We knew that golf in the US was popular, now we have solid numbers to back up our anecdotal evidence. Despite the recent COVID pandemic, the sport’s popularity has never been higher.

According to the National Golf Foundation or NGG, growth numbers the last few years set all-time records in many categories. The NGF count showed 24.8 million golfers in the U.S. in 2020, an increase of 500,000 and 2 percent over 2019. It is the largest net increase in 17 years. New players (both beginners playing their first round and lapsed golfers coming back to the game for the first time in years) numbered 6.2 million, the highest that number has ever been.

Women golfers made up a big part of the surge, jumping 450,000 or 8 percent year over year and making up nearly a quarter of all golfers with a count of some six million. That is the highest number over the last five years.

Also, a big contributor to golf’s ever-increasing growth was the commitment of “core golfer,” upping their game by doubling the amount of rounds played from eight rounds per year to twenty. Both young and older golfers are playing more rounds than before the pandemic.

Of course, that’s good news for private clubs, public golf courses and equipment manufacturers. All saw healthy gains in spending by consumers.