Spanish golf ended the year 2024 with 305,603 members, 303,913 of them amateurs and 1,690 professionals, according to the official count data as of December 31.
This figure represents an absolute increase of 6,644 licenses during the past year, which in percentage terms is 2.2% more than at the beginning of the year.
Both absolute and percentage records consolidate the growth experienced over the last six years, a period of consolidation that has gradually overcome the effects of the economic crisis and the coronavirus health crisis of the years between 2011 and 2020.
After such a complicated framework, the idiosyncrasy of golf – a healthy sport, practiced outdoors, safe, that naturally establishes safety distances – has been in recent years an attraction for many people, who find in golf a healthy activity both from a physical and psychological point of view.
This increase in golf licenses constitutes the sixth consecutive year of growth, thus breaking the long streak of nine consecutive years of decline experienced in the period between 2011 and 2019, coinciding with much of the prolonged economic crisis and social changes that conditioned for many years the development of very diverse sectors of Spanish society.
This last six-year period, with an overall growth of 12.0%, also confirms a trend that started in 2013, when the peak of decrease was reached – namely 6.0% – subsequently slowed down in 2014 (-3.7%), 2015 (-2.7%), 2016 (-1.5%), 2017 (-0,5%) and 2018 (-0.3%) before giving way to growth of 0.1% in 2019 and 2020, 4.8% in 2021, 3.0% in 2022, 1.8% in 2023 and 2.2% in 2024, which draws a curve that, in statistical terms, is understood as a turning point from the aforementioned moment.
Taking a longer period of time as a reference, it should be recalled that in 1990 there were 45,000 players in Spain; the 100,000 mark was passed in 1996; 200,000 were registered in the first months of 2002; in mid-2004 there were 250,000 and at the end of 2006 the barrier of 300,000 federated players was surpassed. The maximum peak in the number of licenses occurred in 2010, when there were 338,588 members, and since then the inflection curve process described above has begun.
.
Data by Autonomous Communities
During 2024, the performance in the different Autonomous Communities was firm in practically all of them, with positive data being the tone of the year, with some significant upward variations.
In absolute terms, Madrid, with 94,999 members, accounts for 31.0 % of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 51,902, and Catalonia, with 29,702, accounting for 17.0 % and 9.7 % of the total number of members, respectively.
The Valencian Community (22,405), the Basque Country (18,233), Castilla y León (14,485) and Galicia (12,633) are the other Autonomous Communities with more than 10,000 members.
The one that has added more licenses during the year 2024 has been Madrid, 2,306 members (2.5% more), followed by Andalusia (1.072 members, up 2.1%), Valencia (949 members, up 4.4%), Catalonia (470 members, up 1.6%), Murcia (414 members, up 5.6%), Galicia (374 members, up 3.0%), Baleares (336 members, up 4.0%), Cantabria (149 members, up 1.9%), Aragon (118 members, up 1.8%), Castilla y León (110 members, up 0.8%), Basque Country (106 members, up 0.6%)…
In percentage terms, it is worth highlighting those Autonomous Communities that have exceeded the average growth of 2.2% experienced at the national level. This was the case, in first place, of Murcia, with the aforementioned 5.6% increase.
The Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, with 4.4% and 4.0%, are also in this outstanding group, while Extremadura (3.3%), Galicia (3.0%) and Madrid (2.5%) also increased their number of members above the average.
At the opposite pole are three Autonomous Communities that lost members in 2024 -Navarra and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla-, although in all cases moderately or very moderately, with an average of less than 7 members per geographical demarcation.
.
Women and junior golf in Spain
It should be noted that the number of women’s licenses currently stands at 83,882, with an increase of 1,805 licenses with respect to the last fiscal year. In relative terms, this represents 27.5% of the total number of golf licenses in Spain.
Of these, 48,920 were women over 50 years of age, 22,712 were women between 21 and 50 years of age and 12,117 were under 21 years of age, with a special mention for the 8,173 under 16 years of age.
Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf quarry is based on 23,739 boys and girls under 16 years of age -almost 37,000, specifically 36,727, if the age range is extended to 21 years-, which in percentage terms represents 7.8% or 12.0% of the total number of members, respectively.
To highlight in this case that the Spanish golf base continues to expand little by little, since at the first of 2015 there were 21,530 under 16 years of age -33,682 up to 21 years of age-, which in percentage terms then represented 7.6% or 11.9%, respectively.
This process of gradual growth coincides with the progressive and gradual implementation of the Golf in Schools Program, the Friends Cup and various promotional activities among young people that have been developed jointly by the RFEG, Autonomous Federations and Clubs for several years now.
Leave a Reply