Spanish golf ended 2018 with 271,170 federated members, 269,578 of them amateurs and 1,592 professionals, according to data from the official count carried out as of December 31.
This figure represents an absolute decrease of 914 licenses during the past fiscal year, which in percentage terms is 0.3% less than at the beginning of the year, the smallest decrease experienced in the period between 2011 and 2018, coinciding with much of the prolonged economic crisis and social changes that have conditioned for many years the development of very diverse sectors of Spanish society.
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 members was surpassed. The maximum peak in the number of licenses occurred in 2010, when there were 338,588 members, and since then the process of decrease described above has begun.
Women and junior golf in Spain
It should be noted that the number of women’s licenses currently exceeds 77,000, which represents 28.6% of the total number of golf licenses in Spain.
Of these, 42,690 were women over 50 years of age, 22,672 were women between 21 and 50 years of age and 11,823 were under 21 years of age, with special mention for the 8,476 under 16 years of age.
Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf quarry is made up of 23,760 boys and girls under 16 years of age -more than 34,000, specifically 34,313, if the age range is extended to 21 years-, which in percentage terms represents 8.8 % or 12.6 %, respectively.
It should be noted in this case that the base of Spanish golf continues to expand little by little, since at the beginning of 2015 there were 21,530 under 16 years old -33,682 up to 21 years old-, which in percentage terms then represented 7.6% or 11.9%, respectively, a process of gradual growth that coincides with the progressive and gradual implementation of the Golf in Schools Program, the Friends Cup and various promotional activities among the youngest that have been developed jointly by RFEG, Autonomous Federations and Clubs for several years now.
Data by Autonomous Communities
If during 2015 all the Autonomous Communities registered red numbers in the licenses section, in 2018 six have ended in positive and one more in a situation of technical balance, the case of Andalusia, data that improve those posted in 2017, when there were four Autonomous Communities that saw an increase in the number of federated.
In absolute terms, Madrid, with 82,530 members, accounts for 30% of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 43,800, and Catalonia, with 28,696, accounting for 16% and 10.6% of the total number of members, respectively.
The Valencian Community (19,295), the Basque Country (17,328), Castilla y León (13,225) and Galicia (10,490) are the other Autonomous Communities with more than 10,000 members.
The one that added the most amateur licenses during the 2018 fiscal year was Madrid, which stands at 82,170 with a rise of 383 (up 0.5%). Murcia, with 5,782 licenses and a rise of 256 (4.6%); Aragon, with 6,142 and a rise of 104 (1.7%); the Canary Islands, with 7,528 and a rise of 77 (1.0%); Extremadura, with 2,376 and a rise of 75 (3.2%); and the Balearic Islands, with 7,263 and a rise of 61, have also experienced upturns.
In terms of losses, attenuated with respect to previous years, Andalusia, Navarra, La Rioja, Melilla and Comunidad Valenciana have been the best off, with respective decreases of 0.08%, 0.18%, 0.29%, 0.37% and 0.61%, figures that in some cases are close to balance with respect to 2017.
In absolute terms, Catalonia and Castilla León were the Autonomous Communities that have suffered the greatest decrease in amateur federates throughout 2018, specifically 557 and 388 fewer licenses, respectively.
Golf by province
In provincial terms, twenty of them have experienced an increase in the number of members, a good figure that maintains the upward trend of three years ago, when six, eleven and sixteen provinces recorded small increases.
Taking into account amateur and professional licenses, the largest increases have been recorded in Madrid, Malaga, Zaragoza, the Balearic Islands and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
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