Spanish golf ended 2012 with more than 315,000 members, 315,301 to be precise, according to the official count as of December 31.
This figure represents an absolute decrease of 11,604 licenses during the past year, which in percentage terms is 3.5% less than at the beginning of the year, the third decrease experienced in the history of Spanish golf as a result of the severe economic crisis affecting all areas of Spanish society.
Although these data indicate a setback in line with the current situation, it also confirms the strength of the great growth experienced by golf in Spain for a couple of decades now, confirming the idea that the ‘floor’ of the number of members in our country, in these economic circumstances, is still above 300,000.
It should be remembered that in 1990 there were barely 45,000 players in Spain, the 100,000 mark was passed in 1996, 200,000 were registered in the first months of 2002, by mid-2004 there were 250,000 and at the end of 2006 the mythical barrier of 300,000 federated players was surpassed.
After reaching an all-time high in 2010 -when the number of licenses reached 333,013-, the current figures are similar to those that existed in the third quarter of 2007, the beginning of the economic crisis.
It should also be noted that the number of women’s licenses exceeds 95,000, a fact that highlights the popularity of golf among women, one of the sports specialties with the largest number of fans in Spain. Specifically, the number of female members of this sport in our country, as of December 31, 2012, was 95,017, which represents 30.3 % of the total number of golf licenses.
Of these, 39,769 were women over 50 years of age, 41,406 were women between 21 and 50 years of age, and 13,842 were under 21 years of age, with special mention for the 2,993 under 10 years of age.
Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf quarry is made up of 27,002 boys and girls under 16 years of age -almost 40,000, 39,967 to be precise, if the age range is extended to 21 years-, which in percentage terms represents 8.6% or 12.7%, respectively.
These figures consolidate golf as one of the most popular sports activities in our country, only surpassed in number of licenses by soccer, hunting and basketball.
During 2012, all the Autonomous Communities have registered red numbers in the number of licenses, with the Autonomous City of Melilla being the only area of Spain where there has been a slight increase in the number of members, in percentage terms an increase of 2%.
However, the general trend has been the loss of members, with special mention for Catalonia, Madrid and Andalusia, the Autonomous Communities that have suffered in absolute numbers a greater decrease of members throughout 2012, specifically 2,925, 2,401 and 1,405 licenses, respectively.
These three figures account for almost 60% of the decrease in the number of licenses in Spain as a whole (25% for Catalonia, 20% for Madrid and 12% for Andalusia), although in percentage terms the decrease in the number of members in Madrid was 2.5% and in Andalusia 2.8%, in both cases below the average of 3.5% for the whole of Spain.
According to this scale, Murcia -with an 8.8% loss-, Catalonia -with 7.2%-, Ceuta -with 5.8%-, Navarra -with 4.4%-, Castilla y León -with 4.1%-, Cantabria -with 4.0%-, Galicia -with 3.8%- and Castilla La Mancha -with 3.7%- are the regions with percentage decreases higher than the 3.5% average in Spain.
On the other hand, Extremadura, Aragón and Madrid -with decreases of 1.8%, 2.2% and 2.5%- were the Autonomous Communities with the smallest percentage decreases.
It should also be noted that, although with very small increases, five Spanish provinces ended 2012 with more golf licenses than at the beginning of the year: Segovia, Zamora, Granada, Seville and Melilla. On the other hand, Barcelona was the province that experienced the biggest decrease, with 2,689 fewer members.
In absolute terms, Madrid, with 92,793 members, accounts for 29.5% of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 48,996, which in 2012 fully consolidated its position in second place in the ranking, ahead of Catalonia (37,897).
The Valencian Community (21,710), the Basque Country (19,800), Castilla y León (17,114), Galicia (11,966) and Asturias (10,312) are the other Autonomous Communities with more than 10,000 members.
The next official count will take place at the beginning of April, when the registrations registered during this period and the annual cancellations due to bank refunds and non-payment of the federation receipt will be processed, an action that is executed after a warning notification.
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