Spanish golf ended 2019 with 271,470 members, 269,919 of them amateurs and 1,551 professionals, according to the official count data as of December 31.
This figure represents an absolute increase of 300 licenses during the past fiscal year, which in percentage terms is 0.1% more than at the beginning of the year, thus breaking a prolonged streak of nine consecutive years of decrease experienced in the period between 2010 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.
This data also confirms a trend that began in 2013, when the peak of decrease was reached – specifically 6.0% – subsequently slowed in 2014 (-3.7%), 2015 (-2.7%), 2016 (-1.5%), 2017 (-0.5%) and 2018 (-0.3%) before giving way to the aforementioned 0.1% growth that 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 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 began.
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Women and junior golf in Spain
It should be noted that the number of women’s licenses currently exceeds 76,000, which represents 28.2% of the total number of golf licenses in Spain.
Of these, 42,803 were women over 50 years of age, 21,764 were women between 21 and 50 years of age and 11,676 were under 21 years of age, with special mention for the 8,331 under 16 years of age.
Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf quarry is made up of 23,894 boys and girls under 16 years of age -more than 34,000, specifically 34,374, if the age range is extended to 21 years-, which in percentage terms represents 8.8% or 12.7% of the total number of members, 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.
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Data by Autonomous Communities
If during 2015 all the Autonomous Communities registered red numbers in the licenses section, in 2019 there have been eight that finished in positive and eleven in negative, although in all cases with small variations up or down, data that in any case improve those recorded in 2018, when there were only six Autonomous Communities that saw an increase in the number of members.
In absolute terms, Madrid, with 82,993 members, accounts for 30.5% of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 44,308, and Catalonia, with 28,137, accounting for 16.3% and 10.3% of the total number of members, respectively.
Comunidad Valenciana (19,245), País Vasco (17,187), Castilla y León (13,005) and Galicia (10,498) are the other Autonomous Communities that exceeded the 10,000 members barrier.The one that added the most licenses during the 2019 financial year was Andalucía, 508 members (up 1.15%), followed by Madrid, in its case with 463 (up 0.56%).
The Canary Islands, with 7,775 licenses and an increase of 177 (2.32%); Castilla La Mancha, with 5,346 and an increase of 173 (3.34%); Aragon, with 6,302 and an increase of 133 (2.15%); Murcia, with 5,891 and an increase of 93 (1.60%); the Balearic Islands, with 7,332 and an increase of 10 (0.14%); and Galicia, with 10,498 and an increase of 8 (0.07%) also experienced upturns.In terms of losses, attenuated with respect to previous years, La Rioja, Comunidad Valenciana, Cantabria, Extremadura and the Basque Country have been the best off, with respective decreases of 0.24%, 0.25%, 0.25%, 0.41% and 0.81%, figures that in some cases are close to balance with respect to 2018.In absolute terms, Catalonia and Castilla León were the Autonomous Communities that have suffered a greater decrease in federated throughout 2019, specifically 559 and 220 fewer licenses, respectively.
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