The World Handicap System at five: what changed for American golfers, and what still trips them up
In January 2020 the World Handicap System replaced the USGA's own rules. Five seasons and one revision later, here is what changed in the…
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Trends
Who plays golf now, what they spend, and how the game is changing — participation numbers, tee-time economics, women’s golf, and the technology reshaping practice.
Entertainment golf: does the bay feed the course
Off-course participation now exceeds on-course participation in the United States. Whether that produces golfers depends less on the venues than on whether anyone is…
Personal launch monitors: which numbers are real
One number justifies the category for an amateur: carry distance, which almost no club golfer has honestly. The rest is decoration, and the sticker…
The under-40 wave and what clubs are doing about it
Under-forty golfers are the fastest-growing group in the American game, and most of them arrived through a simulator bay rather than a junior programme.…
Water, chemicals and what courses actually changed
Brown fairways in August are a sign of a course managed well, not a course in trouble. The useful question is not whether golf…
Women’s golf keeps growing: finding lessons, leagues and gear that fits
8.1 million of the 29.1 million Americans who played on a course in 2025 are women, and the growth is arriving through off-course formats.…
29 million golfers: what the boom means for your tee time
Twenty-nine million on-course players, a record number of rounds, and roughly 2,000 fewer facilities than in 2003. Demand rose while supply shrank, which is…