The indoor evolution threatening to outstrip outdoor golf
But for each one of us, there are plenty, in T-shirts and jeans, and possibly sipping a pint, who have spent winter lining up a drive on St Andrews' famed Old Course on an indoor golf simulator. In an adjacent space, four players will be recreating the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Next door, there will be one person immersed in a virtual tournament, competing against players across the globe.
In others, there will be tuition. Sporting Insight (SI) statistics supplied by the R&A show that 2025 had the highest number of on-course rounds over the past five years in Great Britain, with an estimated 90 million full rounds played. The data also suggests that the majority of golfers visit simulators to analyse their swings, have golf lessons, or play certain trophy holes in a social environment rather than to play a full round.
And because of that, the number of simulator rounds are not anywhere near the number of actual on-course rounds. Many golfers, of course, are embracing all formats. In Britain and Ireland alone, 82% of traditional on-course golfers have played an alternative format, such as simulators, pitch and putt and adventure golf.
However, the R&A stats also indicate 60% of the world's 108 million global golfers outside the US and Mexico are playing anything but nine or 18-hole on-course golf. That figure rises to 80% among teenagers. Simulated golf can be a route into heading out on the course, though - data reveals that in England 36% played these other forms of golf before experiencing a course.
"The growth in non-traditional formats is helping drive participation among adults and juniors on a global scale, with such formats providing an important route into the sport," says R&A chief executive Mark Darbon. Within the US, which is governed by the United States Golf Association, the country's National Golf Foundation revealed there were more off-course (32. 9 million) than on-course (26.