Golf participation levels in Europe ‘stabilise’

Golf participation european trousers — (Image credit: Picasa)

Is the decline in golf participation levels coming to an end in Europe?

The decline in golf participation levels in Europe may be coming to an end, according to a recent report.

The KPMG Golf Participation Report for Europe 2016 from KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice has found that ‘golf participation in Europe has begun a period of stabilisation since the declines it suffered following 2009 during the global financial crisis’.

The proportion of the European population who ‘actively played golf in 2015’ is 0.9%.

The report has discovered that 30% of local golf associations said that the level of golf participation had increased in 2015 and 37% had reported levels remaining level. But 33% of European markets had experienced a decline in golf participation levels, including the key golf markets of England, Spain and Ireland.

The KPMG report states: “Golf membership continues to become less attractive to non-competitive players. Golfers in Great Britain, Ireland and France, among other notable markets, feel no need to be registered to play and can continue to play as a casual golfer on a green fee basis."

The report finds that those moving away from club membership to playing on a more casual basis, are those who are relatively new to the game – those who have been paying for less than five years – or who have handicaps over 32.

Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novels, Summer At Tangents, which was one of Country Life magazine's Books of The Year for 2024 and nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and Crime Wave At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine and website and compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose 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.