BRS Golf has published its quarterly Golf Participation Report for April 1 – June 30, 2022, with participation among club members in the UK and Ireland remaining strong with 7.05 million rounds facilitated through BRS Golf. Although Q2 member rounds decreased 19 per cent year-on-year compared with 2021, they have increased 73 per cent from pre-covid levels in 2019.
The reopening of the UK following the covid-lockdown in July 2021 has meant golf now needs to compete for members’ attention, and the fact that member rounds are still up significantly on 2019 shows that many clubs have engaged and retained new members.
The biggest increase in rounds was witnessed in Wales, where there were 367,000 member rounds played — an increase of 153 per cent — followed by Northern Ireland (1.48 million rounds, up 103 per cent); England (3.48 million rounds, up 83 per cent); Ireland (1.48 million rounds, up 61 per cent) and Scotland with 1.2 million rounds, up 38 per cent.
Other key points within the report — which represents 1,500 golf clubs and more than 670,000 members across the UK and Ireland — includes female member participation accounted for 27.4 per cent up from 140,000 in 2018 to 210,000 this year, and that 28.4 per cent of members are now in the 18-35 age bracket which represents the largest and fastest growing member segment.
As golfers return to their pre-pandemic schedules, they have shifted away from weekday play and back to weekends, although week day play is still up on 2019, but down on 2020 which will always be an outlier year with so many working from home or on furlough.
The full report can be downloaded by visiting www.brsgolf.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/BRS-Golf-Quarterly-Report-Q2-2022.pdf.
