Golf is not a mass popular sport but it still has its own industry globally. Usually, it is perceived as the sport of the elite. Over the years, there has been an increase in golf matches and championships as well. Earlier, it was a sport played in developed countries only such as the USA and UK but now it is played all over the world. Most recently, golf’s presence in the Olympic sports was seen in 2020. Let’s take a look at golf in the form of numbers.
Find Out More…
Number of Golf Courses by Country in 2019
There are over 40,000 golf courses in the world, most of which are in the United States which is also known as the home of golf. Other countries have a very minor share in the number of golf courses. From the graph, it can be seen that the US has 16,752 golf courses which is followed by Japan having 3,169 and Canada having 2,633 golf courses. England has 2,270 golf courses, Australia has 1,616, and Germany has 1050 golf courses. Other countries such as France, South Korea, Sweden, China, New Zealand, Argentina, Denmark, Italy, and Spain have less than 1000 golf courses.
Number of Golf Players in the United States from 2006 and 2019
As we have evaluated that golfing is most popular in the US, the number of players in the country is big too. However, on year-by-year trend analysis, we see that this number has declined a bit. In 2006, there were 29.82 million golf participants in the United States which kept on declining in the subsequent years. The lowest possible point was in 2016 when this number reached 23.82 million. By 2019, this number rose again to 24.3 million golf players.
Top 10 Richest Golfers in the World
As stated above, golf is considered the sport of the elite as there are high financial costs to learn about this sport, practice it, and enter into it as well. However, the income from this sport is high as well. Among the top 10 richest golfers in the world, Tiger Woods stands at the top with over $120 million in earnings. The next three in the list are also from the USA which includes Phil Mickelson ($94 million), Dustin Johnson ($72 million), and Jim Furyk ($71 million). Other players in this list include Vijay Singh, Rory Mcilroy, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Sergio Gracia, and Matt Kuchar.
Golf Players with Most Career Wins
Major wins include the world championships and global league-level matches of golf. Players can sometimes be recognized by their career wins while other times they are recognized by their all-time major wins. At Rank 1, there is Jack Nicklaus with 18 major wins followed by Tiger Woods with 15 major wins. Walter Hagen has 11 wins. Gary Player and Ben Hogan have 9 major wins each. The other players in this list in their respective order include Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, Nick Faldo, and Lee Trevino as well.
Value of Golf Ball Imports and Exports in the US between 2015 and 2020
The USA is the biggest market for golf and golf equipment. It produces its own golf balls as well as imports them as well. The local production is often exported to other countries too. However, on the whole, the imports are higher than exports. As of 2015, the trade value of golf ball imports was $177.87 million while exports were $124.6 million. In 2020, this number has significantly increased. The trade value in 2020 for golf ball imports was $204.29 million while exports were at $106.22 million.
Value of Golf Equipment Imports and Exports in the US between 2015 and 2020.
Golf equipment includes a lot of items such as clubs, bags, tees, extensions, ball kits, caps, gloves, and many other items as well. For this reason, there is a mass import and export between 2015 and 2020 for the United States. In 2015, the imports were $372.25 million while the exports of golf equipment were $103.61 million. In 2020, the imports were increased to $420.52 million while the exports were also increased to $162.27 million.