Golfing Countries

In 2005 Golf Digest calculated that there were nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world; approximately half of them in the United States. The countries with most golf courses in relation to population, starting with the best endowed were:

• Scotland
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Republic of Ireland
• Northern Ireland
• Canada
• Wales
• United States
• Sweden
• England

Countries with less than 500,000 people were excluded.

The number of courses in new golfing territories is increasing rapidly. For example the first golf course in the People's Republic of China only opened in the mid-1980s, but by 2005 there were 200 courses.

The professional sport was initially dominated by British golfers, but since World War I, America has produced the greatest quantity of leading professionals. Other Commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa are also traditional powers in the sport. Since around the 1970s, Japan and various Western European countries have produced leading players on a regular basis. The number of countries with high-class professionals continues to increase steadily, especially in East Asia. South Korea is notably strong in women's golf.