Dear Golfer
It is that time each year, when we take a look back over the past 12 months, and share some interesting numbers and statistics about golf in the Southern Africa.
Number Of Golf Club Members?
The total number of golfers showed a – 0.05% year on year decrease from 153 083 in 2022 to 152 999 at the end of 2023.
This statistic is not only for South Africa, but also includes Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The numbers of junior and female golfers in South Africa showed continued growth, albeit not at the levels of 2022. However, if we compare this what is considered to be ‘good’ growth in economic terms, then these two categories performed well and were up 4.36% and 4.62% respectively – here’s hoping that our economy can show the same ‘vigour’ in 2024.
Total Number Of rounds?
Although no record-breaker, 2023 still saw a very respectable 4 175 266 rounds registered, 2.28% lower than 2022, which was a record year with a total of 4 272 560 rounds played.
The decline could possibly be attributed, in part, to the abnormal levels of rainfall in various parts of SA throughout the year, which caused courses to close, and some for extended periods of time.
Of all the scores entered in 2023, 9.57%, or 72 315, of these were hole-by-hole scores (compared to 9.8% in 2022).
The busiest month for golf was December, in which 393 922 scores were captured, which proves that vacations are as good a time as any to get out onto the links.
The three next busiest months were: January (382 710), March (381 654) and April (380 222).
The Busiest Golf Clubs?
There were 2 330 rounds separating the two busiest clubs in South Africa, both of which are 36 holes’ venues, namely Country Club Johannesburg and Randpark Club, with CCJ emerging as the busiest, with 73 245 rounds captured between visitors and members.
In the 18-hole-course category, Westlake Golf Club was the busiest club with 40 710 registered rounds, taking over pole position from Stellenbosch Golf Club, which was at number 1 last year.
The highest number of 9-hole rounds played during 2023, were at Somerset West Golf Club, with 8 436 ‘9-holers’ captured between visitors and members. Coming in a close second was Hermanus Golf Club with 7 687 9-hole-rounds.
Fancourt hosted the most handicapped visitor rounds at 19 017, with Royal Johannesburg taking second with 18 595 visitor rounds, followed by Sun City Golf Club with 17 188 visitor rounds.
Most number of members’ handicap rounds were played at CCJ with 60 021.
A total of 114 clubs, of the 551 clubs on the system, had more visitors’ rounds than members’ rounds.
Which Platform Holds ‘The Torch’ For Most Submitted Scores?
The HNA mobile app once again was the go-to option for golfers to submit their scores, with a whopping 84.37% of all scores submitted via this medium.
The average handicap index for male golfers in 2023 was 15.4, while the average for women was 23.95.
The Busiest Clubs Per Region Were:
Note: All figures are only for rounds that are registered on the HNA system.
Some Trivia To Close Off With!
The total distance walked by HNA’s golfers during 2023?
More than halfway round the World, which is a statistic that should make shoemakers everywhere smile from ear to ear.
We got to this number, by taking the estimated average length of a golf course (global average) at 6 750 yards, which converts to 6 172 metres. We then multiplied this figure by the number of rounds recorded by HNA in 2023, which was 4 200 000, and then took the almost 26 million metres, and converted these to 25 922 kilometres.
The number of lost golf balls?
It has been estimated that a golfer will lose at least 2 golf balls per round, so if you do the calculation, in ‘HNA land’, at least 8.4 million golf balls parted company with their owners, and now languish in bushes, streams, woods and deep rough everywhere!
Please don’t hesitate to contact us at editor@handicaps.co.za if you have any handicap-related queries or questions.
‘Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play the ball where it lies’ – Bobby Jones
Swing easy!
The Handicaps Team