Female adult membership at Scottish golf clubs grew by 1.6 percent in 2025, while junior girl membership rose by 2.9 percent, according to new figures from Scottish Golf, which is marking the first anniversary of its Women and Girls Strategy (2025-2035).
Participation also increased sharply, with the number of scores posted by female golfers for handicap purposes up 14 percent year-on-year. A total of 198,847 scores were posted in 2025, a rise of 24,311 on the previous year.
The figures were released at Scottish Golf’s inaugural ‘”‘Join The Drive’ Women’s Leadership Summit, held on the opening day of the 2026 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open at the Gailes Hotel near Dundonald Links. More than 80 club officials, coaches, golf influencers and industry figures attended, hearing from keynote speakers including Vivienne MacLaren of Scottish Women’s Football, leadership consultant Becca Hembrough, and Jasmine Sanders, host of CNN’s Living Golf and founder of the UK Women’s Golf Community.
The past year has seen several new initiatives under the strategy, including a Women and Girls Coordinator Fund supporting 11 clubs and two local authorities, a “Join the Drive” coaching network for 18 women coaches, and a Girls’ Junior Framework that saw 47 clubs deliver girls-only Get Into Golf sessions and 76 girls take part in a GolfSixes event during Scottish Open week. A Club Education Fund, a Women’s Professional Transition Programme backed by the Sean Connery Foundation, and pilot programmes with Girl Guiding and regional coaching groups have also launched.
Scottish Golf chief executive Robbie Clyde said the growth in membership and participation was encouraging but described it as “only the starting point” for a longer-term strategy.
“It’s heartening that figures for 2025 showed that female membership of golf clubs and the number of rounds played is already on the rise – but we must do more to increase the numbers, with females representing 13% of golf club membership,” said Clyde.
“This is a huge opportunity for the game to grow and for our clubs to become stronger. We’re committed to pushing on with this work, to remove barriers to play, to try and stop girls drifting from the game in their teenage years and to create a welcoming atmosphere inside clubs to help players develop a lifelong love for the game.”
Clyde credited support from partners including the Sean Connery Foundation, Golf Foundation, The R&A and sportscotland in driving the strategy’s first-year progress.
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