And to a lesser extent in the rest of Europe, South Africa and Japan.
From the author:
Notes:
The geography of golf. I know the scale is wonky, it’s by decile. And yes, Iceland has way too many golf courses. Though upon closer examination they are usually not a full 18 holes.
Is golf a proxy for elite Anglo culture? I’m particularly interested in Japanese and Korean emulation of said culture.
Data from OpenStreetMap.
Here’s the estimated number of courses by country from Golf Monthly:
Number of golf courses in the world – 38,864
- USA – 16,752
- Japan – 3,169
- Canada – 2,633
- England – 2,270
- Australia – 1,616
- Germany – 1,050
- France – 804
- South Korea – 798
- Sweden – 662
- Scotland – 614
- China – 599
- Spain – 497
- Ireland – 494
- South Africa – 489
- New Zealand – 418
- Argentina – 349
- Denmark – 346
- Netherlands – 330
- Italy – 321
- Thailand – 315
And according to Leading Courses here are the countries with the highest number per square kilometre:
Singapore has the most at 26 golf courses within its 700 km2.
The top 10 are as follows, displayed as ‘km2 per golf course’ (low = more densely packed golf courses)
- Singapore – 27
- England – 55
- Netherlands – 97
- Wales – 113
- Republic of Korea – 115
- Japan – 118
- Denmark – 125
- Scotland – 139
- Ireland – 192
- Belgium – 248
The USA lies in 15th, with a golf course every 546 km2.
And finally, the highest per capita:
The top 10 is as follows, with the data displayed as ‘people per golf course’
- Iceland – 5,247
- Scotland – 9,761
- New Zealand – 12,680
- Canada – 15,117
- Sweden – 15,758
- Australia – 16,383
- Denmark – 17,226
- Wales – 17,226
- Ireland – 19,354
- USA – 19,895
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