More Golfers Are Trading Fairways for Simulators: What It Means

ORLANDO — “Everything goes up at the end of the day,” PGA of America president Don Rea Jr. says.

Rea, elected to his position in December, is referring to recent data from the National Golf Foundation that showed off-course golf participation surpassed on-course participation for a third consecutive year. 

In 2024, total golf participation in the U.S. rose 5% over 2023 to a record 47.2 million. While 28.1 million people played golf on a course, the total off-course participation figure for 2024 is estimated at 36.2 million, up 10% from 2023. Of those off-course participants, 19.1 million exclusively played golf at a venue like Topgolf—which has quickly expanded to more than 80 venues worldwide—or virtually at a similar bar or lounge.

This week, at the PGA Show in Orlando, dozens of companies affiliated with off-course golf will be marketing themselves to the golf industry alongside traditional on-course golf brands. The evolution has hit the professional game, too, with this month’s launch of TGL, the indoor golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

“I don’t really care where the numbers are,” Rea says about the on-course vs off-course comparison. “Because I thoroughly believe that of the 40-something million people that are out there, I will get them to green grass.”

One number Rea does care about is the overall participation rate. On-course golfers accounted for just 8% of the estimated U.S. population last year.

“I do find it hard to believe that 92 out of 100 Americans haven’t been to a golf course to play a round of golf,” Rea says. “Yeah, that really bums me out.”

Rea thinks it’s reasonable to grow the percentage of Americans who play golf on an 18-hole course to 10%, which would mean adding roughly seven million golfers. “That would certainly make a difference,” he says. “And the more people that play, it’s better for our members.”