New figures reveal golf participation in Great Britain and Ireland in 2021 remained strongly above pre-pandemic levels. Research undertaken by Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) on behalf of key golfing bodies including The R&A, England Golf, Golf Ireland, Scottish Golf, and Wales Golf demonstrates how the sport continues to thrive despite the reopening of competing leisure…
Golf clubs have an opportunity to educate golfers about the sustainable practices they are baking into their day-to-day operations. That is the one of the early conclusions from a new multi-market study on golf sustainability by Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS). The research in the UK shows, for example, that over half of golfers are unsure…
A new golf research programme will shine a light on sustainability in the golf industry. The research will help brands tailor environmental efforts and market these more effectively to golfers around the world. It will do that in two ways. First, it audits current sustainability efforts at respondents’ courses and in their day-to-day lives. It…
A strong end to 2021 kept the annual number of rounds of golf played in Great Britain ahead of 2020 and 2019. As expected, there was some drop off against the peak months in 2020 when lockdowns ended and golf reopened to a groundswell of pent-up demand. In October and December 2020 rounds played were…
New research figures revealed by The R&A and Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) show golf has enjoyed a significant increase in popularity worldwide since 2016 with over five-and-a-half million additional golfers taking up the sport. The number of total golfers globally has increased from 61 million to 66.6 million in a five-year growth period, surpassing the…
A new research report has shown that golf participation is on the rise in Europe with over 10 million golfers now enjoying the sport. The second edition of the European Golf Participation Report, published by The R&A and the European Golf Association (EGA) using research conducted by Sports Marketing Surveys, presents a more representative…
New figures on the number of rounds played of golf played in Great Britain show impressive medium term growth, even despite an expected drop compared to Q3 2020, against which 2021 rounds fell 7%. The South, which recorded a particularly extraordinary performance in 2020, experienced the greatest drop in 2021. Following national lockdowns and…
Supply chain issues are beginning to bite into some of the optimism around European Golf, according to new research from Sports Marketing Surveys. In three of the four markets surveyed (France, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland), more golfers are playing more golf than less compared to before the pandemic. However, a growing…
Asian golf could be about to benefit from a new wave of female and younger golfers. Across the 9 Asian markets surveyed as part of Sports Marketing Surveys’ new Asian Playing Habits research 3% of all golfers have started playing in the last year. A further 6% started playing between one and two years…
Early insights from a pioneering study on Asian golf depict an industry and a region prime for investment in the short, medium and long term. Golfers expect to play and follow more golf. Spend is also likely to increase. More golfers plan to increase spend on golf than expect to spend less, whether the…
