STATISTICAL DATA

Evolution of licenses and additional data below, in the Related Content section

Spanish golf ended 2024 with 305,603 registered members, 303,913 of them amateurs and 1,690 professionals, according to the official count carried out on December 31.

This figure represents an absolute increase of 6,644 licenses during the past year, which in percentage terms is 2.21% more than at the beginning of the year. 

Both figures, the absolute and the percentage, consolidate the growth experienced during the last six years, a period of consolidation that has allowed us to gradually overcome the effects of the economic crisis and the coronavirus health crisis of the years between 2011 and 2020.

Against that very complicated backdrop, the idiosyncrasies of golf – a healthy, outdoor, safe sport that naturally establishes safety distances – have become an attraction for many people in recent years, who find in golf a healthy activity from both a physical and psychological point of view.

This increase in golf licenses constitutes the sixth consecutive year of growth, breaking the long streak of nine consecutive years of decline experienced in the period between 2011 and 2019, 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.

This last six-year period, with a combined growth of 12.01%, also confirms a trend that began in 2013, when the peak of the decline was reached – specifically 6.01% – subsequently slowed in 2014 (-3.71%), 2015 (-2.71%), 2016 (-1.51%), 2017 (-0.51%), and 2018 (-0.31%) before giving way to growth of 0.11% in 2019 and 2020, 4.81% in 2021, 3.01% in 2022, 1.81% in 2023, and 2.21% in 2024, which traces a curve that, in statistical terms, is understood as turning 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

During 2024, the performance in the different Autonomous Communities was firm in almost all of them, with positive data being the trend of the year, with some certainly significant upward variations.

In absolute terms, Madrid, with 94,999 members, accounts for 31.0% of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 51,902, and Catalonia, with 29,702, which together account for 17.0% and 9.7% of the total number of members, respectively.

The Valencian Community (22,405), the Basque Country (18,233), Castile and León (14,485) and Galicia (12,633) are the other Autonomous Communities that exceed the 10,000 member threshold.

The region that added the most licenses during 2024 was Madrid, with 2,306 registered members (a 2.51% increase), followed by Andalusia (1,072 registered members, a 2.11% increase), the Valencian Community (949 registered members, a 4.41% increase), Catalonia (470 registered members, a 1.61% increase), Murcia (414 registered members, a 5.61% increase), Galicia (374 registered members, a 3.01% increase), the Balearic Islands (336 registered members, a 4.01% increase), Cantabria (149 registered members, a 1.91% increase), Aragon (118 registered members, a 1.81% increase), Castile and León (110 registered members, a 0.81% increase), and the Basque Country (106). federated members, an additional 0.6%)…

In terms of percentages, it is worth highlighting those Autonomous Communities that have exceeded the national average growth of 2.21%. This has been the case, first and foremost, of Murcia, with the aforementioned 5.61%.

The Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, with 4.4% and 4.0%, are also in that outstanding group, while Extremadura (3.3%), Galicia (3.0%) and Madrid (2.5%) also increased their members above the average.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are three Autonomous Communities that lost members throughout 2024 – Navarre and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla – although in all cases in a moderate or very moderate way, with records that do not reach an average of 7 members per geographical area.

Women and the future of golf in Spain

It should be noted that the number of female golf licenses currently stands at 83,882, an increase of 1,805 licenses compared to the previous year. In relative terms, this figure represents 27.5% of the total number of golf licenses in Spain.

Of these, 48,920 correspond to women over 50 years old, 22,712 to women between 21 and 50 years old and 12,117 to those under 21 years old, with special mention for the 8,173 under 16 years old.

Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf pool is based on 23,739 boys and girls under 16 years of age – almost 37,000, specifically 36,727, if the age range is extended to 21 years – which in percentage terms represents 7.8% or 12.0 % 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, which are jointly developed by the RFEG, Autonomous Federations and Clubs for several years now, also highlighting the support of the CSD through the Women and Sport and Women's Universe programs.