Spanish golf ended the year 2020 with 271,788 members, 270,219 of them amateurs and 1,569 professionals, according to the official count data as of December 31.
This figure represents an absolute increase of 318 licenses during the past fiscal year, which in percentage terms is 0.1 % more than at the beginning of the year, which is the second consecutive year of growth, 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.
Although both in absolute and relative terms the growth experienced in the last two years is small -300 more licenses in 2019; 318 more licenses in 2020-, these data acquire special value, especially in 2020, if we take into account the tremendous paralyzing effect as a result of the pandemic that has had and continues to have such terrible consequences on Spanish and world society as a whole.
These counts also confirm 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 in 2019 and 2020, 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.
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Women and golf in Spain
It should be noted that the number of women’s licenses currently exceeds 75,500, which represents 27.8% of the total number of golf licenses in Spain.
Of these, 42,977 were women over 50 years of age, 21,010 were women between 21 and 50 years of age, and 11,371 were under 21 years of age, with special mention for the 8,019 under 16 years of age.
Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf quarry is based on 23,107 boys and girls under 16 years of age -more than 33,000, specifically 33,751, if the age range is extended to 21 years-, which in percentage terms represents 8.5 % or 12.4 % 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 recorded red numbers in the licenses section, in 2020 there were four that ended in positive and thirteen in negative, although in the latter cases with relatively small variations, the overall balance being positive.
In absolute terms, Madrid, with 82,960 members, accounts for 30.5% of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 45,605, and Catalonia, with 27,717, accounting for 16.8% and 10.2% of the total number of members, respectively.
The Valencian Community (19,058), the Basque Country (17,015), Castilla y León (12,973) and Galicia (10,839) are the other Autonomous Communities with more than 10,000 members.
Andalusia added the most licenses during the 2020 financial year, with 1,297 members (up 2.9%), followed by Galicia, with 341 (up 3.2%), where promotional campaigns have been particularly effective.
The Balearic Islands, with 7,374 licenses and an increase of 42 (0.6 %), and Murcia, with 5,909 and a rise of 18 (0.3 %) have also experienced upturns. For their part, La Rioja and Ceuta ended 2020 with the same number of licenses as in 2019, a group to which Madrid should also be added, whose percentage decrease is insignificant (-0.03 %).
In terms of losses, attenuated with respect to previous years, Castilla y León, the Canary Islands, Castilla La Mancha, the Valencian Community and the Basque Country were the best performers, with respective decreases of 0.2 % in the first two cases and -1.0 % in the following three, figures which in any case are close to equilibrium in a year so complicated by the perverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In absolute terms, Catalonia and Valencia were the Autonomous Communities that suffered the greatest decrease in the number of members in 2020, with 420 and 187 fewer licenses, respectively.
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