Golf Club Participation Report shows rise in player numbers, decrease in club members

The 2018 Australian National Golf Club Participation Report shows that people are playing more golf, but that club membership numbers are in decline.

The newly released report has revealed a continuation of the trend of players not formally joining clubs to play their golf.

It also revealed that only Western Australia (+1.7%) and South Australia (+0.1%) bucked that trend with all eastern states and the Northern Territory (-1%) down on previous membership rates for an overall 1.6% decrease in the past year.

Commenting on the findings, Golf Australia’s General Manager of Golf Development David Gallichio stated "these numbers reflect the broader challenges facing traditional sports from a range of societal and demographic pressures, primarily in available recreation time.

“Despite this, club golf remains vital to regional communities and it’s still the most popular club sport for adults in Australia.”

Rounds of competition golf, as recorded by GolfLINK, rose 1.5% to 10,321,659 in 2018, consistent with a five-year trend. The average competition rounds per member in 2014 was 25.6; that had risen to 26.9 by 2018.

Earlier this year, the annual AusPlay survey estimated that 945,900 adults played golf in the past year, equating to 4.9% of the population aged 15 and older.

The sixth of its kind, the report provides annual figures and trends on membership, competition rounds, general participation and specific program participation.

The 2018 report highlights of the 383,613 members nationally, 212,047 were from regional areas and 149,420 from metropolitan zones.

Click here to view the full 2018 Australian National Golf Club Participation Report.