Germany has more female golfers than UK

Emma Williams
By Emma Williams September 5, 2013 08:32

The UK now has fewer female golfers as members of clubs than Germany, despite having four times as many golf courses and being known as the ‘home of golf’.

It is the first time that the UK has failed to come top in Europe on any participation in golf survey.

According to a report by KPMG, more than three quarters of Britain and Ireland’s 1.2 million golf club members are adult males – and just 14 percent are adult females. In Germany, where golf has grown in popularity in the last few years, 35 percent of its now 660,000 members are adult females.

This means that the country has 222,000 female golfers registered as members of clubs. In the UK the figure is only 180,000.

The UK and Ireland collectively have just under 3,000 golf clubs, representing 44 percent of all the venues in Europe.

Germany only has 719 golf courses, the first of which, the Berlin-Wannsee Golf and Country Club, was built in 1895 – at least 150 years after the first golf club was built in Britain.

“Britain and Ireland still have far and away the most number of golfers – more than four million in total,” said an industry insider.

“But a disproportionately high number are adult men. This has always been the case, but what’s new is that the vast majority of golfers in the UK are now ‘nomads’ who are not members of golf clubs.

“In fact clubs in the UK and Ireland have lost more than a quarter of a million members in just the last six years.

“To lose such a valuable income stream is painful but it’s clear where the shortfall can be made up. Germany now has more than 40,000 more female members of golf clubs than the UK and Ireland – even though the participation in golf rate as a proportion of the overall population is actually still less than half the size in Germany than it is in the UK.

“It might be time for British golf clubs to learn from their German counterparts about how to attract women to golf clubs.”

 

Emma Williams
By Emma Williams September 5, 2013 08:32
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8 Comments

  1. @ahwpgapro November 22, 08:18

    Germany has more female golfers than UK » Golf Club Management http://t.co/Kj6FSfcKLw

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  2. @GOLFBOO September 6, 12:06

    Germany has more female golfers than UK » Golf Club Management http://t.co/CaTd5DAPoZ

    Reply to this comment
  3. Edward Saxel (@ispygolfpro) September 6, 12:05

    So why aren’t women playing golf in the UK & Ireland? http://t.co/d3tgl4qovm

    Reply to this comment
  4. @LadiesGolfUnion September 6, 06:37

    Germany now has more female golfers than GB&I http://t.co/6OzPq8rB8t – send us your views on why and how to sort out #LGUcalltoaction

    Reply to this comment
  5. @javierinsula September 5, 14:17

    Interesante; en Alemania ya juegan más mujeres que en UK. Donde el golf crece lo hace el % de féminas.
    http://t.co/UFrnAw8NrB

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  6. Pro Golf Group (@ProGolfGroup) September 5, 11:59

    Germany has more female golfers than UK #GolfBusiness http://t.co/0AE7gYVLo1

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  7. Gudrun Selzer September 5, 10:07

    I guess it´s because of the long tradition of golf in the UK. I don´t think that they wouldn´t love to have some more women…
    Women book more golf lessons, spend more money in the shop and some of them even have more time to play than a business man. It´t worth to think about it.

    Reply to this comment
  8. 19th Hole Social (@19th_holesocial) September 5, 09:36

    #Golf #Panthersocial Germany has more female golfers than UK http://t.co/haI2l4UvEH

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