By Paul, Founding Editor, +20 Handicap
Issue 010 | The Format
By Paul, Founding Editor, +20 Handicap
Issue 010 | The Format
The short version: golf is booming by the numbers that matter, more people now play the game off a course than on one, worldwide. At the same time, golf clubs in England and Wales have been closing for over a decade, most of the land sold straight to housing developers. Three formats, Operation 36, golf simulators, and range tech, are already doing more to shrink the game’s biggest barrier than most clubs are. None of them, on their own, are the finish line.
I’ve played most of these formats myself, 9 holes, par 3s, sims, driving ranges. Not Operation 36, not yet. Every single one made golf feel less intimidating than I expected it to. One period stands out clearly. Around 2021, two years after I’d taken up golf myself, a work colleague had a membership at Pitch Golf, and we’d go after work some days. It became my regular way of introducing non-golfer friends from around where I live to the game, casually, no pressure, drinks in hand. Nobody was watching anyone’s form. Everyone was just there for the evening, taking turns. That’s golf and a night out meeting somewhere in the middle, and it worked, in a way I don’t think a driving range or a first tee would have for that particular group.
Looking back, the timing mattered as much as the format did. I was still new enough to golf myself to remember exactly how intimidating a real course had felt at first, but experienced enough to bring people in without it being my own first exposure too. Pitch became a kind of transitional space for me before the course properly became my home, somewhere I could hand golf to someone else the way it had been handed to me, without either of us needing to already belong there.
What none of these formats have done yet, for me or for anyone I’ve taken along, is replace the walk onto an actual course. The jump from a simulator bar, or a range with a scoreboard, to eighteen holes at a real club, is still a real jump. Not just in your head either, the whole environment’s different too. Right now nothing’s built to close that specific gap.
Is golf actually growing?
Yes, and the shift isn't small. Globally, an estimated 90 million people already play golf off a course, more than double the roughly 43 million playing an actual on-course round, according to the R&A's most recent global participation figures. That's not some leftover pandemic spike still settling down. It's already the bigger half of how golf gets played.
So why do clubs keep closing?
Because more people playing the game and clubs actually staying open are two different things, and most coverage treats them as one story. Over 60 golf clubs in England and Wales have closed in the past decade, according to legal analysis reported by The Golf Business, the land mostly sold on to housing developers. Maintenance costs are up, staffing’s more expensive, and membership numbers move around a lot. For plenty of clubs, selling to a developer just makes more sense on paper than staying open, even while more people than ever want to play the game somewhere.
Does Operation 36 solve this?
Partly, and it’s worth being specific about which part. Operation 36 skips the years most beginners spend getting good enough to play a full hole, starting people on real greens and real bunkers from 25 yards out instead. It’s now running in 800+ facilities across 22 countries, with more than 250,000 golfers already playing real rounds, real scores, from day one. What it gives you is the feel of an actual course without the anxiety of a full first tee shot. What it doesn’t solve is access to that course in the first place, someone still has to build the program, and most clubs haven’t.
What’s pulling new people in, if not the course?
Places that don’t ask you to already look like you know what you’re doing. That simulator bar I mentioned is one small example of something happening at scale. Range tech is doing something similar from a different angle, tracking screens and scored games have turned the driving range from something that used to feel like a test into something you’d choose on a night out. A Lightspeed survey found 68% of Gen Z and 62% of millennials already treat these venues as a normal night out, not a practice session, and half say they’d consider replacing a traditional round with one entirely. Nobody had to convince them. They just started showing up.
So what’s still missing?
The finish line. None of these formats, Operation 36 included, are actually the same as walking onto a real course, and I don’t think that’s a failure of any of them. Simulators, ranges, and social formats have already done the hard part, they’ve made golf feel less intimidating before anyone gets near a fairway. What’s still missing is a course built to meet that shift, rather than wait for it to turn up on its own.
Everything around the course has changed. The course hasn’t.
If you’ve felt more comfortable at a driving range than you ever have in a clubhouse, you already know exactly what this piece is describing. I’d like to hear where that happened for you, and whether you’ve made the jump to an actual course since, or whether that gap is still sitting there. Drop a comment and tell me what format got you closest, and what’s still stopping you from going further.
Sources: Off-course versus on-course global participation figures from the [R&A’s Global Participation Report]. UK club closure data from legal analysis by TWM Solicitors, reported via [The Golf Business]. Operation 36 facility and participant figures from [Operation 36’s official site]. Range tech and golf entertainment venue behaviour from a Lightspeed survey via [GolfN Insights].
Previously in Room 19:
Issue 006 | The ReRun, on golf's fashion moment and its 1977 football-terrace origins
Issue 007 | The Hidden Room, on golf’s missing communal watch culture
Issue 009 | The Overexposed, on the gap between the golf everyone posts and the golf everyone actually plays
I started Room 19 because I wanted golf writing that treated the game the way the culture magazines I actually read treat everything else, properly, not as tips, gear reviews and fomo shots of golf courses.
Paul is the founding editor of Room 19, a golf brand telling the untold stories of the game for people who found it through culture, not the clubhouse. He took up golf at 37. Find Room 19 on Instagram and TikTok.
Quick answers
Is golf participation actually growing? Yes. Globally, an estimated 90 million people already play golf off a course, compared to roughly 43 million playing an on-course round, according to the R&A’s Global Participation Report.
Why are golf clubs closing if participation is growing? Rising maintenance, insurance and staffing costs, combined with fluctuating membership, have pushed a number of UK clubs to sell to housing developers rather than continue operating. Over 60 clubs in England and Wales have closed this decade, according to legal analysis reported by The Golf Business.
What is Operation 36 in golf? A golf format that starts beginners on real greens and bunkers from 25 yards out, skipping the years typically spent before playing a full hole. It’s active in 800+ facilities across 22 countries, with more than 250,000 golfers playing real rounds through the program.
Do golf simulators and driving ranges get new people into golf? They’re making a real difference as a first step, at least when it comes to nerves. A Lightspeed survey found 68% of Gen Z and 62% of millennials already treat golf entertainment venues as a normal night out, not practice, and half said they’d consider replacing a traditional round with one entirely.
What’s stopping people who try these formats from playing a full round on a real course? The jump from a simulator, range, or short-format course to an 18-hole round at a traditional club remains a real barrier, both psychologically and in terms of access, and most clubs haven’t yet built anything to close that specific gap.