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From 2019 to 2023, no category of golfer grew faster than the women’s segment, up almost 17 percent, and now estimated at close to 7 million by the National Golf Foundation. Today, female golfers account for about one player within every foursome playing the game.
If you’re a frequent golfer, you’ve likely noticed it when playing at your favorite course, whether private or public access. There are more women on the course enjoying the game than at any time in almost two decades.
There have been surges in female participation before, the most recent being in the early 2000s during the real estate/financial bubble and just before the Great Recession. In the aftermath of the bubble popping, golfers fled the game as the economy disintegrated. Jobs were lost, and many golf course communities struggled to survive. And, while participation slid across all segments, it severely impacted women on the course.

Just before COVID wreaked havoc in early 2020, there were approximately 6 million women playing the game, and industry care…