Great British golf boom continues as 2025 delivers most rounds played since 2005

A record number of rounds of golf were played across Great Britain in 2025, marking the highest annual total since comparable records began in 2005.

Figures released by Sporting Insights confirm a landmark year for the sport, with strong growth sustained across all four quarters. A solid fourth quarter built on a very strong finish to Q1, a record-breaking Q2, and a positive Q3, pushing the year-end total comfortably beyond every post-pandemic benchmark.

Overall, rounds played in 2025 were:

• Up 14% compared to 2024
• Up 11% compared to 2023
• Up 14% compared to 2022
• Up 21% compared to 2021

The uplift was nationwide, with every region outperforming each of the previous four years. While favourable weather conditions played a role — 2025 was warmer, significantly sunnier, and slightly drier than average, despite occasional intense rainfall and storms — the sustained growth suggests deeper structural momentum within the sport.

A sustained and widespread golf boom

At the end of the first quarter, Sporting Insights highlighted early signs of what appeared to be a continuing boom in participation. 

The full-year results not only support that assessment but suggest the trend has accelerated.

The appetite for golf is not confined to Great Britain. 

In the United States, the National Golf Foundation has reported that 2025 rounds set an all-time record for the fourth time in five years, underlining the global nature of the surge.

John Bushell, Managing Director at Sporting Insights, said: 

"This is obviously extremely good news for the golf industry. Our sport has never been more visible, more accessible, or more popular, and huge credit should go to everyone involved. We in the industry know well the myriad benefits and joys of golf, from fresh air to time with friends and family, the challenge, the competition, the decades-long hunt to lower that handicap, or just the excitement, thrill, and fulfilment from that perfectly struck shot. That more golf is being experienced at golf clubs, on golf courses, and elsewhere is a wonderful thing.

"New entry points to the game and enhanced practice sites are having an impact, from simulator venues to shot-tracking equipped driving ranges that provide much more data and feedback to golfers of all levels. This is opening up the game to new social players, to younger golfers experiencing a different type of golf – as well as our core golfers who use it for data-driven practice, and for all-year-golf play in markets where golf cannot be played on course during winter – in Scandinavia, northern Europe and Canada for example. These things are picked up in growing global participation, and are included in alternative formats of golf, tracked by The R&A. The Rounds Played data suggests that those formats are in turn pushing more people to play traditional forms of golf more often."

The continued rise in participation points to evolving access points into the game. 

From simulator venues to technology-enhanced driving ranges, new formats are broadening golf’s appeal to younger and more social audiences, while also supporting established players with data-driven practice and year-round engagement.

Sporting Insights has tracked rounds played at commercial golf courses across mainland Great Britain since 2000, with records comparable back to 2005. 

The 2025 figures now stand as the strongest on record, reinforcing golf’s position as one of the country’s most resilient and thriving sports.