Spanish golf ended 2022 with 293,560 registered members, 291,973 of them amateurs and 1,587 professionals, according to the official count dated December 31.

This figure represents an absolute increase of 8,606 licenses during the past year, which in percentage terms is 3.01% more than at the beginning of the year. Both figures, the absolute and the percentage, consolidate the growth experienced over the last four years, a period of consolidation despite being affected, like all areas of Spanish society, by the economic crisis and the coronavirus health crisis.

In this very complicated context, the idiosyncrasies of golf – a healthy, outdoor, safe sport that naturally establishes safety distances – and the establishment of a protocol – which allowed the sport to be reinstated from the very beginning – have been an attraction for many people, who find in golf a healthy activity from both a physical and psychological point of view.

This increase in golf licenses constitutes the fourth consecutive year of growth, breaking a prolonged streak of nine consecutive years of decline experienced in the period between 2010 and 2018, coinciding with much of the prolonged economic crisis and social changes that conditioned the development of very diverse sectors of Spanish society for many years.

Although the increase is less than in 2021, when more than 13,000 licenses were registered, the 2022 figure – 8,606 more members – is in any case very valuable if one takes into account the effect that the pandemic and inflation have on activity in sectors linked to sport, leisure and tourism both nationally and internationally.

This last four-year period, with a combined growth of 8%, also confirms a trend that began in 2013, when the peak of decline 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 growth of 0.1% in 2019 and 2020, 4.8% in 2021 and 3.0% in 2022, which draws a curve that, in statistical terms, is understood as an inflection point from the aforementioned moment.

Looking at a longer timeframe, it's worth noting that in 1990 there were 45,000 players in Spain; the 100,000 mark was surpassed in 1996; 200,000 were registered in the first months of 2002; by mid-2004, 250,000 were counted, and by the end of 2006, the 300,000 mark had been exceeded. The peak number of licenses occurred in 2010, with 338,588 registered players, after which the previously described inflection point began to decline.

Data by Autonomous Communities

While all Autonomous Communities registered losses in the area of licenses during 2015, in 2022 only four have lost members – La Rioja, Cantabria and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, in all cases moderately – with positive data being the trend of the year, with some certainly significant upward variations.

In absolute terms, Madrid, with 90,330 members, accounts for 30.8% of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 49,740, and Catalonia, with 28,903, which together account for 16.9% and 9.8% of the total number of members, respectively.

The Valencian Community (20,603), the Basque Country (18,163), Castile and León (14,238) and Galicia (11,961) are the other Autonomous Communities that exceed the 10,000 member threshold.

The region that added the most licenses during the year 2022 was Madrid, with 2,645 members (3.0% more), followed by Andalusia (1,533 members, 3.2% more), Murcia (853 members, 13.5% more), Valencian Community (812 members, 4.1% more), Castile and León (542 members, 3.9% more), Basque Country (540 members, 3.0% more), Catalonia (507 members, 1.8% more), and Galicia (506 members, 4.4% more), where the promotional campaigns have been especially effective.

In terms of percentages, it is worth highlighting those Autonomous Communities that have exceeded the national average growth of 3.01%. This has been the case, first and foremost, in Murcia, with the aforementioned 13.51% increase, which can be attributed to the opening of the Montepríncipe Golf School, which since its inauguration in July 2021 has become a veritable breeding ground for new golfers.

Galicia and the Valencian Community, with 4.4% and 4.1% respectively, are also in that outstanding group, while Castile and León (3.9%), the Balearic Islands (3.5%) and Andalusia (3.2%) also increased their members above the average.

Women and the future of golf in Spain

It should be noted that the number of female licenses currently stands at 81,500, which represents 27.8% of the total number of golf licenses in Spain.

Of these, 46,380 correspond to women over 50 years old, 22,762 to women between 21 and 50 years old and 12,258 to those under 21 years old, with special mention for the 8,612 under 16 years old.

Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf pool is based on 24,801 boys and girls under 16 years of age – more than 36,000, specifically 36,520, if the age range is extended to 21 years – which in percentage terms represents 8.4 % or 12.4 % of the total number of registered 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 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 slow growth coincides with the progressive and gradual implementation of the Golf in Schools Program, the Friends Cup and various promotional actions among the youngest that RFEG, Autonomous Federations and Clubs have been developing jointly for several years.

Statistical data below, in the Related Links section.