The Popularity Of Golf And How It’s Grown

There are more than 30,000 golf courses in the world today and approximately half of them are in the United States.  Some countries with the most courses per capita are Scotland, New Zealand and, Australia, Republic Ireland, Canada, Wales, Sweden, and England.

These countries all share English as a majority language, but the popularity of golf has spread rapidly to other parts of the world.  The first golf course in the People’s Republic of China opened in 1984, but by 2008 there were 376 courses in that country, alone.

Golf was initially dominated by Scottish, then English golfers. But, since 1918, the United States has produced the largest number of leading golf professionals.  Since then other countries, such as Australia and South Africa, have been producing professionals becoming backers of the sport.  The number of countries with high-class professionals continued to increase steadily, especially in East Asia with the blooming popularity in both men’s and women’s golf.

Golf has become a roughly popular spectator sport both on the course and as television entertainment alongside football and baseball in America.  Celebrity golfers such as Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Niclaus, among others, have become well recognized sports figures across the world.

Corporate and product sponsorship has also become a huge part of the game and players often earn more from their sponsorship contracts than they do from the game itself.

Golf is become a game enjoyed by men, women and children of all ages .