Reed On The Greens May 31, 2026
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com

The Southwestern Ontario golf season is relatively short, lasting – at best – from early-April to early-November, minus those freak late-winter and late-fall days when Mother Nature permits us to tee it up at some of the sandy-soil local links.

Yet despite the fact golf is played for about seven months each year in our area, the game remains one of the largest sources of economic spinoffs with tens of millions of dollars spent annually in London and area.

Per capita, Southwestern Ontario is home to the most golf courses in North America. Still, most people – even the golf community – are shocked hearing that statement. And, it still baffles me why area municipalities, their tourism arms and the golf industry itself spend such little time marketing that fact.

In London and surrounding counties, local golfers have access to 13 private golf clubs, 112 semi-private and public clubs, 20 stand-alone outdoor golf practice centres, numerous golf ranges housed at local clubs and open to public golfers, plus a growing number of indoor golf simulators and practice centres.

The National Allied Golf Associations (NAGA) understands what golf means to Canada. As a coalition of Canada’s five major golf associations – Golf Canada, National Golf Course Owners Association Canada, Club Management Association of Canada, Professional Golfers Association of Canada and Canadian Golf Superintendents Association, NAGA does a superb job advocating for the industry. In fact, those groups deserve kudos just for working together without conflicting interests and for striving to reach common goals.

Lorie Kane and Brooke Henderson. File photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

Recent numbers from NAGA state that golf serves as what is calls “a key pillar of the Canadian economy,” generating more than $23 billion annually in total economic impact and $4.7 billion in tax revenues. The industry supports 239,000 jobs, including employment for 45,000 students annually, and helps to raise over $382 million for charitable causes.

According to NAGA chair Kathryn Wood, “(Canadian golf) has undergone a historic transformation since 2020. Today, golf is much more than a seasonal pastime. It has evolved into a year-round cultural force, an economic engine, and an accessible, mainstream platform for community connection enjoyed by over six million players.”

Wood added, alongside economic and social benefits, the golf industry is “deeply committed to protecting and enhancing our role as stewards for the environment.”

There are those who offer uneducated remarks focusing on how golf demands unnatural practices to ensure courses are pristine from tee to green. But they are wrong. In fact, NAGA says through sustainable turf management practices across 2,100 golf courses in Canada – 90 per cent of which are publicly accessible, FYI – the industry acts as “a steward for almost 250,000 acres of greenspace, playing a leading role in wildlife conservation and carbon sequestration.”

The game of golf is without equal when it comes to providing life’s lessons, including honesty, integrity and sportsmanship. Like soccer, golf is a global game which denies no one an opportunity to play. Argue, if you will, that golf remains a game for the wealthy, but again, if you do your homework, then you’ll learn that, for decades, there have been a myriad of initiatives successful in making the game an inclusive participation sport offering social connectivity and a wealth of fitness benefits.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, London and area golf clubs have collectively announced they have experienced unprecedented traffic in tee times, as golf has provided even the most casual golfer with a safe, inclusive outdoor activity. Local courses also report that new golfers introduced to the game during the pandemic continue to golf – proving once again that golf is a game for a lifetime.

The groundbreaking 2024 London & Area Golf Survey – the largest survey of its kind in Southwestern Ontario (download it for free here) – reported an impressive 88 per cent of respondents consider themselves avid golfers, as opposed to casual golfers, with 61 per cent playing more than 40 rounds per year. Another 28 per cent said they play 21 to 40 rounds each season. These numbers offer further fodder to the fact that London can well be defined and marketed as a golfing community which, per capita, is unrivaled in North America.

As well, surveyed golfers noted three main reasons why they invest in the golf lifestyle, including: passion for the game (87 per cent); social outing (87 per cent); and exercise (78 per cent). The World Golf Foundation estimates walking a golf course burns approximately 2,000 calories over a five-mile course.

About a decade ago, LondonOntarioGolf.com met with Sport Tourism London to discuss launching a comprehensive marketing campaign, labeling London as a golf destination. Our suggestion fell on deaf ears. Strange, since former Tourism London general manager John Winston called our publication “an absolute key to promoting and generating interest in London and area golf.”

When WQLN-TV in Erie, Pennsylvania came to town to tape footage for a documentary about the Forest City, the public television station enlisted your humble scribe to promote local golf – that documentary is published here (my bit begins at 5:38). Speaking on behalf of the local golf industry was one of the proudest moments of my professional life.

NAGA gets it: golf needs to shed its Rodney Dangerfield image, once and for all. Again, on May 26, NAGA representatives hosted Hill Day in Ottawa to coincide with National Golf Day. Delegates met with Members of Parliament and Senators to highlight the Canadian golf industry’s unprecedented economic and social momentum.

Let’s hope that meeting pays dividends for the industry as a whole.

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Award-winning writer and broadcaster Jeffrey Reed has covered Canadian golf for a local and national audience since 1980. He’s author of, The Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association, Celebrating 100 Years of Seniors Golf 1918-2018. Reach him at jeff@londonontariogolf.com.