Those concerned about ageing membership throughout the country’s golf clubs should be pleased to see the latest figures from Scottish Golf which show a huge surge in the number of young people taking up the game.
While membership figures in 2025 were higher across all categories, it was a hefty 28.2% increase in junior boys that far outstripped the rest. That was followed by a 2.9% increase for both adult men and junior girls, and a 1.6% increase in adult female membership.
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Women and girls are are coming from relatively low starting point so the absolute numbers added will be considerably smaller than the 6,075 additional boys who joined a club in Scotland last year. Still, it is positive to see the increase in female participation as governing body Scottish Golf gets stuck into its Women and Girls Strategy.
How does this translate into club revenues? Well, all junior golf club members play at a substantially discounted rate compared to their adult counterparts, so the needle on the income gauge isn’t going to move dramatically.
The idea is that youngsters will fall in love with the game and grow up into full fee-paying members, but this is a difficult transition to navigate. The jump up to higher-fee membership brackets coincides with a period in life when young adults are heading off to university, embarking on new careers or perhaps starting a family, which are expensive and time-consuming endeavours. Many fall away from the game and don’t seriously consider a long-term commitment to a golf club until later in life.
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That said, it would be churlish to dismiss these membership gains – across all categories – as irrelevant. In the midst of an extended period of disposable incomes under increasing pressure, grassroots amateur golf is more than holding its own.
American Golf sold in ‘especially meaningful’ takeover deal
Peter Jones, pictured here with Tiger Woods in 2022, is a regular on the golf course (Image: NQ Archive)
Peter Jones has concluded long-running discussions to buy American Golf in what the Dragons’ Den star described as an “especially meaningful” takeover deal.
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The UK’s largest specialist golf retailer has been sold by Leeds-based private equity group Endless, which rescued American Golf from collapse in 2018. The business, which posted narrowing losses in its latest accounts filed at Companies House, operates 80 outlets in the UK and Ireland which includes nine in Scotland.
Read the full story here.
Scottish Brokerage seeks to take the fright out of golf club investment
Winter work at Brora to install a new Rain Bird 752 series sprinkler system (Image: Golf Finance)
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With many clubhouses and much course infrastructure throughout the country past its intended lifespan, golf clubs are increasingly facing the need for major cash outlays. In this past week’s Around the Greens, Kristy Dorsey spoke to Neil Henderson of North Berwick-based Golf Finance, which is helping clubs invest without jeopardising cash flow.
Read the full story here.
For the diary…
Applications for the 112th Carnegie Shield, which runs from August 9-15 at Royal Dornoch, will open and February 9 with the ballot taking place on February 26
Scottish Golf Tourism Week will take place from March 10-12 at the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel in Edinburgh
The Scottish Golf Annual Awards will take place on March 27 at voco Grand Central in Glasgow
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