The American Golf Industry Coalition, a partnership among the game’s leading organizations, celebrated 2023 National Golf Day last month in Washington D.C. The 15th annual edition took place May 8-10 and returned in person to the nation’s capital after being conducted virtually the previous two years.
Over the course of three days, hundreds of Coalition representatives gathered to reinforce golf’s economic, societal, environmental, and health contributions through more than 200 meetings with Members of Congress and their staff.
In addition to advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill, the Coalition held a virtual forum in conjunction with National Golf Day centered around workplace inclusivity as part of the sport’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiative: Make Golf Your Thing.
The Coalition also used the occasion to release a new national Economic Impact Study, conducted by the National Golf Foundation, which shows golf’s growth in popularity as a recreational activity with roughly 1 in 7 people participating and a $102 billion direct economic impact in 2022, an increase of 20% since 2016.
“We are very excited to have so many leaders join us in Washington to help advocate for the game of golf.” said Greg McLaughlin, CEO of the World Golf Foundation. “We are also pleased to release this new study that helps reflect the important role the game plays in the American economy.”
The new study also provided additional insights into the health of the industry, including:
• Golf’s complete economic portrait in the US, which totals $226 billion and reveals a significant ripple effect, with millions spurred to travel, make ancillary purchases, and buy and build homes connected to golf.
• The enabling of 1.65 million jobs (including more than 1 million directly tied to the industry).
• Golf as a vehicle for fundraising, with almost $4.6 billion raised in 2022, a 16% increase compared to 2016 ($3.9 billion) and close to 1% of all charitable giving in the U.S. Over 90% of golf-related fundraising was stimulated by events at local courses, with 4 of 5 facilities hosting at least one event in 2022.
• How alternative forms of golf (like Topgolf) have made the game increasingly accessible to a larger, more diverse audience, helping to push golf’s overall participant base to 41.1 million (up from 32 million in 2016). In 2022, 48% of all golf participants (on- and off-course) were between the ages of 6 and 34, outsizing their share of the U.S. 6+ population (41%).
• How the on-course participant profile continues to diversify, with new high marks in 2022 in the proportion of golfers who are female or people of color.
For more information about the American Golf Industry Coalition and its efforts to promote and advocate for the collective interests of the sport, click here.