Reed On The Greens August 4, 2025
Growing Golf No Easy Task
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com

Photo Above: Junior Tyson Tour action at Highland Country Club. Photo by Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

Growing the game of golf is without a doubt a monumental task. Junior golfers represent the future of the game, so it makes sense that the entire golf industry is looking at new ways to ensure golf participation remains healthy. But added detriments to growing golf make this a huge challenge.

Until recently, every study pointed to lack of funds as the biggest obstacle to growing golf. But recent studies now list lack of time as the number one reason why people of all ages are not golfing as much as they wish they were.

But Canada is a golfing nation. Last year, after a four-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Allied Golf Associations (NAGA) visited Parliament Hill leading National Golf Day and discussing with Parliamentarians the many positive benefits of golf for Canadians.

The golf industry representatives also released results of a new Canadian Golf Economic Impact Study highlighting golf’s financial contributions and popularity as the number one participation sport in Canada.

According to NAGA, “Hundreds of thousands of Canadians have entered the sport since (the pandemic),” with six million Canadians golfing in total.

“Canadians played 74 million rounds of golf in 2023, a considerable 24% increase from the last study in 2019,” said Jeff Calderwood, who will retire in December from his post of CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada.

Junior Tyson Tour golfers at the FireRock Golf Club first tee. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

“Existing golfers have been playing more often and new golfers have been taking up the game at impressive levels,” said Calderwood. “The broad appeal of golf as a safe, healthy, outdoor recreation that can be enjoyed by all ages, genders, abilities, and budgets, anywhere in Canada, generates continued growth in the game. The impressive economic impacts that are then generated reflect that popularity.”

NAGA conducts an economic impact study every five years to measure such financial contributions as employment, charitable support, tourism, and gross domestic product. In its recent findings, we learned that:

• Golf contributes a massive amount to Canada’s GDP at $23.2 billion, an increase of $4 billion since the previous study.
• Golf supports 237,000 person-years of employment, illustrating its importance as a vital source of livelihood for countless Canadians. Nearly 135,000 Canadians work directly in golf, with 45,000 being student employment.
• Golfer spending totalled $14.2 billion in 2023.
• Golf course operations contributed $8.1 billion to Canada’s GDP.
• Capital expenditure by golf course operations in 2023 was $907 million.
• Taxes paid to governments by the Canadian golf industry were $4.7 billion in 2023.

NAGA’s previous study reported there were an estimated 5.7 million golfers in our country who played an estimated 60 million rounds per year – those numbers indicated a substantial decrease in participation rate.

And, the pre-pandemic Canadian Golf Consumer Behaviour Study, commissioned by NAGA, said golf growth was stagnant. The study also reported only 7 per cent of Canadian adult golfers had a child aged 6-11 who played golf, and just 9 per cent had a junior golfer aged 12-17.

The good news is many new golfers entered the industry during the pandemic. The bad news is, many have already abandoned the game, according to most of the local PGA of Canada professionals I’ve spoken with over the past few years. The reasons? Lack of time, and lack of money. Indeed, growing the game is a constant battle.

The 2024 London & Area Golf Survey – the most comprehensive survey of its type in local history – reported that more than half of the 1,017 respondents said the local golf industry does not do enough to promote the game to junior golfers. You can read the entire survey report in PDF format here.

Other studies have pointed to junior girls as the only demographic representing an increase in golf participation in Canada. But according to Golf Ontario’s former executive director Mike Kelly, “It’s interesting that the female segment offers the biggest opportunity for growth, but it’s also our biggest issue when it comes to retention.”

Steve Bennett with Mike Weir at Huron Oaks GC in 1999. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioSports.com.

In ’20, Golf Ontario had tabled a four-year strategic plan with one common theme: Ontario’s 805 golf facilities must play a larger role in sustaining participation and in drawing more people – in particular, women and girls – to the game.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Kelly said, “Golf Ontario can’t grow the game alone. The reality is, it takes a village to grow the game in any community, and it takes golf courses working together. It’s going to take people in the community to get involved, like we see in minor hockey.”

Former City of London municipal golf system director Steve Bennett, Mike Weir’s coach while the 2003 Masters Tournament winner played his junior golf at Huron Oaks Golf Club in Bright’s Grove, Ont., has been a champion of junior golf since he entered the golf industry in 1978. In addition to overseeing the local muni courses, Bennett also operated the Junior Tyson Tour (est. 1968), Canada’s longest-running tour for junior golfers.

As teenagers, Bennett and Weir both spent their entire days at the golf course – Bennett at Seaforth Golf and Country Club, where he was fortunate enough to have plenty of friends to play with, and Weir, who enjoyed the same comradery at Huron Oaks. Industry insiders say that’s the biggest reason why teen girls give up the game: lack of playing partners. And on the Tyson Tour, as well as the Lambton Junior Golf Tour based in the Sarnia area, it’s common to see only a handful of girls competing for prizes.

“Keeping junior girls in the game has always been a problem since I’ve been involved with golf,” Bennett explained, “and it will continue to be a problem. But we have to keep trying to attract them to the sport.”

Mackenzie Butzer with 2013 Tyson Tour girls’ championship trophy. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

Tyson Tour graduate Mackenzie Butzer of Chatham was the exception. As a talented 18 year old playing out of Maple City Country Club, she won all seven of her 2013 Tyson Tour events and captured her third girls overall title (2010, 2012-13). Only London’s Ann Marie Kovacs (1991-93) and Jillian Friyia (2017-19) have won three overall championships.

Butzer went on to lead NCAA Division I Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla. to four straight women’s team titles, and captured two straight individual titles before coaching with her alma mater.

“I’m from a small town, and it could have been hard to find people to play with,” Butzer said, “but I played with the guys. I wasn’t intimidated, but most girls would be. They may be shy, or feel ashamed that they aren’t as good as the boys.

“Golf can be an expensive game, too,” she said, “and there are so many other things for kids to do today.”

According to Bennett, because golf is a seasonal sport, and because kids are stuck to their screens today, then it’s up to adults to make the game fun and to mentor young golfers.

“Sports have changed with kids today,” Bennett explained. “Now baseball is also a winter sport with indoor workouts. Hockey is a summer sport with camps. But unfortunately, golf is only a summer sport. You can practice, but you can’t play here. It’s not the same. So it’s important that we keep kids active, and get rid of the technology. Let them run around and have fun!”

Hank Haney once had the most coveted coaching job in golf when he was Tiger Woods’ swing coach from 2004-10. While Woods was a child prodigy, most junior golfers simply play the game for fun and enjoy friendly competition. Haney said if we’re going to keep kids involved in the game, then both parents and golf professionals must find ways to make it enjoyable.

“Obviously you have to make it fun for them, and it’s fun when their friends play,” Haney said. “At any age, people like to do what they do well. So helping them get better at the game is a big part of it, too.

“Adults embracing the juniors is a big key, because there’s no reason why the kids can’t play with the adults, too. And I think that’s one of the great things about the game of golf,” he said. “When you’re a junior golfer, and you’re around the golf course and around adults, I see kids maturing a lot faster. And it’s nice to see adult golfers take junior golfers under their wings.”

According to a recent research report published by the R&A, there is a big opportunity to grow the game of golf if the industry can attract more women, girls and families. One of the key themes identified in the report is the importance of establishing the optimum environment for family participation by being aware of the makeup of the modern family.

The Canadian Golf Consumer Behaviour study suggests golfers come in young and enthused, but as they get older they begin to lose some enthusiasm. And as they continue to age, they tend to get more disillusioned and begin to leave the game.

It’s important, then, to make the game fun for all ages – not just youngsters – if golf is to experience growth. As Kelly said, it’s going to take a village to grow the game of golf.

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LondonOntarioGolf.com publisher and editor Jeffrey Reed is a senior member of the Canadian golf journalism community. Reporting on the game since 1980, Reed has captured multiple writing awards for sports journalism excellence. He penned the 2018-published book, The Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association, Celebrating 100 Years of Seniors Golf 1918-2018. Reach him at jeff@londonontariogolf.com.