Europe’s 5,896 courses represent 47% of all courses not in North America. For an American company looking at going international Europe is half of everything out there. Also, European golf is growing fast. Courses in the mainland have increased 80% in just ten years and golfer numbers are growing at 5% annually
Golf Supply Levels
| • | Population per eighteen holes is a useful benchmark of supply levels. Europe averages 127,000 people per eighteen holes (pp18h). In comparison the US is better supplied with 18,383 pp18h. |
| • | Iceland, with nearly 550 holes and a population of just under 300,000 enjoys the best supply level in Europe with 9,426 pp18h. Britain overall has 23,000 pp18h. This is now ahead of the goal of 25,000 pp18h by the year 2000 which was set in 1989 by the R&A report “Demand for Golf”. |
| • | Of the Western European countries, Italy (363,000), Portugal (204,000) & Spain (170,000) are the most poorly supplied areas. Eastern Europe is by far the area where golf is lacking. Slovenia and the Czech Republic are the only areas that provide comparable figures with the West. |
| • | Supply levels vary greatly from country to country. This is because the popularity of golf varies enormously. Europe is not one golf market – it is a collection of different countries, all with their own unique golf market, added together. |
| • | The problem for new markets such as Eastern Europe is that the popularity of golf is unknown. For example, no-one currently plays golf in Bucharest, Romania because there are no courses there. There is no demand because there is no supply. |
| • | So would the construction of a new course in Bucharest create enough demand to make it a commercial success? The honest answer is that no-one really knows until it is tried. |