to the one golf has long held. It’s a great way to do business, but less time-consuming.

Smarter Land, Better Margins

Building padel courts is a smart investment for the entrepreneur because they take up little land space. A single tennis court can typically be converted into three padel courts, which brings in significantly more revenue. Now think of how much it costs to build a new golf course, the land cost, the design, the physical build. No wonder membership costs are so high and green fee prices can’t compete.

New golf clubs that are clever are catering for both golf and padel at the same place. I saw it when I attended the PIF Saudi Ladies Open last year at the brand new Riyadh Golf Club with its spectacular course, practice facilities, clubhouse and four floodlit padel courts right there on site. Members joining that club have a choice.

I know an extremely smart driving range owner who has added three outdoor padel courts at his complex this year. He’s always been ahead of the trend. He added Toptracer tech into every range bay before anyone else did and his participation numbers exploded. Now he’s added padel courts to his golf centre and he’s seeing the same thing again. It’s a cash cow.

There are a few members at my home golf club, Parkstone, who have been petitioning the general manager and committee to consider adding a padel court into the car park near the green keepers compound where we have space.

I think it’s very unlikely to happen. Like most traditional member clubs we struggle with space and then there are planning constraints to consider. All unnecessary costs that would take away from investment elsewhere in the club. However, if I was designing a new golf club from scratch I would be forward-thinking enough to put a padel court or two into some spare space - a relatively low-cost addition to the overall investment in the new facility.

In fact, there’s a company called Mad Swans that’s already doing it in the UK, with currently two stay-and-play venues. They claim to offer ‘a bold take on modern hospitality with eco-cabin stays, standout dining, and 12-hole golf that's fun, fast, and far from ordinary.’ The centre nearest to me in Hampshire has a 12-hole golf course, padel tennis and putting. Everything I love is all in the same place. Now that’s a smart investment.

A Wake-Up Call the Industry Can’t Ignore

Probably the biggest sign that padel has caught the golf industry’s attention is the fact that the PGA Show, the biggest golf industry show on the planet, added a racquet sports section in 2026. It cited strong recent participation increases across tennis, pickleball and padel as the reason. The reality? I think the powers that be realise that padel is stealing new players from starting golf. They can’t stop it, but maybe it can be offered alongside golf to complement it.

The start up costs are much, much lower. The cost to play is cheaper. Equipment required is just your racquet and some balls. It’s quick to learn. It takes less time. You can play all-year round. It’s sociable. It’s fun. But is it the same as golf? Absolutely not! You are not getting the joy of playing in a beautiful setting. Golf courses are some of the most scenic places, and the experience of playing golf compared to padel just isn’t the same.

Historically, golf has tended to sit on its laurels and trust that people will always choose to play our great sport. More recently, it has coasted on the pandemic-era boom, thriving when lockdowns left it as one of the few accessible sports.

Now it has a serious threat to take newcomers away from choosing it, so it’s time to do something about the speed of play. We need more fast-paced formats of the game and cheaper ways to play. Solve these problems and golf has nothing to worry about. But we need to act now to future-proof our great game.