Half of UK golfers ‘prepared to travel for more than an hour’ to play

New analysis of a recent survey of more than 2,500 golfers during the pandemic has found that about half of golfers are prepared to travel for more than an hour to play the game.

Forty-eight percent of golfers said they would be prepared to travel ‘one hour plus’ to play a round at a golf course, while one in five golfers said they would travel for more than two hours.

This comes as staycation golf holidays are on the rise due to Covid-19, with foreign golf holidays significantly down. It also comes as golfers in some parts of the UK have been encouraged to only play at local courses at times during the pandemic.

Golfshake has revealed more data about its survey, which found that just two percent of new members of UK golf clubs will definitely not renew next year.

The survey also found the following percentages of golfers have carried out the following activities since May this year:

64% had been in the bar or clubhouse

58% of members had played in a club competition

32% had played in an event, society or away day

43% had played a new golf course for the first time

25% had purchased new golf clubs

49% had purchased new golf balls

26% had purchased a golf product; trolley, bag, DMD and so on

56% had purchases golf accessories; tees, gloves and so on

25% had purchased new golf shoes

43% had purchased new golf apparel; clothing, cap and so on

21% had had a golf lesson.

Only 10 percent of respondents said they had spent less on green fees as a result of coronavirus, with almost identical amounts saying they had spent less on golf equipment and less on clothing, apparel and footwear.

This comes as Golf Datatech, an independent market research firm for retail and consumer trends, revealed that US retail golf equipment sales for August 2020 were up nearly 32 percent over the equivalent period in 2019.

Finally, perhaps unsurprisingly, less than 10 percent of respondents said they had spent more time in the pro shop this year than normal. However, more than two in five said they felt more inclined to support their pro shop.