Quiz! Can You Name Which Countries Have The Most Golf Courses?

Golf is now played in 206 countries, but can you name the 10 countries with the most golf courses?

Windsor Park GC in Japan
Windsor Park is one of 3,090 courses in its particular country
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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According to the R&A, there are 21,431 golf courses in the R&A-affiliated nations. As this figure is only for the affiliated nations, it excludes the USA and Mexico (which come under the aegis of the USGA) and, well, while not wishing to give away any answers to this golf quiz, the USA is a big place and quite a lot of golf goes on there...

According to the National Golf Foundation, golf is now played in 206 out of the 251 countries.

This also means there are some countries which have no golf courses, 45 of them apparently.

Enthusiasm for the game is not always matched by local provision of golf courses. For example, Lichtenstein has 3,000 golfers, but no courses.

Within the nations affiliated to The R&A, there are now 39.6 million golfers playing on 9- and 18-hole courses according to the R&A Global Golf Participation Report 2023, a 15% increase on the figure in 2020, and a 34% rise on that from 2016.

So where is most of this golf going on? Well you can exclude some countries from consideration for this top 10. These would include Afghanistan, Armenia, The Gambia, Malta, Iran, Israel and Kyrgyzstan as, according to the report, each of these countries only has one course.

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Roderick Easdale
Roderick Easdale

Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novel, Summer At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine, travel supplement and website. He also compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose Golf & Country Club and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is also the author of five non-fiction books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.