Spanish golf ended 2023 with 298,959 registered members, 297,378 of them amateurs and 1,581 professionals, according to the official count as of December 31.

This figure represents an absolute increase of 5,399 licenses during the past year, which in percentage terms is 1.8% more than at the beginning of the year. 

Both figures, the absolute and the percentage, consolidate the growth experienced during the last five years, a period of consolidation that allows us to gradually overcome, like all areas of Spanish society, the effects of the economic crisis and the coronavirus health crisis of the past years.

In this very complicated context, 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 fifth 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.

This last five-year period, with a combined growth of 9.8%, 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 growths of 0.1% in 2019 and 2020, 4.8% in 2021, 3.0% in 2022 and 1.8% in 2023, 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

During 2023, the behavior in the different Autonomous Communities was diverse, with positive data being the norm for the year, with some certainly significant upward variations.

In absolute terms, Madrid, with 92,693 members, accounts for 31.0% of the total number of licenses, followed by Andalusia, with 50,830, and Catalonia, with 29,232, which together account for 17.0% and 9.8% of the total number of members, respectively.

The Valencian Community (21,456), the Basque Country (18,127), Castile and León (14,375) and Galicia (11,259) are the other Autonomous Communities that exceed the 10,000 member threshold.

The region that added the most licenses during 2023 was Madrid, with 2,363 registered members (a 2.61% increase), followed by Andalusia (1,090 registered members, a 2.21% increase), the Valencian Community (853 registered members, a 4.11% increase), Catalonia (329 registered members, a 1.11% increase), Galicia (298 registered members, a 2.51% increase), Murcia (253 registered members, a 3.51% increase), Cantabria (217 registered members, a 2.91% increase), the Balearic Islands (156 registered members, a 1.91% increase), Castile and León (137 registered members, a 1.11% increase), Extremadura (83 registered members, a 3.21% increase), and Navarre (67 registered members). (2.0% more) and Aragon (18 members, 0.2% more), where the promotional campaigns have been especially effective.

In percentage terms, it is worth highlighting those Autonomous Communities that have exceeded the national average growth of 1.81%. This has been the case, first and foremost, of the Valencian Community, with the aforementioned 4.11%.

Murcia and Extremadura, with 3.5% and 3.2%, are also in that outstanding group, while Cantabria (2.9%), Madrid (2.6%), Galicia (2.5%), Andalusia (2.2%) and the Balearic Islands (1.9%) also increased their members above the average.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are six Autonomous Communities that lost members throughout 2023 – La Rioja, Castilla La Mancha, the Canary Islands, Asturias, the Basque Country 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 40 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 82,077, an increase of 577 licenses compared to the previous year. In relative terms, this figure represents 27.6% of the total number of golf licenses in Spain.

Of these, 47,428 correspond to women over 50 years old, 22,521 to women between 21 and 50 years old and 12,031 to those under 21 years old, with special mention for the 8,205 under 16 years old.

Among the youngest, it should be noted that the Spanish golf pool is based on 23,689 boys and girls under 16 years of age – almost 36,000, specifically 35,951, if the age range is extended to 21 years – which in percentage terms represents 7.9 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 that RFEG, Autonomous Federations and Clubs have been developing jointly for several years.