Quiz! Can You Name The Top 10 Countries Which Have The Most Golfers?

According to the National Golf Foundation, golf is now played in 206 out of the 251 countries and territories in the world. But which countries have the most golfers?

Coober Pedy Golf Course is the only one in the world with reciprocal rights at St Andrews. It is one of the courses that serves the 1,876,000 in that country.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

This golf quiz about the total number of golfers in a country throws up the question as to what constitutes a ‘golfer’. There are figures for a country’s registered golfers, but that underplays the total number of golfers in a country, as there are also casual players, not affiliated to a club or organisation. Also, do you have to play on a course, or do outings to the driving range and golf simulators make you a ‘golfer’?

The R&A’s Global Golf Participation Report for 2023 found that in those 146 countries affiliated to the R&A (so excluding the USA for starters) 61.2 million adults were engaged with golf in some way, 39.6m of whom played 9- or 18-hole golf.

The worldwide figure for the number of on-course golfers is around 68 million and, if counting all those who have hit a golf ball in whatever setting, the figure is more than 106 million.

The number of golfers in a country does not always correlate to the number of courses that country has. Liechtenstein, for example, has a population of 39,039 of whom 1,444 are registered golfers and 3,000 play golf. But Liechtenstein has no golf courses. The Falkland Islands has one course, but 27% of the islands' population play golf.

Getting a tee-time in Myanmar, on the face it, looks easier than in Iran. Myanmar has an average of two registered golfers per course; Iran has 1,965.

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Roderick Easdale

Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novel, Summer At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine, travel supplement and website. He also compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose Golf & Country Club and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is also the author of five non-fiction books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.