Understanding Golf’s Participation Paradox: A Message for Club Chairs and Boards

Golf’s eagerness to promote the health of the game is obscuring a far more serious reality, the permanent loss of golf facilities with no replacement. This is a golfing crisis that future generations will look back on with disbelief.

To every chairperson and board of directors across the country:

If you read the headlines, you would think golf has never been healthier.

According to England Golf, 2025 was another record breaking year for the game in England. In the first half of the year alone, golfers submitted more than 5.75 million scores through the World Handicap System, a 29 percent increase on the same period the year before, and August became the busiest month ever recorded.

Meanwhile Golfshakes annual golfers survey “Revealing the health of golf club membership in 2025” reveals that demand and participation amongst golf club members remains high, with 30% of golfers reported their club has a waiting list, up from 27% in 2024, and overall membership growth is up nearly 10 percentage points year-on-year.

It is an encouraging story, until you step inside a committee room.

There, the mood is very different. Clubs are wrestling with mounting costs, ageing facilities and member bases that are quietly shrinking in value.

Some are wondering how to fund next winter’s maintenance. Others are wondering how long they can stay open.

This tension between “golf is booming” and “why can’t my club pay its bills?” is what I call Golf’s Participation Paradox. It is the single biggest challenge facing the sport today.

The problem is not theoretical. It is evidenced by hard data.

The Custodian Golf National Golf Club Database, two years in the making, covers every golfing facility in Great Britain. Built from the highest quality datasets from Ordnance Survey, the Office for National Statistics and many other sources, it allows us to track club viability, environmental exposure and demographic pressure across the entire country. This gives us an unfiltered view of the physical, financial and strategic risks that clubs face in 2026.

Here is what the evidence shows:

The Paradox in Simple Terms

Golf participation is growing, but golf clubs are not necessarily benefiting. Rounds played are up. Driving ranges, simulators and shorter format venues are thriving.

Yet, many traditional clubs remain trapped in cycles of underinvestment, ageing assets and delayed decisions.

Our White Paper research published in 2024 showed that 1 in 5 clubs in Britain were already so distressed that they risked closure without significant intervention.

What has transpired in 2025 has only reinforced exactly what that research predicted.

In 2025, 7 clubs closed their doors for the last time with no continuation of golf facilities to replace them.

1. Gatley Golf Club, Cheadle

2. Uxbridge Golf Course, Uxbridge

3. Sapey Golf Club, Worcester

4. Caird Park Golf Club, Dundee

5. Dunton Hills, Essex

6. North Oxford Golf Club, Oxford

7. Maidenhead Golf Club, Berkshire

Meanwhile, a further 6 clubs are living under the threat of active property development proposals, with no plans in place to ensure the continuation of golf should their respective applications be approved.

1. Abbey Park Hotel Golf and Country Club, Redditch

2. Milford Golf Club, Waverley

3. Craigie Hill Golf Club, Perth

4. Shrivenham Golf Club, Swindon

5. Hythe Golf Club, Hythe

6. Ilfield Golf Club, Crawley

A further 8 clubs in 2025 have appeared in a Local Authority Plan, with only 1, Helensburgh Golf Club, currently set to survive under the current plan alongside new housing development.

1. Wessex Golf Centre, Weymouth

2. Helensburgh Golf Club, Argyll and Bute

3. Crews Hill Golf Club, Enfield

4. Enderby Golf Course, Blaby

5. Bromsgrove Golf Club, Bromsgrove

6. Crowlands Golf Centre, Dagenham

7. Solent Meads Golf Centre, Bournemouth

8. Woodlands Golf and Country Club, Bristol

To better understand the state of British golf clubs in 2025, Custodian Golf gathered and analysed more than 100 survey responses from clubs across the UK. The survey was open to all clubs and is not intended to be a definitive or statistically representative view of the entire sector. Instead, it offers a practical snapshot of how clubs are currently thinking about their future.

The aim was simple. To build an evidence based picture of club performance and attitudes, and map the findings against Custodian’s three club personas, Lions, Meerkats and Ostriches.

The survey explored strategy, governance, facilities, investment readiness, membership pressures, and the use of data and technology. The results reveal a widening divide across the sector.

Lion clubs show strong planning, effective use of information, and a clear focus on customers.

Meerkat clubs recognise the challenges they face but struggle to turn intent into action.

Ostrich clubs carry the greatest risk, with ageing infrastructure, limited planning, and governance structures that make decision making difficult.

Together, the findings provide one of the clearest snapshots yet of how British clubs are coping with rising costs, environmental pressures, and changing member expectations.

They also underpin Custodian’s 2025 persona refresh, giving clubs a practical framework to understand where they stand and what needs to change.

The message is clear. The strongest clubs are moving forward with purpose. The rest must act quickly.

Participation is rising. Sustainability is falling. This is the paradox now facing the game.

What’s Driving the Pressure

1. Financial Fragility

According to our research almost 40% of clubs generate only a small annual surplus, and 12% have no financial cushion at all. Many have operated on wafer thin margins for years, cautious about raising subscriptions. Reserves have been exhausted. Capital expenditure has been deferred repeatedly. Headline membership numbers often disguise a weaker revenue mix built on junior, flexible or low cost categories.

Even land sales, when they occur, rarely close the long term funding gap.

2. Ageing Infrastructure

55% of clubs reinvest less than £50,000 a year in their facilities, a level that barely maintains the status quo. Clubhouses built a century ago are charming but inefficient and costly. Modern irrigation systems often exceed a million pounds to replace. Drainage and water management issues are intensifying as weather patterns shift and regulatory expectations grow.

3. Environmental and Spatial Constraints

Clubs that once sat on rural fringes now find themselves inside expanding towns. Flood risk, insurance exposure and legal claims from neighbouring properties have increased. Strategic options narrow every year as urban boundaries close in.

6% of English courses have more than half their land at high flood risk.

4. Governance Strain

40% of clubs say their boards are volunteer led, and 69% admit that performance is reviewed only informally or not at all. Most private member clubs rely on well-intentioned volunteers who do not have the time or specialist knowledge required to drive major change. Strategies exist but are rarely delivered. Decisions are shaped more by anecdotes than evidence.

5. Gender and Age Imbalance

Only 1% of members are women aged 20 to 50, the most important demographic for family participation. 19% of all members are already over 75, with average male life expectancy at 78. Clubs dominated by ageing membership struggle to attract families and younger adults. Without generational renewal, even financially stable clubs are on a countdown.

6. Strategic Short Termism

Many boards operate with a 12 month view. Few have a 10 year plan. Without external data, benchmarking and professional insight, it is difficult to prioritise investment or weigh the harder decisions. Too many clubs drift towards crisis before acting.

Why This Matters

Golf’s renewed popularity has created a false sense of comfort. The top tier of clubs, the Lions, are thriving through innovation, evidence led decision making and strong governance. For the Meerkats and Ostriches, the gap is widening at speed.

The Participation Paradox in Perspective

The boom is real, but it is not universal. The clubs that thrive are the ones able to convert participation into prosperity. The rest are watching the benefits pass them by.

Every club owes its members a duty of care. That duty is simple. Understand your long term viability and act before “gradually” becomes “suddenly”.

Because participation without places to play is not growth at all.

Phil Grice

Head of Venues at Custodian Golf

Golf Club Rescue, Powered by Data

Expert-led analysis, sustainable solutions and funding partnerships helping distressed golf clubs reposition, repurpose or relocate without upfront cost.

Contact Phil Grice on 07535 476966 or phil.grice@custodiangolf.co.uk.