Today sees the publication of the Golf Participation Report for Europe 2018 by KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice. The report, which provides invaluable figures regarding the supply and demand trends in Europe for 2017, is the latest of KPMG’s annual publications offering analysis and insights into Europe’s golf industry.

In last year’s report, KPMG’s research for 2016 demonstrated that the European golf market had continued to stabilize in terms of numbers of registered golfers and golf courses in operation. In 2017, this trend continued with no significant changes in the overall supply and demand figures for Europe, although some countries did record noticeable changes.

When taking a closer look at Europe’s golf markets, 76% of local golf associations indicated that the level of participation in their country in 2017 had either stabilized or increased. The remaining 24% of European markets still experienced some decline, including key markets such as England, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands. The overall participation rate for Europe has remained stable since 2015.

The research shows that the number of registered golfers and affiliated golf courses in Europe slightly decreased, by 0.8% (-34,925) and 1.0% (-71) respectively.

Based on our survey, the gender mix of registered golfers hasn’t changed since 2016, which means golf is still a male dominated sport (67%) in Europe.

The Golf Participation Report for Europe in 2018 also focuses on European professional players and provides some insights about the distribution and number of registered professionals.

As with previous reports, KPMG has analyzed the relevant data compiled directly from the respective golf associations across the continent.

Together with other industry research materials, KPMG’s Golf Participation Report for Europe 2018 is available for download on www.golfbenchmark.com.