By Ed Travis
Each January the National Golf Foundation (NGF) releases the golf industry Graffis Report. The report for 2025 highlights several interesting facts starting with the total number of participants reaching 48.1 million.
A count which includes not only those playing on traditional golf courses, but also the exploding numbers of off-course players, like TopGolf and indoor simulators.
Participation growth from the pre-covid year of 2019 through last year was 41% while U.S. population grown was 4.1% demonstrating that golf is growing disproportionately to the rest of society. Some commentators have even ventured to call golf “cool,” just like 25 years ago, when Tiger Woods became must-see television and captured the attention of millions.
Off-course participation includes those smashing balls at golf entertainment centers such as TopGolf, plus driving ranges, as well as indoor simulator screens. What is striking though is for each of the past four years off-course numbers have exceeded on-course players, while doubling from 14.3 to 29.1 million.
What also caught my eye was that total participation in the past 10 years increased from 31.1 million to 48.1 million, but the number of on-course rounds decreased by 3 million. The majority of the increase comes from those taking up the game at a golf entertainment center. On-course play has been pushed to a secondary consideration. Those of us who play solely on green grass are a vanishing breed.
According to the NGF:
“Green-grass golf participation surpassed 29 million in 2025 (all-time record is 30.6 million in 2003), marking an eighth consecutive year of growth and a net increase of roughly one million golfers YOY. Over the past eight years, on-course participation has risen by over five million, reinforcing that this is not a short-term COVID bump but a broader, lifestyle-driven shift toward experiences that deliver social connection, time outdoors, and physical, mental and emotional well-being.”
What’s the significance of these numbers?
With the number of courses continuing to decline (averaging 1% net fewer courses per year) the number of rounds played continues to increase (a record 550 million in 2025).
Looking ahead courses will continue to be more crowded and greens fees should continue to increase. Public course greens are up 29%, since 2019, while U.S. inflation has risen by the same percentage.
The rise in the number of golfers over the age of 65 reflects the baby-boomers, who are the largest segment of golfers playing on-course. Female participation has increased six consecutive years and impacts new course construction, equipment and apparel sales, plus travel. Retailers have expanded their floor space devoted to women’s golf equipment and apparel.
Greg Nathan, NGF President & CEO, wrote,
“One could say golf is perfectly aligned with the kind of analog fulfillment people are seeking in an increasing frenetic digital world.”
Like most pronouncements this may or may not be the case, but one thing is for sure the game of our fathers is becoming only a dim memory
