Golf seems to be in a very healthy place right now

[ademac]

Having recently started to make a bit of a return to golf after 4-5 years out of the game I have noticed just how healthy the game seems to be right now.
Over the last 6 weeks I have been to my local club driving range on a weeknight evening and I have never seen it so busy. Every bay pretty much full with people from all different backgrounds, men and women alike and there is a really positive vibe there.
A few years ago it would of been a handful of blokes in there drilling balls in stern silence.

I have also taken my 9 year old lad along to the pitch and putt at the same club a few times over the last few weeks and the children's lessons are chocca!
Its great to see golf becoming so popular.
Obviously I don't know if all clubs are the same but it looks very healthy from what I have seen and long may it continue.

 

[Redtraveller]

The driving range I go to is always busy too, especially in winter on weeknights. The range is a lot more inviting for people as opposed to going to a golf club though, but it’s a good start.

 

[shortgame]

This is good to hear, particularly the children's lessons being full

Par 3 courses / pitch and putts can play a big role in getting more people playing, bridging the gap between range and course

 

[Rlburnside]

I've seen the opposite and there's been a few others on here commenting how quite it's been at weekends, I played a few weeks ago in Sussex on a Saturday nice sunny day with no wind and we finished around midday and there was hardly anyone on the course.

 

[Robster59]

I don't think you can judge from the driving ranges. The grass roots of golf is really at club membership levels and here in Scotland we've seen club membership decline by 3.37% (6,711 golfers). There are more people who are happy to be nomad golfers than join a club. Of course, if the clubs don't get enough members to survive, there won't be any clubs for nomad golfers to go to.

 

[IanM]

Must be many local variations... just had the papers through for our AGM new week. We are full and still charging a joining fee. Not enough folk in the under 20-30 age group though, but that's not unusual...reasonable number of juniors, although most are members' kids, rather than random nipper turning up wanting to play... need more of them!

Professional game has several very good young players coming through and most events are not forgone conclusions, which is good.

We've had a few courses close in the past two years in this part of South Wales. All were "new ones" in the 1980s boom, who lost members as investment didn't keep them up to the standard of surrounding courses. Some also were effectively "starter clubs" for new folk, whose requirements evolved quicker than the Clubs could manage. (EG Dewstow and Alice Springs)