as food and beverages. All told golf travel including additional expenditure associated with travel had a total impact of $40 billion, which is 40% of the golf industry’s overall economic contribution. Equipment Sales trending above 2022 record sales numbers. Golf equipment sales are an obvious measure. If you are going to play you must have the latest and greatest equipment and everyone agrees that golf is a non-essential activity. The money for golf clubs, balls and gloves definitely comes from a family’s discretionary funds. Spending money on golf is not essential, but it sure makes golfers happy. Cumulatively, ball and club sales are up 2% versus a year ago and still running 51% above prepandemic base numbers. While some of that is attributable to pricing increases, a byproduct of demand and rising costs for materials, research & development, shipping and labor, speaks to the sustainability of golf’s post-pandemic lift. Entering June, golf equipment shipments were down about 4% compared to the same mid-year stretch in 2022, but individually golf balls sales were up almost • The number of female golfers jumped 15% compared to only a 2% increase among male golfers. There has never been greater female representation on the golf course than right now, with women and girls accounting for just over one quarter of all golfers. Local golf courses, private clubs and other junior golf programs are leading the charge. Young girls are taking up the game in record numbers with junior developmental programs focused on young women. Girls now represent 38% of all golfers under the age of 18. When NGF first started tracking golf participation by gender, in 1986, the proportion of girls was just 14%. A 24% increase in 37 years is quite dramatic. 18%. Someone is losing a lot of golf balls. Women’s Numbers Continue to Grow Over the past three years (20202022) golf has seen over 1.2 new golfers taking up the game. Of that number 820,000 were women compared to 465,000 men. One of the most notable aspects of the pandemic-driven rise in participation over the past three years: the influx of women and girls. • There are about 6.4 million female golfers, up from 5.6 million in 2019. • The net gain of 800,000+ women golfers is far more than on the men’s side.
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