Here’s three stories from the first month of 2026 that tell us a lot about the state of the golf industry in the UK at the moment.
More golf clubs are partnering with marketing agencies
In just the first few days of 2026 the golf marketing agencies GMS Agency, ION 54, Azalea and LANDMARK, to name just four, all announced new partnerships with significant golf clubs in a bid to drive their growth, particularly via PR.
As the managing director of one golf resort said: “The partnership elevates our position in important golf markets.”
A supplier to golf clubs is sponsoring a major golf tournament
This rarely happens in golf. Sponsors of leading tournaments are typically banks, airlines, high-end lifestyle brands, accounting firms and so on.
However, a company that supplies robotic mowers to golf clubs – Husqvarna – has been named as the official tournament partner to the British Masters and the Amgen Irish Open, and corporate partner to the BMW International Open, KLM Open and FedEx Open de France.
The company says it is doing this to demonstrate that its robotic mowing technology is genuinely capable of maintaining championship-standard courses under real tournament conditions, while using the visibility of a major event to speak directly to club owners and course managers about efficiency, consistency and sustainability.
There may never be another year like 2025 when it comes to participation
Much of the data is now in for golf participation in 2025 in the UK and Ireland, and it was a record-breaking year.
In England, 11.83 million scores were submitted through the World Handicap System in 2025 – more than in any other year, and a 16 percent increase on 2024.
It was a similar story in Scotland, where more than two million scores were submitted, also the highest number ever, and an increase of more than a quarter of a million on the previous year.
Meanwhile, a new report has revealed that golf clubs in the UK and Ireland received, on average, 17 percent more in green fee income last year than they did in 2024. The average club took £189,240 in green fees, also a record amount, which amounts to a £28,000 uplift on 2024.
Rory McIlroy’s win at The Masters in early spring was followed by several months of typically dry and warm weather, which led into Europe’s away win at The Ryder Cup.
There may never be another year like it again.
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