Why the German golf industry deserves more attention?


By: December 31, 2018

Next month I will join the German Golf Management Association (GMVD). Many of my friends from the golf industry asked me what is the point to join this golf organization.

I am really curious about the German golf industry and cannot believe why the international golf (B2C, B2B) media is not paying attention to the German golf industry despite the impressive figures.

My Golf Management Verband Deutschland membership & the German golf industry

For instance:

  • At Golfbusinessnews.com I found only 29 German golf industry related press releases.
  • On The Golf Business website, there were 46 German golf industry related articles.
  • I have not found any press release on the IAGTO website.

This why I thought to share with you some interesting facts about the German golf industry.

These insights will convince or at least motivate you to take the Germany golf industry seriously either from a golf club and golf course development, but also from golf tourism perspectives.

I strongly believe in the business potential in the Germany golf industry.

German golf industry – key figures

  1. Europe’s 2nd largest golf market: 731 golf courses. An R&A report found 747 golf courses in Germany.
  2. Registered golfers in 2017: 644 943 (59% male, 34% female; Source: KPMG). In 2015, Germany had 639,137 registered golfers. In England (1872 golf courses), there were 655 839 registered golfers in 2017.
  3. The country has got the 3rd highest share of female golfers (34%) and the highest number of female golfers in Europe: 219,281.
  4. The host of many professional tournaments like the BMW International Open and the Porsche European Open on the European Tour and the Ladies German Open and the Solheim Cup on the Ladies European Tour.
  5. 1928 PGA Professionals.
  6. 8 professional male players in the European TOP 100.
  7. 7 professional male players in the European TOP 100.
  8. GfK forecasts a total purchasing power of €1,893.8 billion for Germany in 2018. The TOP 3 federal states with the largest purchasing power are Hamburg, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg. In these states, the purchasing power is above € 24,000/inhabitant.
  9. FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect the economy to expand 1.6% in 2019, down 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast, and 1.5% in 2020.
  10. Sports Marketing Surveys found in 2017: 64% of German golfers prefer golf holidays abroad. They like to combine their golf holiday with the family. The average length of the golf holiday was 7 days. The average number of rounds was 5. 70% of them prefer to book their golf holiday independently. Their TOP 3 preferred golf destinations are
    1. Spain;
    2. Austria;
    3. Italy.
  11. The German National Tourism Board (DZT) expects the annual number of overnight stays by international guests to rise to about 121.5 million by 2030.
  12. In 2017, 84 million overnight stays by international travelers in hotels, guest houses and campsites were counted (Source: DZT).

What is sure, that the German golf clubs need to be more open to the world by promoting themselves in major golf tourism events like the IGTM, but also to cooperate with the German National Tourism Board, the main airports (e.g. Frankfurt, Berlin, Stutgart, Hamburg) to build and gain awareness and interest abroad, but locally as well.

Currently, the average score of German golf courses on Leadingcourses.com is 8.3 (out of 10) is not a bad achievement.