We Looked Up: How Many Golf Courses Are There in the World?

Lately we've been adding golf courses to the ANSWER app. That got us wondering: how many golf courses are there in the world? So we looked it up.

Important: Course Count, Not Facility Count

A quick clarification: we're talking about course count (counted as 18-hole equivalent), not the number of golf facilities. A 36-hole facility counts as 2 courses.

What We Found

Based on R&A's "Golf Around the World" reports and similar sources, there are more than 38,000 courses globally, spread across 200+ countries and regions.

Top 3 Countries

1. United States … over 16,000 courses (~42% of the world)
2. Japan … ~3,140 courses (#1 in Asia)
3. Canada … over 2,500 courses

The USA leads by a large margin. Japan ranks first in Asia, and the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, etc.) also sits near the top.

By Region

• North America holds about half of all courses
• Europe and Asia follow
• Oceania, South America, and Africa also have significant numbers

Added to LAB

We turned the data into a visual dashboard and added it to LAB.

• Bar chart of the top 10 countries
• Regional share doughnut chart
• Full ranking table with filters by country and region

Hope you find it interesting.

Try it in LAB: Global Golf Course Rankings