More than 47 million Americans played golf in 2024

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U.S. golf remained generally positive in 2024, and future indicators point to sustainability in terms of participation in the sport. This is reflected by the National Golf Foundation (NGF) in a report indicating that 47.2 million Americans played golf on-course (on-course golf) or in other facilities (off-course golf: Topgolf, simulators, etc., with a real ball, real club and full swing). This is an increase of 5% compared to 2023 and 38% compared to 2019 before the pandemic. Those 47.2 million golfers account for 14% of the 335 million U.S. population.
Of that number, on-course players last year were 28.1 million, up 1.5 million over 2023, making it the largest single-year increase since 2000, when Tiger Woods was in his heyday and was driving golf participation to new heights. That year golf added 2.7 million new players.
Over the past five years, the number of traditional golfers has increased 16%. 2004 was the seventh consecutive annual increase in the number of players.
The total number of rounds of golf played also reached a record 545 million in 2024, and for the fifth consecutive year the total exceeded 500 million rounds.
The demographics of the Graffis Report (named in honor of Golfdom founder Herb Gratis) underscore the changing face of golf in the United States. Thus the 18-34 age group continues to dominate participation, with 6.8 million golfers in 2024, followed by the 50-64 demographic, with 6.2 million.
Youth participation has soared 48% since 2020, while female participation has grown 41%.Diversity within the game has also improved significantly, with Hispanic participation up 26% and a notable increase in black participation of 123% over the same period.
The NGF report also highlights encouraging trends in field construction and closures. Thus, course closures in 2024 reached their lowest rate since 2005, and 29 new courses opened across the U.S., the most since 2010, with 35% of them located in Florida, Texas and South Carolina. More than 80% of the new courses were private clubs, reflecting the demand for exclusive golf experiences.
However, the report noted a higher closure rate for short and par 3 courses than for regulation 18-hole courses. Since 2020, 34% of new courses built have been short or executive courses, although these only account for 4% of all U.S. golf courses.